For
regular readers who have noticed a lack of activity on this blog, it’s the
classic conundrum of client demands getting in the way of blogging. I hope to be back to normal posting in
mid-May (of course, I said that back in January and look what happened).
One
story that I would have like to have covered is the “trademark infringement”
lawsuit filed by Slep-Tone Entertainment Corporation against karaoke DJs
(“KJs”) and venues in Las Vegas for alleged infringement of the SOUND
CHOICE trademark. (Las Vegas Sun
articles here and here).
I’ve
been watching Slep-Tone pursue its “litigation business model” going all the
way back to 2009 (back before Steve Gibson’s Righthaven brought a new name to
the business model of filing lawsuits to get quick settlements). All one has to do is type “sound choice
lawsuit” into a search engine and you’ll find numerous sources (e.g., SoundChoiceSucks) commenting on Slep-Tone’s
lawsuit campaign (including Sound
Choice’s own web page about why it is
pursuing this “piracy campaign” and Sound Choice’s uber-aggressive
investigation firm APS and
Associates).
Well,
it was only a matter of time before Slep-Tone made its way to “sin city” to
troll for some quickie settlements here by filing a single, boilerplate lawsuit
naming approx. 200 KJs and venues. See Slep-Tone Entertainment Corporation v. Ellis
Island Casino & Brewery et al, Case No. 12-cv-00239 (D. Nev.) (lawsuit here). This lawsuit was actually a long-time
coming. Slep-Tone’s investigation firm,
APS, was trolling (pun intended) around Las Vegas last May and June 2011 doing
its “investigations” into potential KJs and venues it could sue. Letters were sent out at that time citing the
KJs as potential trademark violators – and demanding that they submit
themselves to an audit to determine that their Sound Choice tracks were
legitimate. Those who did not respond or
otherwise settle are now the defendants in this mass-trademark infringement
lawsuit.
I
am a big believer that knowledge is power and using the internet to inform the
public (particularly, in this case, small-time KJs who cannot afford to hire a
lawyer to defend against Slep-Tone’s specious lawsuit). I was originally planning to start up a
separate website that would monitor and track the Las Vegas Sound Choice
lawsuit (posting the major court filings so that others could benefit from law
firm work product as well as articles and other information already out there). A single resource that had good, usable
information to assist those caught up in Slep-Tone’s questionable lawsuit.
Well,
the lack of blogging here should be an indication of the time (or lack thereof)
that I had to pursue such a project. And
now someone else has beaten me to it.
Local
attorney Robert J. Kossack, Esq. started up soundchoicelasvegaslawsuit.com. As he describes on his “About the Host” page, he
started out writing an article for a magazine about the lawsuit and it took on
a life of its own. His detailed post “Massive lawsuit
threatens to change karaoke in Las Vegas” details the legal issues pretty
well. (I don’t have the time to get into
the merits of the lawsuit, but needless to say, I have always been bothered by
the counterfeiting claims because it seemed like a reach on the part of Slep-Tone
just so that it could threaten small-time defendants with statutory damages for
infringement).
In
addition, Mr. Kossack has not only made available all of the major court
filings in the lawsuit (link here), but he even
provides “template” joinders (one for motions to
dismiss
and one for motions to sever) that pro-se
KJs who can’t afford an attorney can copy and paste (hey, what do you think
lawyers do?) and file with the court so in order to “join” the motion to
dismiss and motion to sever filed by the larger casino venues (PTs, Caesars, Treasure Island, Station Casinos) to ensure that
Slep-Tone cannot get a default judgment against you (at least not at this early
stage).
Mr.
Kossack has done exactly what I wanted to do in order to inform the public
(especially KJs) about the Las Vegas Sound Choice lawsuit. And that is why soundchoicelasvegaslawsuit.com is my new
favorite blog. I think it has the
potential to become another website along the lines of those which popped up
during the Righthaven debacle (Righthaven
Lawsuits, Righthaven
Victims).
I
just hope he doesn’t get too busy dealing with client demands -- after all, nothing worse than a blog where
months go by without any new postings.
