Riddick and Imageline sued in Federal Court

[stevep]

Riddick reportedly found a Chicago law firm to help him out, and from the sounds of it the SIIA (www.siia.net) may be involved as they have in the past in supporting him. This group helped him on some suits last year, which ended with mixed results.

[Oscar Michelen]

Yes he is apparently being represented by Holland & Knight. Holland & Knight is a huge firm with an international reputation. Their partners charge in the range of $750 to $1,200 per hour. I believe SIIA must be footing this bill. I am sure SIIA recognizes that having Riddick as the person making these complicated legal arguments is not good and that it may be worth it to represent him so that they can take the best shot at it.

[SoylentGreen]

Oscar,

What's Riddick's connection to SIIA; why would they feel the need to pay for his defence in this matter?

Thanks,

S.

[Matthew Chan]

I am clearly not Oscar but I surmise that the SIIA doesn't want a "dangerous" ruling to occur, hence a legal precedent to be set, simply because Riddick is unqualified to make legal arguments.

The SIIA supposedly represents a consortium of players or industry that have a vested interest in not having unfavorable laws or rulings occur.  Hence, the SIIA assists in spite of what they think of Riddick.

That is an educated guess also based on Oscar's prior remarks on the subject.

Matthew

SoylentGreen Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Oscar,
>
> What's Riddick's connection to SIIA; why would
> they feel the need to pay for his defence in this
> matter?
>
> Thanks,
>
> S.

[VinceS]

I can assure you the SIIA is not helping Riddick with his defense.  The SIIA is done with Riddick and will never work with him again.  

-Vince

[Matthew Chan]

Vince,

If it is not SIIA helping Riddick, then who is helping him? All indications point to the idea that Riddick cannot afford expensive legal counsel.

Also, why would SIIA not help Riddick again?  Is there a story you can share here?

MatthewC

[VinceS]

It's a long story but the SIIA and Riddick have parted ways and will never work together again.  Let's just say that Riddick was extremely difficult to work with.  He wouldn't sit back and let the SIIA handle things.  When the SIIA represents one of their members they handle ALL the legal stuff.  Of course Riddick still wanted to control EVERYTHING.  The SIIA also doesn't guaranteed the customer will received any rewards from a settlement or win.  This is because they use their own counsel to represent their members and they use a majority of their settlement or winning funds to pay off their lawyers.  However Riddick demanded to be paid anyway and refuse to accept a reasonable settlement offer that the SIIA was willing to accept.  This is just a few of the reasons why the SIIA will never work with Riddick again.

-Vince

[Matthew Chan]

Vince,

Very interesting and certainly very plausible based on his past behavior. Thanks for the info.

MatthewC

[Oscar Michelen]

Vince Thanks for the info and I heard the same about his relationship with his prior lawyers, but this issue is very big to SIIA and digital image companies are pouring money into lobbying etc to try and gain control of the law in this area. So it could be that it is too important to them that they will even get back into bed with Riddick for this case rather than have an adverse ruling on an issue that is vital to their existence. Recall that the ACLU represented the Ku Klu Klan whenit was denied a permit to marchin Skokie Illinois. I am sure the ACLU and the Klan hardly spoke but the issue was too important for the ACLU to let it be lost because of ineffective lawyering and the Klan was happy to receive the free highly qualified legal advice.

[SoylentGreen]

This is a very interesting discussion, indeed.  There's definitely a 'bigger picture' to all of this.

I have to ponder however, how long it will be before Riddick turns on his 'friends'?

S.

[YetAnotherRiddickVictim]

Oscar,

Just one correction, the ACLU represented the Nazis in their quest to march through Skokie, not the Klan. Small difference, but a vital one.

It may not be SIIA, but another benefactor paying Riddick's bills in Chicago. But I've been told that any rulings in this case would not be precedent that could be cited outside of this jurisdiction. Could be Getty or some other angel.

If the companies do suffer default judgement, It is my understanding that some of Riddick's copyrights are owned by those companies and not by Riddick personally. That means those copyrights that remain could be sold to the highest bidder to satrisfy Imageline's debt to Bernina and any other creditors that might exist in a bankruptcy proceeding.

It's interesting to see how fast this is progressing.

[riddickvictim2]

Where are you gentlemen getting all of this current information regarding this case?  Can someone point me in the direction of information regarding Riddick vs Bernina?  

I understand that some of the legal sites charge a fee for access but I would be happy to pay it.

Thank you.

[Matthew Chan]

No need to pay for it.  Follow the links in the yellow box.

http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/imageline.htm

[Oscar Michelen]

Hey "Yet Another Victim": Of course, you are correct, thanks for spotting the error

[YetAnotherRiddickVictim]

Is there anything new since Holland & Knight stepped in? Or have they filed a few motions to slow everything to a crawl while they get up to speed and generate 6 figures in billable hours for Riddick's angel to pay?