I really appreciate the moral support many of you have given us and I hate the idea that I'm imposing on anyone. You want to feel independent, you know? So much for that!
Hi,
This is from Kelley, Reese, and Sonshine (Daniel). As some of you are aware, we are each named in a lawsuit in Pinellas county district court for alleged copyright violations (there is no evidence in the documents that the material has been registered with the copyright office, which makes a difference [see court case below]), trademark infringement (we don't know what has been infringed), and tortious interference with contract (usually prosecuted on the basis of a non-compete. There was none.).
Why? All of this because we put a *portfolio* of our work online for which we were given verbal authorization. It came as a complete shock to me that I couldn't display my work in a portfolio.
We need to start a legal defense fund because this is going to cost us $10-15,000 just to retain an attorney. We set up a paypal account at oudeis at gmail.com. We'll put http://www.inkworkswell.com/ppal.cfm online shortly so you can click a button. When we secure an attorney, we'll provide information to send him the money.
I'm being asked to never show my work or mention the clients. Everything I've written, designed, or edited -- even material that was never used or rejected by the company or clients. Some of its work that was never even shown anyone else in the company. He's even forbidding the work Reese and I did as a freelancers (with no contract). As contractors, we had no written agreements. The court papers did not include evidence that we'd signed such papers during our time as freelancers (1099 wages or, in Reese's case, work in exchange for a percentage of banner ad revenues which never materialized.) There were no company policy manuals either.
Apparently, the work I did as an employee is owned by the ex-employer. However, as with the Mays v. Euler case, this isn't always the case. Sometimes the work is then sold to a client who actually holds copyright. We don't know who owns what since I was never given a copy of contracts we had with clients. This is a link for the case:
http://pub.bna.com/ptcj/05437May18.pdf which is very similar.
We are asking for help: send a buck if you can spare it to our paypal account at oudeis at gmail.com. I'm not sure how it works, but you go to paypal.com and you can send money to our bank through the oudeis at gmail.com account.
If you know people who can help us find an attorney, great. All the firms here want $10,000 and more as a retainer. IN order to at least retain our work as freelancers or to even move the case to the point Robin Euler did, where she was allowed to display work in an online portfolio, this is the kind of money we are talking. Euler's attorney is very helpful and is helping us find a Florida attorney.
This has to move to the Federal level, if that matters as to who you might know who can help.
I'm sure people would like more details. I don't know what I can and cannot say. So, I'm avoiding saying much at all and I realize that people are reluctant to help if they don't understand the issues. But, we really have no choice but to raise money.
Thank you!
Send a buck if you can to our paypal account oudeis at gmail.com
www.inkworkswell.com/ppal.cfm will be online shortly.
Thanks,
Kelley, Reese, and Daniel (Sonshine)
inkworkswell.com