Copyright Law Group Settlement Demand Letter (Attorney Mike Meier)

[Matthew Chan]

We have a new and very special extortion letter to share with everyone. It is the Copyright Law Group Settlement Demand Letter written by Attorney Mike Meier.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/103186966/Copyright-Law-Group-Settlement-Demand-Letter-Attorney-Mike-Meier

This letter was sent as an escalation to one of Copyright Enforcement Group's Settlement Demand Letters. 

Copyright ENFORCEMENT Group (not a law firm, http://copyrightsettlements.com) sends a settlement demand letter on behalf of AKM Images. However, the case then gets escalated to Copyright LAW Group (a law firm, http://www.copyrightdefenselawyer.com)

The names of the two businesses are virtually similar but involve very different people and parties. It is easy to confuse the two if you are not careful.

First, this is a visually-pleasing and well-formatted extortion letter.  I really like how the Liability Release has been attached to the letter. So handy for the extortion letter recipient.

Second, there is great deal of contact information that is helpful to anyone who want to check them out.

However, what really makes this letter very special is WHO is behind this extortion letter.  It is Attorney Mike Meier.  This attorney name rang a bell with me relating to the P2P/Bittorrent lawsuits and I relayed this to Robert who took this nugget and ran with it.

I wasn't sure if the Mike Meier of this extortion letter on behalf of AKM Images was the same Mike Meier of P2P/Bittorrent lawsuits fame.  According to Robert K., it is the one and the same person. Robert tells me he found a goldmine of information on this guy.

I think our friends at FightCopyrightTrolls.com and DieTrollDie.com might want to follow this thread as Robert rolls out his information and research.

[Greg Troy (KeepFighting)]

I remember reading an article about him, he is the one that somehow found out a does name and address in a P2P case and sent him a packet that looks like a lawsuit had been filed. Everything in the packet had been filled out with the exception of the court and the actual court case information.  There was a good article about it over at www.dietrolldie.com. I posted a thread about this a while back and the legal controversies forum.

http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/legal-controversies-forum/new-trolling-tatic/

So it looks as if good old Mike has got a brand-new bag now. I'll be very interested to see what Robert has found and posts about him.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

Lets just say for this the time being..this will be the super-sized nugget meal.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

For immediate Release:
Aug. 18, 2012
Fairfax Viginia

Georgetown University Alumni forever associated with "Illegal Ass" and "So Young, So Sexy" Porn Productions

BitTorrent Defense Lawyer Joins Copyright Trolls - DC attorney Mike Meier was initially well-known as a defense attorney for BitTorrent users, but in recent months he’s made an interesting career move. Perhaps recognizing that more money could be made with a slight shift in focus, Meier has joined the “other” side, suing hundreds of BitTorrent users on behalf of copyright holders.

http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-defense-lawyer-joins-copyright-trolls-111126/

Fairfax Attorney Mike Meier from the firm of Lee & Meier PLLC, also doesn't always play by the rules..

"Finally, the assertion by Plaintiff’s counsel, Mr. Meier, that he “does not employ abusive practices” (Opposing Memo, p. 2) reflects, at best, a case of amnesia. Mr. Meier is no stranger to such practices. Indeed, while representing plaintiffs in a sexual harassment lawsuit against entertainers Siegfried & Roy, Mr. Meier was sanctioned $37,415.00 in September 2011 on account “of the subjective bad faith demonstrated by Plaintiffs arguments and method of litigating this case.” Preiss v. S & R Production Co., 2011 WL 4402952 at *4 (D.Nev. Sep. 20, 2011)."

http://beckermanlegal.com/Lawyer_Copyright_Internet_Law/patrickcollins_does1-45_120806ReplyMemo.pdf

There are very few references associating Mike Meier to the "Family Practice" of Lee & Meier PLLC from Fairfax Virginia, as they most likely don't want to be associated with the porn industry, but I stumbled upon this little nugget:

http://www.prlog.org/11623573-the-copyright-law-group-to-represent-those-accused-of-copyright-infringement.html

Which in turn led me search of Soyoung Lee ( notice the first name closely resembles a movie title mentioned below)

my search for Soyoung Lee led me here: http://www.leemeierlaw.com/attorneys/ where I found all these goodies:

Mike Meier, Partner

Mike Meier specializes in immigration law and business matters, including matters unique to  international entities.



Juris Doctor (1993) & Master of Laws with distinction (1997), Georgetown University; Master's Degree in Political Science (1988), based on studies at the University of Berlin (Germany), Yale Law School, and the University of Buenos Aires (UBA).

He has worked for the Argentine Government (Advisory Council to President Raul Alfonsin 1987-1988), the German Chamber of Commerce in Japan, Osaka (1989-1990), and Hewlett Packard Company (1996-2000). Since 1995, with Professor John Schmertz of Georgetown University Law Center, he has been publishing 'International Law Update,' a monthly report on international law, available on WESTLAW and LEXIS/NEXIS. See www.internationallawupdate.com. Member of the New York, District of Columbia, Virginia and Maryland Bars, and admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court. Among his publications is the book 'Business Chance USA' - how to establish and run a business in the United States of America (TIA Publishers, Germany 1999).

Fluent in German and Spanish. He frequently teaches courses on U.S. law and corporate matters for the German-American business organization USAforum (www.usaforum.de). From May 2003 through March 2004, he served as a Legal Member on the District of Columbia Board of Appeals and Review. Mike Meier is on the Attorney List of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soyoung Lee, Partner
A native of Seoul, Korea and raised in Korea, the United States, Tunisia, and India, Soyoung Lee was admitted to the Virginia Bar in 1994.  Her practice focuses on family law and estate planning.  She has handled cases in Virginia’s city, county, and state jurisdictions’ Circuit and Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Courts.

Ms. Lee practiced for three years as a corporate attorney involved in developing international joint ventures in the entertainment industry.  She was employed as Chief Legal Officer for Jackson International, LLC of Los Angeles, an international joint venture and investment company.  She found this experience to be invaluable in litigating divorce cases with complex or high-worth property issues and other civil cases with complex financial issues.

Ms. Lee has handled multi-jurisdictional divorce and custody cases, including a seminal case involving parties in Korea and the United States.  She also specializes in international estate planning for families that have assets or family members located in multiple countries.
Ms. Lee regularly holds public seminars on estate planning and teaches continuing education courses on trust and estate accounting for attorneys and accountants.
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It appears that Copyright Troll Mike Meier is or was affiliated with the "International Law Group" as well however their site is offline, but thatnks to archive.org, we have an extra nugget:
http://web.archive.org/web/20110609212934/http://www.internationallawgroup.com/lawyersprofile.htm

Needless to say Attorney Mike Meier is very well known on both didtrolldie.com as well as fightcopyrighttrolls.com

1540 google results from dietrolldie.com alone! - http://lmgtfy.com/?q=mike+meier+%2B+dietrolldie.com

He Has been given the dubious award of "Troll of the week" over on fightcopyrighttrolls.com

Copyright troll subspecies: Weretroll (Mike Meier) - Troll of the week

“Weretroll” is a portmanteau of “troll” and “werewolf”, a name for a miserable kind of formerly decent attorneys who turn into trolls when the moon is full, confusing the full moon with a golden coin. Unlike a werewolf, a weretroll can bark, but cannot bite — just like any other representative of the troll genera. Like its relatives, it lives of those whom it manages to coerce into settling using deception and hollow threats.

A DC attorney Mike Meier was once listed on the EFF subpoena defense page. Although his name cannot be found there anymore, there are many articles saying that his “Copyright Law Group” defended those accused of copyright infringement in mass p2p cases:

http://fightcopyrighttrolls.com/2011/11/25/copyright-troll-subspecies-weretroll/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Member of the following Bars:
New York - admitted in 1994 reg#2585578
District of Columbia - admitted in 1994 - Name of firm: International Law Group ( http://www.dcbar.org/find_a_member/results.cfm)
Virginia - http://206.113.151.134/attsearch/search.aspx
Maryland - no records found, matching first, last or firm names.
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A sampling of the suits that Mike Meier has filed...to think I occassionally make Oscar cringe, I can't even begin to to think of the cringe factor from attorney Soyoung Lee, and Georgetown University, knowing that they are now linked and tied to "Illegal Ass 2", "Working Girls", SuperGirl XXX An Extreme Comixxx Parody, XXX Avengers, All About Kagney Linn Karter, and this one is classic.... "So Young So Sexy"

In this last title  "So Young So Sexy", I can't help see the resemblance to his attorney partner Soyoung Lee and it's a very strange coincidence that Mike Meier attempted to hide this title in the actual suit, only to be exposed.

http://dietrolldie.com/2012/08/03/troll-mike-meier-tries-to-hide-the-name-of-digital-sin-movie-112-cv-03873-digital-sin-inc-v-john-does-1-27/

We already have some existing documents in our scribd library:
http://www.scribd.com/collections/3473442/Lawyer-Mike-Meier-Lawsuits

as well as these threads/posts:

http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/copyright-enforcement-group-settlement-demand-letter-for-akm-images/

http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/getty-images-letter-forum/akm-images-copryight-enforcement-group-settlement-demand-letter/

Is it me, or does Soyoung Lees' image already look as if she's seen this free PR...she doesn't look very happy to me.. I mean hell so far she's only been associated with one of the most hated copyright trolls on earth and "Illegal Ass", it's not as if she got the Attorney paul Lesko treatment who is forever linked to "teen Anal Sluts"..

That concludes part 1 of my reporting, now onto AKM Images...
 

[Oscar Michelen]

I am sure SoYoung lives with the association to her namesake film and others because of the sizeable checks porn troll victims send in to Mike. This guy makes my skin crawl.  Great work on the research as always Robert

[Greg Troy (KeepFighting)]

Great job Robert in a very interesting read I'm looking forward to part two!

[SoylentGreen]

"Illegal Ass"?
... Me so greedy, I sue you long time.  lol.

S.G.

[Greg Troy (KeepFighting)]

Here is an interesting nugget that I found on Mike Meier and I am pretty certain that it is the same Mike Meier we are talking about as at the time that this case was going on, my research shows only two Mike Meiers that were lawyers in the DC area and one of them was in the Army working for the judge advocate general so I don't think this refers to him.

Mr. Meier was sued by architect Reena Racki for copyright infringement on her drawings she made for Mr. Meyer. Below is a synopsis of the case along with a link to all the documents. I find it interesting that a lawyer that deals with copyright infringement gets sued for it. Although an agreement was reached in the case was settled before it came to trial it is very interesting and I believe that Ms. Racki presented a strong case.

In July of 2003 Mr. Meier and his wife purchased a rowhouse in a historical district of Washington DC to use as an office. The building needed some work done to bring it up to code and they hired architect Reena Racki to do the design work and oversee the construction on the building. Mr. Meier contends that Ms. Racki in approximately 7 months working with him did not get a building permit or do any work on the building whatsoever at which point he released her abd hired a new architect and had a permit within five days to start work on the building.

In testimony given by Ms. Racki she states that Mr. Meier was difficult to work for and continually asked for changes. Being in the construction business myself I know that when dealing with a historical building everything done to the building down to the colors of paint that are allowed must be approved by the historical committee. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to try to bring a building up to code, meet the demands of a client and get the approval of the historical board. So anytime a change is made she has to go through the process of submission all over again with the historical society. You should have their approval first before getting any type of building permit as detailed drawings must be submitted at the time the permit is purchased so it would make no sense to get a building permit with drawings that had not been approved by the historical Society.

Mr. Meier states that his new architect was able to obtain a building permit within five business days. Ms. Racki brought in sworn testimony from a Superior Court case between her and Mr. Meier over the issue of breach of contract and payment where Mr. Meier's new architect under oath stated the reason he was able to obtain a permit and start work so quickly is that he basically used drawings provided by Mr. Meier which had already been approved by the historical society. Ms. Racki had the good sense to copyright her drawings so that when she later saw the building and noticed the work she obtained copies of the permits and plans and found that they were pretty much identical to what she had done.

There is a lot of detail and a lot of documents and if anyone is interested I have them posted here:

http://www.scribd.com/my_document_collections/3771407

[SoylentGreen]

A great find and a great posting indeed!!
It's of great interest, and your synopsis was excellent!!
Thanks.

S.G.

[Greg Troy (KeepFighting)]

Thanks!

A great find and a great posting indeed!!
It's of great interest, and your synopsis was excellent!!
Thanks.

S.G.

[Matthew Chan]

The summer heat is making lawyers of copyright thuggery delusional this summer season. Attorney Mikey Meier has allegedly sent this strange email to my domain registrar of the extortionletterinfo.com.



http://www.scribd.com/doc/237721969/Mike-Meier-DMCA-Letter-to-ELI-Domain-Registrar
 

   ----- Original Message -----
    From: Mike Meier <[email protected]>
    To: [email protected]
    Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 17:47:07 -0800 (GMT)
    subject: DMCA Notice

    22 August 2014
   
    ATTN. DMCA Department 
    Attn. [email protected]

    RE: Copyright Infringement, along with Defamatory and Libelous

http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/getty-images-letter-forum/copyright-law-group-settlement-demand-letter-%28attorney-mike-meier%29/


Dear Sir or Madam:   

    You are hosting a website with information that infringes on my copyrights and defames me. I am requesting that you take that information down immediately.   

The copyright-infringing and defamatory information includes:

    http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/getty-images-letter-forum/copyright-law-group-settlement-demand-letter-%28attorney-mike-meier%29/

It uses my website pictures and inserts defamatory and libelous statements:   

    “First, this is a visually-pleasing and well-formatted extortion letter.”

Fairfax Attorney Mike Meier from the firm of Lee & Meier PLLC, also doesn't always play by the rules..

    "Finally, the assertion by Plaintiff’s counsel, Mr. Meier, that he “does not employ abusive practices” (Opposing Memo, p. 2) reflects, at best, a case of amnesia.”

    “He Has been given the dubious award of "Troll of the week" over on fightcopyrighttrolls.com

    Copyright troll subspecies: Weretroll (Mike Meier) - Troll of the week

    “Weretroll” is a portmanteau of “troll” and “werewolf”, a name for a miserable kind of formerly decent attorneys who turn into trolls when the moon is full, confusing the full moon with a golden coin. Unlike a werewolf, a weretroll can bark, but cannot bite — just like any other representative of the troll genera. Like its relatives, it lives of those whom it manages to coerce into settling using deception and hollow threats.”

    ****

    This letter is official notification under Section 512(c) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA"), and I seek the removal of the aforementioned infringing material from your servers. I request that you immediately notify the infringer of this notice and inform them of their duty to remove the infringing material immediately, and notify them to cease any further posting of infringing material to your server in the future.

    Please also be advised that law requires you, as a service provider, to remove or disable access to the infringing materials upon receiving this notice. Under U.S. law, a service provider, such as yourself, enjoys immunity from a copyright lawsuit provided that you act with deliberate speed to investigate and rectify ongoing copyright infringement. If service providers do not investigate and remove or disable the infringing material this immunity is lost. Therefore, in order for you to remain immune from a copyright infringement action you will need to investigate and ultimately remove or otherwise disable the infringing material from your servers with all due speed should the direct infringer, your client, not comply immediately.

    I am providing this notice in good faith and with the reasonable belief that intellectual property rights are being infringed.

    Under penalty of perjury I certify that the information contained in the notification is both true and accurate, and I have the authority to act on behalf of the owner of the copyrights involved.

    Should you wish to discuss this with me please contact me directly.   

    --
    Regards/Mit freundlichen Grüssen,
    Mike Meier
    International Law Group, LLC
    6525, 76th Street
    Cabin John, MD 20818 - USA
    Phone: (202) 580-8759
    Cell: (202) 460-9171
    Fax: (202) 747-5795
    Email: [email protected]

=============

Domain registrars don't deal with DMCA takedown notices.  Usually, it is the website owner (me/my corporation) or the web host.  That is it.  It's a bit nonsensical and idiotic given the fact that my email is not difficult to hard to find. He could have sent it directly to me.  In fact, I publish how people can make complaints to me.

http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/gripes-and-complaints-about-eli/

IN this case, it would not have made a bit of difference because Mikey appears to be delirious and drunk with stupor.

However, I am not going to call him stupid. Because if I did, it would Mikey Meier stupider than Timmy McCormack and his letters. Mikey Meier has never gotten much traffic here on ELI. He is actually more infamous in the porn troll circles covered by our friends at DieTrollDie.com and FightCopyrightTrolls.com. 

In fact, I even emailed them about this email and they got a nice little chuckle out of it. It gave me the opportunity to connect them with the ELI Team. We all had a nice email dialog laughing at this ridiculous email sent to my domain registrar.  He must think this is my first spacewalk. Not so.

For the benefit of our audience, let's take a look at the so-called allegations.

1.  Is there defamation and libel here?  I don't think there any statements that qualifies for either.  Lots of opinions, name-calling, mockery, quoting of other sources, and pure research by Robert K.  So much material was discovered from other websites covering Mikey.

2.  What photos are he referring to?  There are no photos whatsoever on this thread. All text, quotes, and hyperlinks. That is it. 

3. What copyrights is he referring to? And what is being infringed?  His fucking name? MIKE MEIER?  Does he consider us using his name to be copyright infringement??  I see no image or any content he created here.  Just a lot of commentary by ELI folks and reference to our blog friends on the Troll Porn reporting front. That is it.

IN conclusion, the email "claim" is so ridiculous, my own reply is what you have read here and the tweets I will introduce him to Barbra Streisand (of Streisand Effect fame).

This thread from 2012 was probably the ONLY reference of him out of the 16,000 posts here on the ELI Forums.  He has kindly asked for a 2014 update and we are happy to oblige.

P.S. There are no lawyer profiles on that law firm website.  I guess all the lawyers have flown the coop or too embarrassed to show their ugly mugs.

[Matthew Chan]

So, it appears that our friends at FightCopyrightTrolls.com received an identical email from their domain registrar as ELI did.  It also seem that since ELI has wasted no time "outing" Mike Meier's stupid email, they are also doing the same. Read FCT's well-written response letter.  I think it is better than my response.

http://fightcopyrighttrolls.com/2014/08/25/copyright-troll-mike-meier-sends-a-frivolous-dmca-takedown-notice-to-my-registrar/

Maybe directly "outing" other copyright thug lawyers emails and other info as I get info is the keys to building up traffic and support.



Who let the dogs out?  Well, this time it was both ELI & FCT in fast succession. More than likely a few more anti-troll websites and Twitter accounts will be on the bandwagon before this little tidal wave of publicity is over.

Remember, boys and girls, publicity against your attackers is one of the best weapons any non-lawyer can have.  Too bad the revenge porn folks don't get it.  First Amendment Power.  No defamation or fake stories necessary.  For the dumb ones, the wrong publicity is like have piranhas swarm them.

[lucia]

Domain registrars don't deal with DMCA takedown notices.  Usually, it is the website owner (me/my corporation) or the web host.  That is it.  It's a bit nonsensical and idiotic given the fact that my email is not difficult to hard to find. He could have sent it directly to me.  In fact, I publish how people can make complaints to me.

Registrars often do follow DMCA. See:
https://torrentfreak.com/registrar-suspends-torrent-domain-for-dmca-non-compliance-140614/

If your registrar says they will take down unless you send a response, I advise sending a respose:

1) You believe there is no defamation. But even if there is, defamation has nothing to do with DMCA and should not be used for a DMCA takedown.
2) The complaint does not indicate which images or text are copyrighted material by the attorney.  In fact, the post displays no images and, to your knowledge contains no copyrighted material belonging to the complainant.
[/quote]

[Matthew Chan]

The torrent situation in the article is an extreme situation. I am not worried about it. I did respond openly out in the public.  At best, the registrar can get a cut and paste reply from here. 

If Mike Meier decides to pursue it to the degree ELI is off-line for a couple days, so be it.  He would be very stupid to do so as it would ramp up the Streisand Effect and get ELI even more exposure.

Our favorite poet troll's actions, her lawyer, and the judge has raised the profile of ELI, me, Oscar, and our cause through their reckless PPO.  It was the best thing that could have happened to me, Oscar, and ELI.  We are actually quite excited and rejuvenated by a new challenge and getting some limelight out of it.  Now I am a huge advocate of First Amendment and I am connected to that group of folks. They hate copyright thugs with a passion so I am certain I will have their support.

I also got an incredible legal study mentorship and tutorials from some smart lawyers along the way.  I am no longer afraid to file my own pleadings and motions in the future, if necessary.  I learned in a matter of months in a real-life scenario than what many law students would take years to learn reading books.

Getty Images sent me their bullshit extortion letter in 2008 which led to this site being in existence and me finding Oscar thereby building the ELI community with thousands of supporters worldwide.

So Mike Meier can do his worst.  I have lots of friends watching waiting to pounce.  His reputation was shit to begin with and it just got worse.  He got all the porn troll fighters all hot and bothered again. That was not my doing. I just reported it and because of his checkered history, he pays the price.

I am not worried. I will respond to the registrar if and when they demand it. But they won't push the issue unless Mike is stupid enough to continue on.  If I get another email from the domain registrar, I will repeat what I just did by reporting and tweeting it and then respond if necessary.

If ELI gets taken down for a few days because of Mikey, it would be worth getting the Streisand effect for me, him, and ELI.

[Matthew Chan]

Holy crap, I was wondering why the reader count of this one thread was jumping so quickly.

I found out why.  Two stories have reported on ELI and our friend-in-arms, FightCopyrightTrolls, receiving nearly identical bogus DMCA letters relayed from our respective domain registrars within a couple of days of each other.

It was actually FCT that received one first but they held back in reporting. But ELI went public immediately with zero regard and zero notice to Mike Meier or the domain registrar. AS I explained, there was no point in holding back as it only empowers critics to do more. I have no patience for such foolishness. 

Having seen ELI gone public, FCT saw no point in holding back and did their own reporting.  However, I thought it was over last night once FCT and ELI did its thing.

Well, apparently not.  IT would appears bad news travels fast and supporters of the Streisand Effect have piled on.  And so, we are grateful to our blogger/tech press friends at Techdirt and TorrentFreak for the public support and reporting.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140826/05415528319/copyright-trolling-lawyer-abusing-dmca-to-try-to-silence-critics.shtml

http://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-lawyer-wants-domain-registrars-to-silence-critics-140826

As far as I am concerned, Mikey was no threat. I could not be bothered to respond to him as it was so ridiculous. FCT was far more gracious and respectful to Mikey.  Nevertheless, I thank Mikey profusely as the ELI team has gotten better acquainted with FCT.  Further, I thank Mikey for giving Techdirt and Torrentfreak the opportunity to share what ELI does thereby driving up our SEO (yes, it's entirely legal and white-hat) and overall readership.

And since I have a captive audience in ELI's 4-minutes of fame, I want everyone to be tuned in to future announcements on a "certain Georgia appeal case".  It will be "interesting" and potentially affect website owners throughout the U.S. 

Follow @extortionletter on Twitter.  I don't think you will be disappointed. You will know it when you see it. It will be self-evident.

Our friends at FCT know some of it but I have asked them to be silent until the appropriate time.