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.
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.
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
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 Callprogram.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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!
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.
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”.
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.
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.
On January 7, 2015, Dash Poet, Linda Ellis opened fire on April Brown by posting comments, remarks, and warnings on her book marketing website GetPoeticJustice.com and informed April about smear-and-shame website JustFreeSpeech.com and LindaLogic.com/obsession.html by posting on April’s “Get Poetic Justice” Facebook page. They were the Dash Poet’s attempt to dissuade and discourage April from releasing her book. As a consequence, knowing April as well as I do and because of our friendship as well as our shared distaste for the Dash Poem copyright extortion scheme, I felt compelled to publicly defend and support April in a way that very few could.
When someone attempts to commit reputational harm through out-of-context information, incomplete information, or outright fiction, the only way to combat it is to call the offending party out on it, challenge it, and passionately present your facts and argument armed with empassioned logic, reason, transparency, disclosure, explanation, and allow others to critique and make their own judgments. I tend to believe most people have the ability to discern the truth if there is complete information, disclosure, and transparency without the need to erect Chinese walls (as the Dash Poet continues to do).
I support April the way I do because part of the Dash Poet’s strategy has been her attempt to damage April’s reputation by desperately tying her personal and business reputation to me and my so-called “stalking” case. Certainly, the Dash Poet has every right to call me a “stalker” until she passes out from sheer exhaustion (one can only dream). Likewise, I can and do call her a “hypocritical copyright extortionist” as well as many other politically-incorrect, insensitive, occasionally-sexist, profanity-laced names, which of course, is reflective of my own human failings, flaws, pettiness, and occasional stupidity.
But guess what? I am not a perfect human being and they are all allowed by the First Amendment as long as I don’t engage in physical or safety threats which I have never done. People who know me absolutely know about most of my personal flaws and human failings where I engage in blunt profanity, name-calling, personal insults, rants, and occasionally petty behavior. It is no shock to them. I do all of these things in person, in my writings, and even in videos. I am reasonably consistent no matter what subject matter I am discussing or media platform I use.
The reputational assault on April by the Dash Poet was not something I was going to tolerate and stand aside on especially when I am well qualified to speak to both parties especially in the “unique” case I have with the Georgia Supreme Court. So, yes, I was absolutely going to aggressively and passionately speak out on behalf of April. I also knew, at some point, that the Dash Poet would aim her shotgun my way. I was informed that JustFreeSpeech.com was registered October 11, 2014, four days after my and the Dash Poet’s Georgia Supreme Court oral argument session. That tells me that despite the fact it currently hosts “smear-and-shame” information about April, that website was originally intended for me.
Opening shots on me and my reputation have already been fired by the Dash Poet. I cannot say I know what other bullets and grenades are in her arsenal but she is stupid if she thinks that I am alone. It would appear for reasons she and her copyright extortionist allies like girly-Getty Images lawyer Timothy B. McCormack cannot fathom, I seem to attract and maintain a group of seasoned, intelligent, independent-minded, entrepreneurial-spirited, and resourceful supporters. (We come from similar asylums. *wink*.) To be clear, they all do so for their own personal reasons (psst… a dirty little secret is that I blackmailed all of them or otherwise bribed them *wink*). Gosh knows, I would NEVER win a popularity contest or likeability contest. That ship sailed long ago when I hit 18 three decades ago. I personally think that some of my supporters are sycophants which is why they stand near me if they don’t stand by me. *wink*
I believe that talk is cheap. I said years ago that I am a stern defender and fighter for my friends and business associates ESPECIALLY if they are being attacked with bullshit tactics and false or distorted accusations. It is clear that the Dash Poet crossed the line by making veiled threats on April and launching her “smear-and-shame” website against April. It is a damned good thing I spent lots of time getting to know April both on a personal and a business level. It makes it easy for me to write about her. Pssst. I know this might be a shocker to many of you but I actually discovered that April is an imperfect human being who has made mistakes in both her personal and business life over the years. Can you imagine that? And she has the nerve to actually share that information with others. Despite all these personal flaws, April has the gall to think (with all her personal failings and dumb mistakes in life) she can actually still do some good in the world by giving free counsel to people who were dumb and ignorant enough to share a sappy, “Dash”ing poem with others and help those nincompoops get out of paying thousands of dollars in damages by writing a book! Is April a lunatic, sicko, or what? *wink*
Since April and I came from similar asylums, we understand each other and we are in competition to see who can make the dumbest mistakes and embarrass themselves the most. *wink* It is okay for me and April’s friends to do it but it is not okay for the Dash Poet to do it. She isn’t a member of the “Mean Boys & Girls” club so she doesn’t know the rules of the game. Some of those rules we follow are:
Stop blocking important pieces of fact and data.
Stop blocking, twisting, and distorting the actual context.
Try to show some real transparency, not a mirage of one.
Don’t build Chinese walls when telling your story.
Try not to be a walking, breathing hypocrisy.
I know there are more rules than that but those were the five I immediately thought of.
I never expected I would be involved with April’s book marketing efforts of “Poetic Justice” in quite this way. I thought I would simply pass the word along about her book. But April’s decision to release “Poetic Justice” and speak out on behalf of April has apparently resulted in my receiving my own “smear-and-shame” grenades thrown my way courtesy of the Dash Poet. I have no regrets standing up for April as she works to release her book. But I hope all of you will forgive the fact that I will also have to defend myself from the “smear-and-shame” grenades now being tossed my way. The upside to all this is that I think some of you might enjoy the drama as it unfolds. If you are the sort of person who wants to watch an imperfect and obnoxious person get grenaded upon and fight back with the weapon of words, come back to Defiantly. Better yet, subscribe by email! I promise I will do my best and tell some entertaining stories at my own expense! Admit it, we are all rubber-neckers to this sort of stuff. Need I say anything more?
It appears that my outspoken defense of April and her right to publish her book about the Dash Poet and the Dash copyright extortion scheme is resulting in getting more collateral damage my way.
The heated battle between April Brown, author of “Poetic Justice”, and Linda Ellis, of the infamous “Dash Poem Extortion Scheme” was recently reignited when April went public and began marketing her first book “Poetic Justice: The True Story of The Dash and One Woman’s Quest to End Copyright Extortion and Bullying”. Since January 7, 2015, Ellis has launched two websites (justfreespeech.com and lindalogic.com) in addition to directly confronting on April’s “Get Poetic Justice” Facebook page to deter April Brown from releasing her upcoming book.
April’s dispute with Ellis began in early 2012 when Ellis, without any warning, demanded thousands of dollars through an extortion letter from April for innocently sharing The Dash poem with her readers. Unlike the average cowardly and legally-ignorant Dash Poem extortion victim, April fought back by complaining loudly and publicly. It was one of April’s tweets from early 2012 that brought April and her plight to my attention as founder of ExtortionLetterInfo.com (ELI).
It was when I investigated April’s claims in 2012 did I find out more about the underlying details that most people would not ask for nor would they have access to. Unbeknownst to the public, April and Ellis engaged in heated email arguments where personal insults were traded. Those emails from 2012 have been made available on Greg Troy’s (ELI Team Member) website. Ellis made legal threats against April (which ultimately proved to be a bluff). Ellis contacted April’s husband and her business associates. Ellis also used the Google Adwords program to tarnish April’s online reputation. Understandably, April didn’t take kindly to Ellis’ over-the-top tactics to collect “damages” and it infuriated April more.
In 2012, I launched the Linda Ellis/Linda Lyrics/ Dash Poem Forum that gave April, the ELI Community, and other Dash Poem extortion letter victims an online platform to air their complaints and comments, share stories, and discuss strategies to combat the Dash Poem extortion letters. Unfortunately, this forum is not currently available. It was ordered shut down by an over-reaching stalking protective order issued by a small town judge that did not seem to understand how Section 230 of the CDA and the First Amendment applies to Internet speech. Using a court order to take that forum down upset April, among many others, greatly. (That over-reaching protective is currently under appeal with the Georgia Supreme Court and I expect a ruling within the next few months.)
April’s personal journey from receiving the Dash Poem extortion letter, the personal email arguments, Ellis aggressive tactics of taking down April’s YouTube account, becoming involved with ELI and the Dash Poem forum only to have it taken down by court order, counseling scores of Dash Poem extortion letter victims and listening to their plight, seeing all the victims’ emails received by Ellis’ “copyright henchman” John W. Jolin’s email communications, and watching me get dragged through the legal system and subsequent appeal, became all too much for April to bear and to sit silently. The seeming separate and disparate incidents in April’s life led her to the thought that she wanted to write a book about her personal journey, the legal danger of using the Dash Poem, and the plights and complaints from Dash Poem extortion letter victims.
Similar to myself, April’s personal journey and life experiences are more involved that what the general public knows. Only a small group of April’s supporters and friends know the larger story. Ellis seems to ignorantly believe that April is obsessed with her. Any author who chooses a subject to write and research on would reasonably immerse themselves and deeply research all the information available to them. Celebrity biographer, Kitty Kelly, spends months and years to research her subjects’ backgrounds, conduct personal interviews, compile stories, and organize information for her books. Would anyone consider what Kitty Kelly did for her book “obsessive”? What April is doing is no different except for the fact that April has had direct personal experience with Ellis and that Ellis did make a a personally, intrusive effort against April to collect monies for her extortion letter scheme.
Ellis will likely argue that she is not a public figure or celebrity. However, her poem has become a viral literary phenomenon since the mid-1990’s. And because of this, unsuspecting and well-intended sharers of her poem are, without any warning, being suddenly demanded to pay thousands of dollars of their ignorant, but generally well-intended sharing of the Dash poem. Ellis may not be a public figure, but her “no-warning, pay thousands of dollars for the sharing of a poem” absolutely SCREAMS for public attention and public warning. Hence, April’s very appropriate mantra and rallying cry against the legally-dangerous Dash Poem “BEWARE, DON’T SHARE!”
I explain all of this because April anticipates that the general public will dismiss the heated dispute between April and Ellis (two strong-willed but philosophically-opposite women) as a “catfight”. This heated dispute has both personal and professional dimensions that transcends a stereotypical “catfight” where two women are fighting over a male suitor. If it were only that simple. Philosophically, the two women come from very different life experiences, mindsets, and philosophies. Ellis publicly asserts she doesn’t understand April’s strong ill and hostile feelings towards her for pursuing “damages” from what is “rightfully” hers. The reality is that April’s ill feelings toward Ellis has accumulated over the years. While April has little concern about herself and the extortion letter she received from Ellis in 2012, the onslaught of cries, anger, and complaints from Dash Poem extortion letter victims, Ellis & Jolin’s various tactics to suppress information and victim complaints, efforts to shut down April’s YouTube account, my legal battle against Ellis, in addition to other personal events have greatly influenced April’s decision to publish this book.
Let me be clear, I am a biased party. I make no apologies for it. I am not a 3rd-party reporter but I do have access to information and April that most reporters will never get. I also understand and relate to April in many ways that many don’t. We are both entrepreneurial, passionate, no-nonsense, unconventional, rebellious, independent-minded, and not afraid of “putting it out there” when necessary. The fact of the matter is, at this early stage, no reporter gives a shit about this story because this is a non-story for most of the general public. But the label of “catfight” will inevitably come and this article is my response to that assertion.
I can hear it now, why doesn’t April just “let it go and go on with her life”? I can’t speak for April but I do have insights into her character and personality. Whether you agree with April or not is that her life experiences have shaped her and she has a right to tell her story. She explains some of these experiences in her book. April is an activist. April is a successful charity auctioneer and so it is part of her business to help raise money and become involved with various charities and causes. April has for many years actively operated and managed Whisker City, her Seattle-based, non-profit efforts to care for unwanted cats and kittens. April continues to donate her time to counsel Dash Poem victims. April spends time as an ELI team member supporting me in winning the appeal against Ellis’ to overturn the over-reaching stalking protective order against me. All the while, April manages, markets, and operates her charity auction business.
April has told me she experienced sexism since she was a young woman and has fought hard over the years to gain the position, success, respect, and independence she has today. She has told me she has been a loner many times in her life. Using April’s own words, she “loves” the kinship, camaraderie, intelligence, passion, creativity, and mission of ELI to stop copyright extortion and especially its eclectic members of which I am the “figurehead”. (I really should not claim to be the “leader” as dealing with strong-willed, independent-minded ELI members are like herding cats!) Given the totality of April’s life experiences and her association with ELI members (especially me), it was inevitable the next stage in her personal and professional growth was to become a book author. As an author of several book and audio titles myself, I support her goal to become a book author. Contrary to what some might think, April has aspirations to write other books, not “obsess” over Ellis and the legally-dangerous-to-share Dash poem. This book project is April selecting what she personally knows that others need to be informed and warned about.
What Ellis doesn’t appear to realize is that her and Jolin’s ongoing efforts to heavy-handedly “control” the Dash poem, her critics, extracting disproportionate payments from scores of legally-ignorant victims without any warning for innocent sharing, and initiating legal action against me, Ellis’ has given birth to so much material and stories within April’s book. (As a side note, one day [win, lose, or draw], I plan on writing my own book about the Ellis v. Chan / Chan v. Ellis legal saga.)
Clearly, there are two sides of the story in the heated dispute between April and Ellis. One being told by April and her supporters such as myself and one told by Ellis (who uses a Chinese wall to shield her readership of April’s book). April is determined to tell her side of the story through using a book platform. Understandably, Ellis is unnerved by April’s upcoming book. But Ellis herself has largely created the “monster” that will become the “Poetic Justice” book.
Some might want to label this dispute as a “catfight” between April and Ellis. The truth of the matter is that there is a whole lot more to the story. April is on a mission of personal growth, advocacy, education, and empowerment by publishing her book. What was unexpected is that Ellis would so personally and directly initiate attacks against April’s credibility before reading one word of the new book.
It has been totally unexpected that the Dash Poet, Linda Ellis, began her one-woman campaign against April Brown as “warnings” to be cautious in what she writes about Ms. Ellis in the book “Poetic Justice”. It goes without saying that stating opinions, no matter how disagreeable or politically incorrect it might be, is perfectly legal. It is also perfectly appropriate for an author like April to convey stories told to her by other victims of the The Dash Poem Extortion Scheme.
What is interesting is the direct approach Ms. Ellis is taking and the fortitude of April to stand up against her and even ALLOW Ms. Ellis’ outspoken protests, declarations, and veiled threats to release potentially unflattering personal information. Ms. Ellis is well within her rights to publish any unflattering information about April she might have. But April also does not have to allow Ms. Ellis protestations all over April’s websites and social media accounts. April has every right to delete all Ms. Ellis comments and ban her from visiting any of April’s websites and accounts and essentially give her the digital boot out.
What is unusual and courageous is that April appears to be taking a stand and allowing Ms. Ellis to “do her worse”. All the while, April is directly engaging Ms. Ellis. Honestly, I have an online reputation for being controversial, unpleasant, and being a hard-ass but I am not sure I would or could allow an “enemy” into my web space to say whatever they want as April has.
I admire April for taking a strong stand and directly confronting “the enemy” and challenging her to do her worse. April has her supporters and friends. I consider myself one of them. It appears a hornet’s nest has been stirred. The question is whose nest is being stirred here? Is it Ms. Ellis’ or is it April’s nest that is being stirred?
The Dash Poet lives a hypocritical life and actively hides the details of her copyright extortion victims. She pitifully tries to put up a Chinese wall between her poetry marketing business and the highly profitable copyright extortion business. It only works because much of clientele are probably happy to live in la-la land being “inspired” by a woman who actively uses heavily-Photoshopped 15-20 year old photos on her websites. But I digress. I am of the opinion the copyright extortion business is highly lucrative and profitable to be able to support the livelihood of “copyright henchman”, John W. Jolin. Having met and questioned him face-to-face in court, he is definitely not a minimum wage guy. He needs to make more money to sustain his impressively “roundish” physical stature. He is not a dumb guy (mostly).
The Dash Poet delicately informs her “snowflake and butterfly” readership that she is engaging in the legal activity of copyright enforcement. What she doesn’t inform them is that she asks for $7,500 a pop going after churches, non-profits, medical/dental practices, funeral homes, and other organizations that are drawn to the Dash Poem. Nearly everyone I speak to cringes at the notion of paying up to $7,500 for unintentionally infringing on a poem by sharing it. There is a lot of wisdom in April’s mantra “Beware, Don’t Share” especially when it comes to the Dash Poem. To do so, invites too much unpleasantness of dealing with Mr. & Mrs. Shrek (Jolin & Ellis).
Ms. Ellis wants to play dumb and innocent and can’t understand the outrage and disdain April Brown (and many others including myself) finds what she does and asks for extortionate. Let us not forget that John W. Jolin regularly lies on behalf of Ms. Ellis for a living threatening to “escalate” matters in a game of chicken with legally ignorant Dash Poem victims that are already ripe to be victimized because of their innate fear of speaking out and conflict, in general.
April Brown has and continues to do more for Dash Poem Extortion victims working for free than I can ever or be willing to do. I simply find it difficult to respect some of the victims who are too legally ignorant to stand up for themselves and speak out in a country where free speech is a protected right.
Once again, April is doing something I am not sure I could do, go head to head with her “enemy” and letting that enemy sound off on April”s website and social media accounts. I think it takes a good amount of courage and internal fortitude to withstand the presence of an enemy. However, perhaps the true reward for April will come when the Dash Poet meets Streisand and the Dash Poet inadvertently helps promote the very book she wants to prevent from ever being released.
There is no question, the Dash Poet will be among the first customers to buy a copy to find out what has been written about her and what secrets have been uncovered. I have read several drafts and there are good stories to read.
This is not how I wanted to introduce or discuss my friend’s and loyal supporter’s, April Brown’s, upcoming book “Poetic Justice”. However, an unexpected turn of events began January 7, 2015 when I was notified that my alleged “stalkee”, Linda Ellis of Dash Poem fame, had become an “online stalker of sorts” of April Brown. Unlike my case, where all of my flamboyant, controversial (and occasionally outrageous) commentary about the Dash Poet, Linda Ellis, was posted entirely on my own website, ExtortionLetterInfo.com (ELI) for MY audience and readership to read which led Ms. Ellis’ to pursue a “stalking protective order” against me. Today, we now find that that the alleged “stalkee” has become April Brown’s “stalker”.
It was brought to my attention that Ms. Ellis made a blog post on what appears to be a new website lindalogic.com entitled “Obsession”. Because of her well-known propensity to first post knee-jerk comments then late retract them or edit them only a short time later, I felt it wise to make a few screen captures. After all, in her case against me, she and her “wonderfully brilliant” lawyer, Elizabeth W. McBride, used intentionally-bastardized screenshots (incomplete, out-of-context, highly-selective, blocked out sections) to build a case against me. However, I need not stoop to that level. I am perfectly comfortable keeping everything in context in discussing Ms. Ellis’ current “stalking” of April Brown.
April Brown is a woman I “met” initially through Twitter in early 2012. To make a long story short, April and I first became acquaintances. But over time we developed a sense of camaraderie, mutual respect, and friendship especially when ELI and I became drawn into legal battle against Ms. Ellis in early 2013 where I was compelled to defend myself against her ridiculous stalking accusations. While I am not going sidetrack by detailing what transpired in the courtroom, (suffice it to say, that it was extremely beneficial for Ms. Ellis to portray herself as a tearful, middle-aged mother who was allegedly “protecting” her adult daughter and intellectual property in front of a local judge who show no little or no interest or knowledge of Section 230 of the CDA or even the First Amendment as it relates to Internet speech).
In a swift 10-minute “quiet and thoughtful” decision-making process by the judge, Ms. Ellis got herself a PERMANENT (lifetime) protective order against me which would have been fine with me EXCEPT that the genius of Elizabeth W. McBride (and legal super-heroine) wanted to take advantage of my non-lawyer status by adding two paragraphs in the protective order that directed me to wipe away nearly 2,000 other non-threatening, informative commentary and posts (many of which I did not write) from ELI AND to forbid me from ever speaking ABOUT Ms. Ellis ever again on my own website! Suffice it to say, the apparent conspiracy between Columbus attorney Elizabeth W. McBride and the local judge essentially guaranteed I was going to file an appeal but I was going to have break out the “big guns” in the form of my friend, business associate, and lawyer, Oscar Michelen (who without my asking volunteered his legal expertise on my behalf) in addition to William J. McKenney.
Ms. Ellis in her inimitable, hypocritical, self-righteous style and her alleged “fear” of me managed to coax out two distorted media stories against me by PDN and Marietta Daily Journal that actually said I was a “cult leader”. However, it didn’t take long for us to rebut those ridiculous stories in the form of our own media coverage from Ars Technica, TechDirt, EFF, DMLP, etc. who saw the truth of the over-reaching protective order as outright violations of Section 230 of the CDA as well as my free speech rights. You can find the list of “our” media coverage here.
The reason I summarize my story is that it is now ironic for me to watch Ms. Ellis seemingly chase April Brown around the Internet and directly, actively posting on April’s websites and social media accounts that discuss April’s upcoming book, “Poetic Justice”.
“Poetic Justice” is April’s behind-the-scenes telling and recounting of her personal journey as a result of becoming Ms. Ellis first, very outspoken, sassy, and passionate extortion letter victim. To the best of my knowledge, no other extortion letter victim has ever responded and fought back against Ms. Ellis as loudly and vocally as April. Additionally, scores of extortion letter victims since 2012 have turned to April who has freely given of her time, energy, and knowledge to educate others on how the Dash Poem Extortion Letter operation works which includes her pudgy and follically-challenged co-hort. John W. Jolin.
April Brown needs no one to defend her but I do so because Ms. Ellis continues to attempt to “tarnish” the reputations of people like April who are my friends, business associates, supporters, and allies of me, ELI, Section 230 CDA, and the First Amendment by tying the overreaching stalking protective order and underhandedly and misleadingly implying that I am a criminally-convicted stalker serving some punishment. Rest assured, that isn’t even close to being true. I have been free to go about my business since the protective order was issued and the whole legal incident has become a gift and lifted the ELI Community, website, and everyone associated with it in ways we could never have foreseen. It has brought us into contact with media, activists, and legal scholars I never could have met on my own. Win, lose, or draw, it has been a great life experience and a greatly unifying event for everyone involved.
As I see it, April Brown has the right to write and publish her own book “Poetic Justice” about her life experiences as a consequence of Ms. Ellis’ instigated actions. This has entirely been April’s brainchild. However, as a self-publisher, I was happy to give counsel and advice to April as she occasionally requested. While I am not April’s book publisher, I have made every effort to communicate and convey to April the necessity to be as accurate as possible and to be clear about what is fact and what is her opinion. She has hired a number of editors to re-read and critique her book. April has a right to express her opinions about Ms. Ellis, her copyright extortion operation, and the people who assist her.
It now appears that Ms. Ellis is conducting a one-woman campaign to dissuade and discourage April from releasing her book. This is quite ironic given the fact that Ms. Ellis has used her website justfreespeech.com to “motivate” and “encourage” April to rethink her plans to release the book by making veiled threats to publish potentially unflattering information about April. However, April, as long as I have known her, has never tried to make herself out to be a perfect human being. April is a smart, determined, passionate, creative, unorthodox, outspoken, no-nonsense business woman that takes no prisoners when provoked and attacked. She is extremely loyal and supportive to those she considers her friends. I relate to her and understand her on all of these characteristics. Nevertheless in her new book, April expresses her disapproval and disdain for Ms. Ellis, her poem, and most of all, her copyright extortion operation.
Ms. Ellis, has so far, made her presence directly known and directly engaged April on her book’s Facebook page, the book’s website getpoeticjustice.com, and Ms. Ellis’ own first-person comments directed to April:
APRIL: As you read this and copy, paste and twist whatever sentences best fit your lies, know that in my heart I feel nothing but empathy for you. Your actions have done more good than the harm you’d intended as I am now focused on helping other stalking victims.
I continue to pray that God will bless you with something in your life important that you can focus your energy toward, something that will enable you to devote the time you have left on earth to loving, positive things.
Ms. Ellis has conveniently “lifted” a photo that I own and displayed that image on her website.
The good news for her is that she chose a nice-looking, flattering photo of me, my friends, and business associates. To the best of my knowledge, everyone in the photo is comfortable with it and have no problems being “shown off” to the world. Incidentally, the photo was taken in Atlanta on October 7, 2014 after the oral argument session at the Georgia Supreme Court. I supposed if I felt motivated, I could have my lawyer send her a $7,500 extortion letter to see how she would respond to it.
Personally, I like that we are happy people fighting the good fight against copyright extortionists. Many people love us for it. The thanks and gratitude we receive from extortion letter victims is ongoing.
