April Brown Auctioneer

September 11, 2015

Negative “Triggers” Caused By Linda Ellis and the Dash Poem Extortion Letter

I sometimes get motivated to write commentary for the strangest of reasons. I know I occasionally go dark online. I do so because I have aspects of my personal and business life to tend to. Contrary to what some might think, I don’t live entirely online. Yes, I do have a life outside the Internet.

But I am back again with this unusual commentary because of I was unhappily “triggered” today by an uninvited email from someone I don’t know who innocently wanted help from me regarding a Dash Poem extortion letter.

For over two years, I have not received an “out of the blue” help request regarding Linda Ellis’ / Linda Lyric’s Dash Poem extortion letter. My friend, April Brown, author of “Poetic Justice” generally gets the brunt of such requests. How she handles it all, I will never know. And I have often told her, better her than me! She is a soldier.

As I said, I received an uninvited email today from someone asking for advice and help. When I get these types of emails, I get mixed reactions. On one hand, I want to help. But on the other hand, I have helped PLENTY of people in the last seven years regarding copyright extortion letters without charge and it has taken its toll on me. That is why I now charge people for my time. I have been overloaded with such requests over the years which is why I push people to reading the ELI Forums, blog posts, and other free online resources.

Every time I try to help someone by email in these matters, it doesn’t end well. It always takes a bite out of me in terms of my time, energy, and frustration. I get little in return and oftentimes my answer is never good enough because bullet-point information is simply insufficient for people.

Because of the emotional upset and stress that copyright extortion letters cause in letter recipients, those people frequently want reassurance, counseling, coaching, explanations, a legal and copyright primer, and basically a crash course to overcome the foreign and shocking experience of receiving a $5,000 extortion letter for the innocent sharing of the Dash Poem. It doesn’t help that the letter recipients of Dash Poem extortion letters are especially susceptible to the emotions of shame, guilt, embarrassment, fear, and ignorance of basic copyright law and legal procedure. This is much moreso here than letter recipients of Getty Images, Masterfile, and stock photo extortion letters.

With some notable exceptions (who tend to be entrepreneurial / business types), nearly all the Dash Poem extortion letter recipients are easy marks and easy prey. They are less knowledgeable, less sophisticated, easier to intimidate, and have a weaker psychological makeup.

Given this loaded scenario when people are frantic for help, how does one help another via email if they have gotten a Dash Poem extortion letter? My personal answer is, I can’t do it and I won’t attempt it. My personal experience tells me no one is ever satisfied with a one sentence or one paragraph answer and no one is ever satisfied with a five-minute conversation or chat.

My basic free answer to anyone getting a Dash Poem Extortion Letter is “Ignore the Letter. Don’t Pay. Problem Solved.” I know that answer is insufficient for most people because they want a lot more explanation but that is all I have to give for free. I am not going to reiterate basic advice that has been published repeatedly online. The Dash Poem extortion letter has been discussed ad nauseum. Google it or visit The “Linda Ellis / Linda’s Lyrics / Dash Poem Copyright Infringement Letter” Resource Page. It will take readers where they need to go for free answers but they have to do the work, grow a spine along the way (this is very important), and make a smart decision for themselves. I make no bones about it that I do not welcome unsolicited emails or phone calls on any copyright extortion letter matter. The only way I will discuss it with anyone is through an ELI Support Call, period, end of story. However, April Brown might help for free if you are nice and respectful to her. As I said, she is a soldier.

I have a huge aversion to anything related to Linda Ellis, the Dash Poem, the Dash Poem extortion letters, and her lawyers Elizabeth (Betsy) McBride and Tim B. McCormack (who has since gone on to become a legalized marijuana grower/farmer). You can thank them for causing me to engage in an unnecessary two-year legal entanglement where my team and I ultimately fought back and we trounced them embarrassingly into the ground. That has left a great deal of negative energy within me towards them as far as I am concerned. It will be there for a long time to come. They are huge negative triggers to me and bring out unhappy and unpleasant sides of me. I stuck my neck out in 2012-2013 on behalf of largely spineless Dash Poem letter recipients and got very little in return except frustration and aggravation. The only good news of all this negative energy I have is that I plan on channeling that into creative, constructive, and beneficial ways. I didn’t start this but I do intend to see my plans through.

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September 10, 2015

The “Linda Ellis / Linda’s Lyrics / Dash Poem Copyright Infringement Letter” Resource Page

Copyright Troll / Copyright Extortionist

Last Updated: September 10, 2015

In March 2013, the Linda Ellis / Linda’s Lyrics / Dash Poem Letters Forum with 2,000 information and discussion posts concerning Linda Ellis’ / Linda’s Lyrics’ / Dash Poem copyright infringement and copyright enforcement letter program was ordered taken down due to an overreaching court order. (In April 2015 following my GA Supreme Court victory, that forum was fully restored as a read-only resource). That court order specifically forbade me (thereby violating my First Amendment, free speech, freedom of press rights) from writing anything about her, her business operations, her copyright infringement settlement demand letter, and her copyright enforcement program within the ELI Forums on the ExtortionLetterInfo.com website. However, that court order does not forbid me from writing about and sharing information about her, her business model, her poem, and the copyright infringement settlement demand letters on this website.

At this time, the quickest way for victims to learn about this copyright infringement settlement demand letter and copyright enforcement letter program is to read these websites below.

CABALaw.org: Several section of this website discuss the recent escapade of Linda Ellis. However, the best article to read is: You Received Linda Ellis’ Dash Poem Settlement Demand Letter. Now What? Copyright Anti-Bullying Act Wants to Help. It gets to how to turn the tables and make complaints about her operation.
Copyright-Trolls: Several sections of this website that humorously discuss and comments on Linda Ellis, John W. Jolin, and the Linda’s Lyrics / Dash Poem Copyright Infringement / Settlement Demand Letters.
Poetry Trolls: This entire website is devoted to Linda Ellis’ / Linda’s Lyrics / Dash Poem Copyright Infringement Settlement Demand Letters.
LETroll: Mini-website dedicated to victims of the Linda Ellis / Linda’s Lyrics / Dash Poem Copyright Infringement Settlement Demand Letters.
The BlackBoard: Don’t Post Linda Ellis’ ‘The Dash’
April Brown: This section of April Brown’s website discusses Linda Ellis, John W. Jolin, and the Linda’s Lyrics / Dash Poem Copyright Infringement Settlement Demand Letters.
Get Poetic Justice: April Brown has launched a new book titled “Poetic Justice” about Linda Ellis, her copyright enforcement scheme, and her victims’ stories. There is also a “Get Poetic Justice” Facebook page devoted to that book project.
ABA Journal: Scorned as ‘copyright troll,’ poet fights back in verse
Jewish Federations: Citing Poem Leads Synagogue Into Treacherous Legal Waters
Connecting Directors: Living in “The Dash” is getting Funeral Homes Fined $7,500
Church Mutual Insurance Company: You need permission to use ‘The Dash’

Once you read these websites, you may need Premium Support to help deal with this overbearing, obnoxious letter demanding money from you or your organization.

If you need affordable phone support or affordable expert (non-lawyer) consultation regarding the Linda’s Lyrics / Dash Poem Copyright Infringement Settlement Demand Letters, I provide expert knowledge and information through the ELI Phone Support Call program.

If you need affordable legal representation from a lawyer who is very knowledgeable of the Linda’s Lyrics / Dash Poem Copyright Infringement Settlement Demand Letters, I highly recommend Attorney Oscar Michelen’s Defense Letter Program.

July 1, 2015

My Amazon Book Review of April Brown’s “Poetic Justice”

I wrote an Amazon book review of the paperback version of April Brown’s “Poetic Justice”. It felt a bit strange to do so considering I am a “character” in her book, and some of my own story overlaps with April’s story. I reviewed some early versions of certain chapters. But to see the completed book package is still very impressive to me. I did financially support the project by paying full price for my copy of the paperback. I give disclosure of my light involvement and relationship to the book.

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The Very First Book on Copyright Extortion and the Dash Poem.

As a disclaimer and full disclosure, I am one of the “characters” frequently mentioned in April Brown’s new book but I am also a legitimate buyer / customer of the book because I advanced purchased the book at full price directly from April to support this project.

I can confidently say for myself and many others, that no one ever imagined the Dash Poem would affect so many people in unexpected ways. Since 2012, I have watched April Brown’s personal journey and becoming, by default, the most outspoken victim advocate on behalf of the “Dash Poem Extortion” victims I have ever seen. It is the premise of “Poetic Justice.” And “Poetic Justice” is also the culmination of her personal journey through this.

When you do Google searches on the “Dash Poem Extortion” all roads point to April Brown. It is inescapable simply because no one has taken on the role of victim advocate as vocally as April has. Linda Ellis wrote a poem in the mid-1990’s that has been mentioned in countless websites and media sources. In today’s vernacular, it would be called a “viral” poem. But that viral poem has a very dark and ugly side to it.

If you share the poem on your website, you run the high risk of becoming a victim of the “Dash Poem Copyright Extortion”. What is truly amazing is this “extortion” operation is run by only two people operating from their respective homes. And yet, the terror and fear they strike into so many people and organizations is astounding. April thoroughly describes the details in her book.

I have reported and spoken out on the issue of copyright extortion since 2008. But until 2012, I never knew there was such a thing as “poem copyright extortion”. In fact, I was initially skeptical of April’s claims and didn’t believe that such a small operation run by a housewife could paralyze so many people and organizations into silence and fear that they do and successfully generate tens of thousands of dollars per year for Linda. Again, April describes the beginnings of the community that would become her friends and allies as a victims’ advocate.

My early role in this is that I extended April a communication platform and invitation to my online community. I then attempted (without much success) to be a victim advocate for “Dash Poem Extortion” victims. It turns out I was not a good victims’ advocate in this situation because I did not relate to this particular group of victims’ irrational fears where I was publicly critical of their cowardice. But April was the one constant throughout the months and years.

In my one attempt to directly assist a victim from a $100,000 extortion letter in 2012, I inadvertently placed myself in the line of fire. Because of my very outspoken writings that allegedly “threatened” Linda, Linda took legal action against me in February 2013 in a way no one ever foresaw. April describes the legal drama that would unfold in the next two years.

April, already unhappy with being a victim and hearing dozens of victim stories, suddenly watched in horror, disgust, and anger that I (a friend, supporter, ally, and online community leader) become “victimized” by Linda. Linda utilized the local court and a court order to shut down the one important communication platform April and many others used to share information with others about the “Dash Poem extortion”. April suddenly became the lone victims’ advocate again, publicly.

After battling through two appellate courts for two long years, I ultimately prevailed. Behind-the-scenes out of the public eye, April was there and she is one of the most important allies and supporters I had during this time. She watched it all happen and describes it all from her perspective. Of course, my portion of the story is one small piece among many people’s stories told in the book.

The “Poetic Justice” book is about April’s journey and her story. It is the very first book that discusses the phenomenon of copyright extortion. April writes her accounts and stories of the many people who have intersected and come into her life. She shares her experiences in fighting Linda, the “Dash Poem copyright extortion”, her personal observations and opinions of Linda, and ultimately brings the seemingly array of unrelated people and events together into one compelling narrative.

Even though I was there for certain portions described in her book, it is still fascinating to read her accounting of all the disparate, intertwining events since 2011. It is worth your time to read this book. I recommend it. I think you will be amazed, angered, shocked, and surprised by the revelations as it relates to the famous (and now also infamous) Dash Poem.

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June 22, 2015

Reflecting Upon April Brown’s Release of Her New Book “Poetic Justice”

For the last several weeks, I’ve largely stayed offline because contrary to some of critics’ belief, I actually do have a business and personal life offline. For those I criticize and write about, they got a small reprieve. However, April Brown’s book release of “Poetic Justice” on Amazon revived many old memories of the untold, behind-the-scenes stupidity we dealt with the last two years.

For example, some people cannot leave things well enough alone as in the example of Seattle Bozo / Clown Attorney Timothy B. McCormack who had the bright idea of sending me his so-called copyright infringement / harassment / defamation letter last year (January 2014). I went into an indefinite self-imposed exile from ExtortionLetterInfo.com (ELI) in March 2013. Essentially, I was waiting for the Chan v. Ellis appeal process to run its course and had no foreseeable plan to coming back to ELI. But my online silence and exile was not good enough for Timmy and he wanted to pick a fight with me because it was just too quiet for him. It became clear to me that he took my self-imposed exile as a sign of weakness and I decided it was time end my silence and make a comeback along with a pointed reply to the Seattle’s resident Getty Clown / Bozo Attorney.

In an incident from June 2013, I was forwarded a copy of John W. Jolin’s libelous and defamatory statements about me. I have BOLDED the outrageous defamatory statements that John wrote.

Thank you for your email. There are damages to consider. You used a product that costs money for FREE to promote your website. You unlawfully used a product without permission. We also see that you have been in contact with a previous infringer of Ms. Ellis’ work and anti-copyright advocate Ms. April Brown. Ms. Brown’s comments in her blog that you copied in your email are completely untrue! We in no way pursue individuals of someone whose daughter just died! That is absurd. I highly recommend you contact an attorney for legal advice. Ms. Brown is not an attorney. She is a vindictive copyright infringer that spews out bad legal advice. Ms. Brown is a Lead Advocate, Contributor and Ambassador to a proven stalker of Ms. Ellis, Mr. Matthew Chan. Ms. Ellis recently received a permanent restraining order against Mr. Chan in March. Mr. Chan has also been accused of additional stalking, child molestation and of being an abuser to women on many other websites. Please see the below link for more information on April Brown and Mr. Chan. I am sure your company would not want to be associated with these type of individuals.

http://lindaellis.net/the-dash/copyright-info/matthew-chan-columbus-ga-guilty-of-stalking/

Just to be clear our settlement offer is in lieu of possibly filing suit in federal court and pursuing statutory damages. Statutory damages are a damage award in civil law, in which the amount awarded is stipulated within the statute rather than being calculated based on the degree of harm to the plaintiff. Lawmakers will provide for statutory damages for acts in which it is difficult to determine a precise value of the loss suffered by the victim. Because of the ease of infringement, federal law authorizes copyright owners, like Ms. Ellis, to automatically recover statutory damages of up to $30,000.00 for each copyright violation in addition to the automatic recovery of all attorneys’ and costs involved in pursuing the copyright violation. 17 U.S.C. §§ 504(c)(1) and 505. If a court determines the infringement intentional or “willful,” the law authorizes a court to award statutory damages of up to $150,000.00 per copyright violation. 17 U.S.C. § 504(c)(2). Courts will find “willful infringement” when someone continues to publish copyrighted material after receiving a letter like ours from the copyright owner requesting its removal.

I am sure you are an intelligent person. Please review the below link from the US copyright office and see that there are damages when you use copyrighted work without permission. Then contact an attorney for real advice. http://www.copyright.gov/title17/

We hope to hear from you promptly to discuss our offer of settlement in a professional manner. Our offer of settlement is open for 10 more days before we turn this clear copyright infringement matter over to our attorney for further action.

Sincerely,

John W. Jolin
Intellectual Property Coordinator
Linda’s Lyrics, LLC
1050 E. Piedmont Road
Suite E-135
Marietta, GA 30062
www.lindaellis.net
Phone: 678-521-6216
Fax: 770-977-0077

NOTICE: This message and accompanying documents are covered by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. 2510-2521, and contains information intended for the specified individual(s) only. This electronic mail transmission is for the use of the named individual or entity to which it is directed and may contain information that is privileged or confidential. It is not to be transmitted to or received by anyone other than the named addressee (or a person authorized to deliver it to the named addressee). It is not to be copied or forwarded to any unauthorized persons. If you have received this electronic mail transmission in error, delete it from your system without copying or forwarding it, and notify the sender of the error by replying via email or by calling Linda’s Lyrics at (678) 521-6216, so that our address record can be corrected.

There are a few points I want to make here. First, if John didn’t want his email forwarded to anyone, he should never have sent it. No one can bind anyone to NOT share an email they legitimately received even with that ridiculous notice he attaches at the end of his email. I was forwarded his email legitimately and did not hack into his email account. Thus, I have a right to share it with anyone I please.

Second, John KNOWS I am not a “child molester” or an “abuser of women”. If I truly were, I guarantee he would not be so secretive or carefully worded about it. But he chose to take extreme creative liberties over posts made by a nutjob named Ari Hinnant who was upset at me for exposing her as an online scammer in 2009. One only needs to Google search “Ari Hinnant scam” to get what she is all about. Convicted sex offenders in all 50 states are listed in online federal databases. Anyone can easily do a search on anyone’s name. Needless to say, my name does not appear anywhere in these sex offender databases.. For that matter, aside from a few speeding tickets, I have no criminal record. And yet, here you can plainly see John engaging in some good old-fashioned libel and defamation of me in his efforts to discredit me (and April by association) so that he can collect money from his victim.

Third, John tells people to get “real advice from an attorney”. However, what he doesn’t say is “except if that attorney’s name is Oscar Michelen”. That is because Oscar knows better about how John and Linda operate and not at all intimidated by them. In fact, John wrote someone that he REFUSED to deal with Oscar because of his association with me.

An email from Summer 2013 (which I will not publish at this time), John tries to associate Oscar to the protective order I received and accuses both of us of “defaming entities” that protect copyrights. Because I received a protective order and Oscar made public statements in support of me and “associated” with me, John “refuses” to negotiate or “work with” Oscar. This unwise email John sent made Oscar unhappy because of its libelous and defamatory content that compelled Oscar to send a very stern cease-and-desist letter to John warning him of HIS defamatory, libelous, and possible tortious interference language.

Conveniently, John ran to “mommy” Linda. She stood up for and defended John by claiming she wrote and edited the entire email that was signed in John’s name. How convenient for him. John threatens legal action every other day to his victims but the one letter he receives from Oscar, he became silent and ran to Linda to defend him.

To the best of my knowledge, John or Linda never wrote anything libelous or defamatory about Oscar again. It seemed to me that they didn’t want to risk Oscar coming down to Georgia sue either of them personally. After all, it wouldn’t be hard to find them to get them served if Oscar wanted to. And HE would certainly not need to hire a lawyer to sue either John or Linda.

Both John and Linda have skirted the libel and defamation issue with both me and Oscar (but much moreso with me) the last two years when my case was under appeal. Desperately, they took advantage of the protective order that was in effect in 2013-2014 to stop people from listening to what Oscar, April, and I were telling victims regarding the Dash Poem extortion letters.

April’s book “Poetic Justice” is now available on Amazon. Sales have already ticked upwards based on online word-of-mouth alone. April has written about me, Oscar, ELI, and many people I’ve not met in her book. However, I only read very early drafts and have not come close to reading the final version. I am looking forward to reading her perspective of the dozens of victims (and their stories) she has communicated with and accumulated the last three years.

It is interesting note that had it not been for Linda and her foolish choices, it is entirely possible April would not have been so driven to become an author. Or if April wanted to become an author, certainly not with such urgency and passion.

April is likely to embark on an interesting journey in the months and year ahead. Those of us who are her friends cannot help but be fascinated with what she has planned. I am also an author of several books and audio programs but never on a subject so volatile. As a street-wise entrepreneur and businesswoman, she will take an unconventional and unorthodox approach to promoting the book. It will be interesting when people who are fans of “The Dash” encounter April’s book. It could be very eye-opening to Linda’s readership and fanbase.

I have kicked around the idea of writing a book about copyright extortion for years but it is April who was finally driven to make it happen. I commend her for committing the time, energy, and resources to make it happen. I know from personal experience that it is not an easy project to undertake especially the first book. The last book I wrote was in 2009, well over six years go. It is time I get back on the saddle.

Having said that, I am announcing that I will be writing about the Chan v. Ellis saga, I have no title yet. It will include the cast of characters and the MANY behind-the-scenes stories never told to the general public. It will likely debut in electronic format, not printed format. I want to be able to add and update it easily. In addition, Oscar Michelen has expressed interest in participating in this project and writing from his perspective. I am still in discussions with him. It would be a privilege to have Oscar as a co-author in this project. There is no timeline yet on this project but the Chan v. Ellis saga project is a definite go even if I have to write it alone.

With April’s book “Poetic Justice” hitting online shelves, I will have to play catch up to her!

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April 8, 2015

Cleaning Up the “Chan v. Ellis” Mess (Part 5)

This is Part 5 of the “Cleaning Up the ‘Chan v. Ellis’ Mess” commentary series. If you have not read Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 you should do that first and then come back here. Everything will make more sense to you.

Linda and her lawyer, Elizabeth W. (Betsy) McBride, through their unwise choices wasted many people’s time, energy, and resources over all this. Although many unintended benefits and priceless relationships were formed along the way through this two-year ordeal, none of this had to happen. Hindsight is often 20/20. I cannot say for certain that even with all the knowledge and experience I gained in the last two years, that if I had a chance to go back and redo the February 2013 hearing all again, that I could have prevailed. I think my chances would have improved significantly with what I know today but, perhaps, there was never really any way out of this for me except by going through it.

The Truth of Why This Battle Started

Linda wants to give the impression to others that I, April Brown, and ELI Supporters are simply irrational human beings who simply decided to one day start “picking on her” and “bullying” her. That is truly laughable considering Linda’s long history of legal bullying against churches, non-profits, and other organizations. The reality is that Linda never had anyone who dared speak out or challenge her publicly regarding her overbearing, heavy-handed copyright enforcement scheme. Although minor (and anonymous) complaints about Linda could be found on the Internet, it was April Brown in early 2012 who first used her real name and identity to complain and vocally fight back against Linda and her antics of trying to compel April to submit and pay for an innocent sharing of Linda’s poem. I won’t go into the details here (you can find out more at GetPoeticJustice.com) but suffice it to say, it was more than sending letters and emails to April.

When April came across my radar through her tweets in June 2012, she brought to my and ELI’s attention the issue of poetry copyright extortion. Because ELI had only dealt with copyright extortion as it related to stock photos, imagery, clip art, and newspaper articles, I found the idea of extracting thousands of dollars for the innocent sharing of a poem fascinating and incredulous. April has said to me she felt that I was initially skeptical of her and questioned her credibility. As I told her, it had nothing to do with her. At that time, I simply found the idea of poem extortion hard to believe and comprehend. In fact, the dollar amounts Linda was asking for poem infringements were far higher than anything we typically saw with most stock photos and image infringements.

It didn’t take long for me to start pursuing and researching the matter and a Linda Ellis/Linda Lyrics/Dash Poem Letter Forum was launched as a way to generate dialog, share information, and help victims strategize defend themselves. As we gathered letters from Linda’s letter recipients, we began posting copies of her letters on Scribd for public viewing and commentary. Since then, there have been other letters that have been posted and shared.

On June 6, 2012, John W. Jolin initiated his first “attack” on the ELI Scribd account by submitting a bogus DMCA complaint to Scribd over a document that we legally obtained from a demand letter recipient.

View this document on Scribd

The bogus DMCA complaint irritated me because I then had to waste my time to write a customized DMCA Counter-Notification Letter to explain that the document we shared was legally obtained.

View this document on Scribd

Following this incident, more complaints and stories came in. This ultimately led to the infamous $100,000 demand letter issued by Atlanta law firm, Kalka & Baer, on behalf of Linda to a California author which created quite a stir.

View this document on Scribd

I’d heard of this $100,000 demand letter a couple of months earlier from April but it was not until around December 2012 that I actually spoke with the California author and saw the full copy of the demand letter that was later posted for everyone to comment on. April became friends with this author and was morally outraged by the stunning demand amount. Quite frankly, I understood April’s moral outrage as well as many ELI regulars who followed the “Dash Poem extortion scheme”.

In my moral outrage and misplaced zeal to assist the California author, I obviously went overboard in what I wrote in some forum posts. I let my emotions get the better of me. Nevertheless, read objectively and in full context, the forum posts clearly did not indicate making physical threats or physical danger to her or anyone else.

Linda stirred the pot some more in January 2013 by filing outrageous complaints to Eapps, my web host provider at the time, that ELI was engaged in “death threats” and “threatening and dangerous” activities by reporting on publicly available information. This created a series of unhappy events for me which necessitated the sudden move of ELI to Robert Krausankas’ web host provider. Had Robert not stepped up when he did to assist, I would have had to scramble to find a web host provider that actually had enough of a spine to stand up for its clients unlike Eapps. I would like to add that Robert generously contributes web hosting services to ELI to this very day to support me, Oscar Michelen, and ELI supporters. I can say that Oscar and I continue to be grateful to Robert’s ongoing loyalty, contributions, assistance, and service to the ELI cause.

And when we moved ELI to Robert’s web host provider, Linda once again initiated another “attack” against ELI by her ridiculous complaints to Robert’s upstream provider. Fortunately, he was apprised of Linda’s tactics and was prepared for them unlike Eapps. Although no harm was caused to ELI by this set of complaints, Linda succeeded to once again irritate and annoy us in ways very few copyright extortionists did.

To summarize my “beef” with Linda which contributed to a few “ungentlemanly” posts about her, I prepared a presentation slide for the lower court.

The Truth About ExtortionLetterInfo.com (ELI)

One of the toughest things to do is to explain to “outsiders” what ELI is all about. In a broad sense, ELI discusses copyright issues, copyright enforcement, and copyright extortion in its various forms. However, the “culture” of ELI goes beyond traditional online discussions. There is a “rebellious”, “get educated, get empowered”, and “stand up and fight for yourself” attitude that I encourage and cultivate. The First Amendment legally allows for all kinds of speech, not just the polite, socially-acceptable, politically-correct kind. Because the American Colonists escaped the oppression of the English, the Founding Fathers wisely allowed for smaller, weaker, minority interests to speak out against larger, stronger, majority interests.

While Linda wants to place blame upon the Georgia Supreme Court for ruling incorrectly, even if I had been ruled as “stalking”, there is no way that the Georgia Supreme Court could ignore well-established historic decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court which has repeatedly supported people’s rights to free and open speech (with some very narrow First Amendment exceptions such as “true threat”, “child pornography”, “false statements of fact”, “incitement of violence”, etc.) Linda and her lawyer would do well to pay heed that Linda and Seattle attorney Timothy B. McCormack have treaded on thin ice regarding what I believe to be intentional “false statements of fact”. It is unfortunate that Betsy is not privy to written documents written by Timmy about me and others. If she did, she wouldn’t have been so quick to embrace him.

Linda supposedly believes in the First Amendment and was not trying to shut down the ELI Forums and yet, that is precisely what she and her lawyer, Betsy McBride did with great success. They “permanently” shut down a portion of the ELI Forums because Linda and her cohorts convinced the lower court that I was so “dangerous” that my and ELI users’ right to speak out on ELI was unceremoniously shut down. Even if I had been “stalky”, why were the dozens of other ELI users forbidden to share and post their comments? Because Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act was entirely ignored and disregarded by the lower court.

In the lower court, I presented slides that tried to succinctly explain what ELI was all about as of February 2013. Aside from some small changes in the last two years, these slides are still largely representative of ELI.

I believe the slides do a fairly good job in visually explaining and encapsulating what ELI is all about, not the distorted views Linda tries to peddle.

This concludes Part 5. Read Part 6.

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January 24, 2015

CABALaw.org Wants to Help Dash Poem Demand Letter Victims for FREE!

Greg Troy of CABALaw.org is on a roll this week. He has made a stunning public offer to help victims of the Linda’s Lyrics / Dash Poem Extortion Letter for FREE. In Greg’s recent article titled: You Received Linda Ellis’ Dash Poem Settlement Demand Letter. Now What? Copyright Anti-Bullying Act Wants to Help. (As a side note, I created the The “Linda Ellis / Linda’s Lyrics / Dash Poem Copyright Infringement Letter” Resource Page that assembles various web resources for anyone needing information on the subject. Greg’s newest article has been added to that page.)

In his latest article, Greg outlines the major options every Linda’s Lyrics / Dash Poem extortion letter victim should consider. They include calming down and getting educated, then get mad and fight back with complaint letters, and finally getting qualified legal counsel. Both he and I highly recommend Oscar Michelen for legal representation. There is no lawyer more qualified to go up against Linda Ellis and her offensive and greedy copyright enforcement operation than Oscar. In fact, Oscar is currently my lead attorney in my legal battle against Linda Ellis herself to overturn a local court’s overreaching protective order.

What makes Greg unique from other solutions discussed by others (including myself) in the past is that he wants to spearhead a letter-writing campaign to the appropriate government agencies, namely the Governor’s Office of Consumer Protection against the Dash Poem copyright enforcement operation. Greg has had good success with his efforts against Getty Images on ExtortionLetterInfo.com (ELI) with the ELI Forums. In fact, Greg holds the special distinction of leading “An Experiment Against Getty”, the longest single thread of discussion on ELI ever (currently at 18-pages). It all centered around his efforts to spearhead that letter-writing campaign against Getty Images and their girlie-lawyer, Timothy B. McCormack, which caused a great deal of annoyance and heartache for Getty Images. It is all entirely legal and a wonderful exercise in the First Amendment when angry people band together in a common cause to make public complaints about a much larger, more powerful, and legally threatening adversary.

Unfortunately, the Linda’s Lyrics / Dash Poem Letter Forum on the ELI Forums was ordered taken down in March 2013 (now being aggressively appealed with the Georgia Supreme Court), it would have hosted that online discussion. For now, Greg is taking this project on entirely independent of ELI resources.

Greg is often highly underestimated due to his low-key, diplomatic, easy-going demeanor. But when provoked, as Linda has clearly done with her recent cyber-strafing of his online web and social media accounts, in addition to her online attacks of me and April Brown, author of “Poetic Justice”. Greg is now making this letter-writing campaign his pet project. I almost feel sorry for her. Almost. It is my opinion (I haven’t asked him) that Greg is seeking to bankrupt the ugly and greedy Dash Poem copyright extortion operation once and for all. I could be wrong but far be it for me to stand in Greg’s way.

On a selfish note, it is kind of nice to see others take up a sword in this fight. For a long time, it was just April and I taking most of the arrows from her. It should be interesting to see Greg’s results in the weeks and months to come.

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January 23, 2015

ELI Support Team Bands Together to Fight Back Dash Poet’s Propaganda

I guess it is an official foursome. Robert Krausankas of Copyright-Trolls.com has once again released his latest post about the Dash Poet, Linda Ellis, entitled, “Poet” Linda Ellis has an Obsession Issue”. Robert’s post includes ALL of the Dash Poet’s “cyber-strafing” screenshots that I commented on.

It appears clear that Robert has chosen to publicly stand alongside me, April Brown, and Greg Troy in speaking out and fighting back the Dash Poet smear propaganda that was first directed at April in an effort to dissuade her from releasing her book, “Poetic Justice”, and myself for my outspoken support of April.

Weeks ago, the Dash Poet released a group photo of us in an attempt to embarrass or shame us into silence. That clearly did not work.

Given the good-looking, fabulous foursome we are (the Dash Poet calls us “cyberbullies” because we speak out about and against her nasty copyright extortion habits against unknowing victims), I thought I would share our happy photos when we all met and hung out as a group for the very first time in Atlanta on October 7, 2014.

This last photo is the four of us with the ELI Legal Team!

We are not these “faceless” people behind the keyboard. All four us (April, Robert, Greg, and I) are all intelligent, quick-thinking, independent-minded, outspoken entrepreneurs who have chosen to band together as a team to take action, fight, and stand for a common cause using our respective talents and skill sets.

Thanks to the Dash Poet’s legal actions and public attacks against me since 2013, the ELI Team has never been stronger, closer, or formidable.

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January 18, 2015

CABALaw.org Asks: Why Does the Dash Poet Keeping Taunting Her Supposed Stalker?

Greg Troy, blogger of CABALaw.org, has written a very informative blog post with a provocative title, “If Linda Ellis Is Afraid of Matthew Chan As She Claims, Why Does She Keep Taunting Him?”

Before I begin, I want to do a full disclosure that Greg is a friend of mine, ExtortionLetterInfo (ELI) forum administrator & moderator, and a member of the ELI Support Team. I did not ask or instruct him to write this blog post. He did this of his own volition and only shared it with me after he was nearly completed. To be sure, I am grateful for his friendship and ongoing support of me and ELI. I have forewarned him that he places himself at some degree of “reputational risk” by publicly associating his name with mine as well as our mutual support of April Brown, author of “Poetic Justice”.

However, Greg is fearless, loyal, and has chosen to stand by me in my uphill battle to overturn the permanent protective order currently in effect against me. The Dash Poet, Linda Ellis, after firing her veiled threats and warnings to April in an effort to dissuade her from releasing her book, she has now turned her attention to me, her legal nemesis, to retaliate because of my outspoken support and loyalty to April Brown and her book project.

Greg has previously come out in support of April and her book in addition to helping defend April against the Dash Poet’s “smear-and-shame” campaign that appears to have subsided for the time being.

Greg, in his anger over watching has been happening with April and me, enters the fray and unleashes his story recounting some of the significant and dramatic Dash Poet events since 2012. Greg’s post is a must-read for anyone who wants to learn the history of the Dash Poet’s battle with me, April, and ELI. Certainly, many of you have read my version of recent and past events but it is always fascinating to read what someone else writes about you and their recollections. Remember, Greg is a friend but I didn’t write his blog post. This is all his baby and he has a good story to tell.

Greg has “come out” with certain events that I was reluctant to discuss like the recent “shirtless” video incident. Greg came out with it because he knew I was angry about the distortion of the context of the “shirtless” video from a few years ago when I was testing the UStream video streaming service. I didn’t discuss it because it appeared the Dash Poet took down the video very quickly. She took it down so quickly I didn’t have a chance to make a copy of that video. The clip she used was an extremely poor version of the original which has been long deleted. As Greg pointed out, that video “conveniently” blocks out much of the context and description of the video. Fortunately, there was enough to make out what it’s true purpose was, to test a video streaming service, not some secret sex-related video as was seemingly implied by the Dash Poet.

Anyone that knows Greg knows that he is a respectful, polite, mild-mannered guy. But under that demeanor lies a man that isn’t afraid to speak his mind, taking up a cause, and making a stand to support his friends. For that, I am grateful for his loyalty and friendship.

I could write more but I won’t for now. All I want to do is make sure you take the time to read Greg’s provocatively-named post, “If Linda Ellis Is Afraid of Matthew Chan As She Claims, Why Does She Keep Taunting Him?” which is actually quite on the mark.

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January 14, 2015

The Dash Poet’s Desperate Attempts to “Marry” April Brown (“Poetic Justice” Author) to Me

It seems I just can’t stay away from April Brown, author of “Poetic Justice”. There seems to be something new happening almost every day for the past week that requires me to discuss or write about April. Before too long, people are going to think I have an “obsession” for April. For now, the current accusation by the Dash Poet is that April is “obsessed” with her because April decided to write a book about her. My thinking is that when your email inbox and phone rings nearly every week for the last two years from strangers wanting to complain about the Dash Poet, her henchman John W. Jolin, or one of her nasty $7,500 extortion letters, it doesn’t make it easy to ignore. There is just something a tad bit annoying about listening to unhappy stories from people being scared into paying thousands of dollars just because you liked a poem enough to post on a website.

It also doesn’t help that my legal battle has been going on for two years of which April felt partially responsible (she’s not) that I got hit with this ordeal. April cannot help that we have a legally uninformed boob of a poet that has little PR sense that you don’t try to sue a website owner for posts SOMEONE ELSE makes or when someone says something disagreeable and hurts her feelings. Bad things happen when you try that sort of nonsense in a courtroom and it gets found out. The interwebs absolutely HATE it. The Dash Poet has gotten a spanking by the tech media for it.

As obnoxious and “potty-mouthed” as I occasionally can be, people hate copyright extortionists a whole lot more. My biggest “crime” is that I speak out too loudly and obnoxiously against copyright extortionists. I call them names, make fun of them, and I am just mean to them online. I hurt their feelings by writing about their ongoing shenanigans and report publicly-accessible information. And the Dash Poet still does the “stalkie-talkie” trying to convince her airy-fairy, artsy-fartsy, behind-the-Chinese-wall readership of how she is so frightened of me and needs to take a stand against “cyberbullies”. All the while, she loves to get her little digs in on me trying to ding my credibility and reputation.

Oh sure, after being single for years and meeting scores of women without ever having one “stalking” accusation, I am suddenly going to start “stalking” some random older woman in a city I don’t live in and have never met because I am bored. Sure, that is believable. I am the only “stalker” in this world who never visited, met, phoned, emailed, faxed, text-messaged, or social media-ed their alleged victim.

When people ask me “what is the deal with the stalking stuff? I tell them that some woman in Marietta who sends $7,500 extortion letters to people for sharing a poem didn’t like it when I started “talking lots of shit” online in trying to help a guy with a $100,000 extortion letter. It’s kind of amazing how quickly they hop off the “stalkie-talkie” part to a WTF reaction over $7,500 letters for sharing a poem online much less a $100,000 letter. So, yeah, I am THAT GUY the Dash Poet constantly “cries” about during her “stalkie-talkie” sessions of how fearful she is.

And although I already have a wonderful girlfriend, the Dash Poet is trying to “matchmaker” me and April to make us a permanent item by “marrying” us online. If you look at the “language warning” clip, you can see how my friend, Robert, and I having a video conference in that “harassment” video? Well, according to the Dash Poet, April is somehow responsible for my rants in that video and it is part of her larger conspiracy although she isn’t anywhere in that video when we made the recording. And Robert and I dared to make the video without any involvement or permission from April. That became my supposed “harassment” video.

I suppose April and I can have an online relationship while my current girlfriend and I have an offline one. I should probably confess that I am also a part-time gigolo for April. April is always offering to pay me to provide business services for her. *wink* She sometimes outright gives me money when she is in the mood without ever being asked. How wonderful is a woman like that? She likes to help pay for my expenses such as court costs, travel expenses, office expenses, etc. (most of my lawyer fees were free for me thanks to my legal advisor, Oscar Michelen and First Amendment legal scholar, Eugene Volokh).

April is pretty generous so maybe I probably SHOULD let the Dash Poet “marry” April to me. There are far worse women to be associated with I can assure you. What do all of you think? Should I allow the “Dash Poet” to marry April to me or should I take steps to “break up” with April? What a freaking pickle I am now in. How the hell do I get out of this relationship with April? *wink*

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January 14, 2015

CABALaw.org Supports “Poetic Justice” Author Against Dash Poet’s “Smear-and-Shame” Websites

Greg Troy, blogger of CABALaw.org & ELI Team Member, is jumping into the fray of defending and speaking out against Dash Poet, Linda Ellis, in support of “Poetic Justice” author, April Brown regarding the “smear-and-shame” website JustFreeSpeech.com. I was only made aware of his most recent article “Linda Ellis Launches Smear Campaign against April Brown” after he wrote it.

Greg recaps the history of the Dash Poet’s history of copyright extortion and providing links to copies of victim-contributed $7,500 Dash Poem extortion letters.

More disturbingly, Greg brings to light and offers the public a reminder of the Dash Poet’s prior history of using disturbing and perhaps Google-inappropriate practice of using the Google Adword Program as a mechanism to “market” her “smear-and-shame” website, JustFreeSpeech.com, against April using the phrase “April Brown Auctioneer”. I confess it is a “bold” move that I would not engage in because I prefer to remain in good standing with Google. It seems like something Google might cancel and close an account over but I am not an expert on how the Google Ads program works. However, the Dash Poet seems willing to spend her money to fund a Google advertising program in an attempt to smear April’s business reputation.

Greg recounts his story of observing the Dash Poet posting on April’s own “Get Poetic Justice” Facebook page as well as his directly challenging the Dash Poet on that page if she would allow him to post on the Dash Poet’s own Facebook Fan page if he promised to be entirely accurate with his fact. He says his question went unanswered.

Greg offers his own interesting perspective and insights in to the Dash Poet’s recent “smear-and-shame” website. I highly recommend everyone read his article for yourself in support of April Brown.

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