Dash Poem Extortion

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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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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June 19, 2015

Making Linda Ellis (Copyright “Extortionist”) Pay Money to a Victim for a Change

I am happy to announce that I am probably the first “victim” to have ever made Linda Ellis, Author of the Dash Poem, pay real money to one of her victims as partial recompense for the unnecessary aggravation and legal shenanigans she and her side causes and engages in.

Last month, I received a money order from Linda Ellis as payment to recover some of my appellate costs which was entitled to me. It was not an automatic process. I filed a motion in April 2015 asking the court for a judgment against Linda to collect appellate costs, and that motion was incorrectly responded by her lawyer Elizabeth W. (Betsy) McBride in May 2015 claiming a full payment. But because Linda seems to enjoy engaging in passive-aggressive behavior against me (and her lawyer Betsy once again doesn’t check Linda’s “facts”), Linda shorted me payment by $0.01. I took the high road and chose not to have the Court “force” Linda to pay that $0.01. But as far as I am concerned, she still owes me that $0.01. It’s obvious that I don’t really care about that $0.01 as much as getting the facts correct. This is yet one more thing that Linda and Betsy gets wrong.

While I am not one of her copyright extortion victims, I now consider myself a legal victim of Linda Ellis. She managed to get a bogus lifetime stalking protective order against me in 2013 using heavily modified, obscured, distorted, out-of-context forum posts against me (some which I never made to begin with!) to give the impression that I was a physical “danger” to her and her family. She was so desperate to shut me and the ELI Community up by portraying herself in court as a helpless fear-fraught female against me, a boisterous, opinionated, highly-critical, outspoken activist male blogger. And yet, she and her “employee” John W. Jolin, have no problems whatsoever demanding (“extorting”) thousands of dollars from others for the innocent sharing of her poem. They insinuate they “might” file a copyright infringement lawsuit to anyone who don’t pay. With only one exception (against a convict, Aronson, many years ago), she has never successfully filed a copyright infringement lawsuit on anyone.)

The Georgia Supreme Court saw through the bogus story, Linda and her lawyers, Betsy and Timothy B. McCormack were trying to peddle. This was made abundantly clear on October 7, 2014 when these two so-called lawyers made a ridiculously embarrassing and poor showing at the Chan v. Ellis oral argument.

The difference between me and 97% of her legally ignorant, cowardly victims is that I refuse to shut up and stay silent. After all these years, it has only been my friend and author of “Poetic Justice”, April Brown, and a very few special individuals who has ever spoken out in a big way and make a stand against Linda and Jackass John W. Jolin. Many of Linda’s victims will forever stay her victims by the ridiculous cowering in fear of her and Jackass Jolin. I, on the other hand, am not fearful of Linda or John. Even when I was under the protective order, I was aggravated and pissed at them, not fearful. To find out more about John Jolin’s latest shenanigans, I encourage you to visit copyright-trolls.com for the latest discoveries uncovered by Robert Krausankas.

My appeal case was not a silent affair where I huddled in a small, dark room depending and praying for my lawyer to miraculously save me. I was entirely active and deeply involved throughout the entire two-year process. I did not let a detail like my being a non-lawyer from getting into the trenches. I had eyes, ears, brain, mouth, telephone, computer, keyboard, email, and Internet connection, I was going to use everything I had access to. I was not passive. I was constantly thinking, analyzing, brainstorming, strategizing, and trying out offbeat ideas to fight back.

Linda hated all the critical and insulting dialog on the Linda Ellis / Linda Lyrics / Dash Poem Letter Forum launched in 2012. She managed (through her court-submitted evidence manipulations) to shut that forum down in March 2013. (It has since been restored as a READ-ONLY forum in April 2015). But because of my unanimous legal win at the Georgia Supreme Court, this stage of the legal fight is over. However, I do not take things for granted. Linda is probably pissed that she had to pay my appellate costs and I am guessing that is why she shorted me $0.01. If it was an intentional passive-aggressive act on her part, it has obviously backfired. My supporters and I remain vigilant. It is never over until it is truly over.

I do not trust Linda or her lawyers, My supporters help me maintain a watchful eye on them. I think they should know by now if they want to reinstate any legal or reputational attacks against me or my team in any way, they can expect us to rally and engage in a very hard and public fight.

Linda may have been legally ignorant in some aspects of the ordeal we went through but her two lawyers SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER. This was ENTIRELY PREVENTABLE. They were either too STUPID or they tried to TAKE ADVANTAGE of me as a non-lawyer. I think I have shown that I might be a legally-uneducated non-lawyer but I managed to rally pretty well by being determined, creative, and resourceful. As I said two years ago, I don’t fight alone. And if I do have to fight alone, it won’t necessarily be pretty.

I may not be a copyright extortion victim of Linda’s but her copyright extortion victims can take some solace that someone (me!) was finally able to make Linda pay real money for her years of legally intimidating and financially extorting people. The image of that Linda Ellis’ money order payment to me will be preserved for many years to come.

Make no mistake, what she paid me is a tiny reimbursement compared to the collective time, energy, and resources that was gathered and galvanized to get to this stage.

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February 2, 2015

April Brown’s Book Trailer “Poetic Justice: The True Story Behind the Dash” Released

On January 30, 2015, April Brown, released on YouTube a colorful, humorous, and rather entertaining book trailer for her book, “Poetic Justice”. However, under the color, animation, and humor lies a very real and serious message.

Normally, I would not write a blog post over an ordinary book trailer but April, in her own inimitable style, has created a very special book trailer. It is short, informative, easy to understand, and encapsulates April’s (and others’) experience of innocently sharing Linda Ellis’ Dash Poem.

I stand by April’s message that Ellis’ viral Dash Poem has a dark, ugly, and financially catastrophic consequence to anyone who foolishly shares that poem in print within a newsletter, book, or a website.

I also endorse April’s advice in the video:

Do take down the Dash Poem.
Do not respond to any demands for payment.
Do not be afraid. (I would also add another sentence to this point, “Get Educated”)
Do tell the world.

Do yourself a favor. Watch the video. Get educated. And do share this video. I promise you April will not send you any letters demanding $7,500. In fact, she will be happy if you shared the video FREELY.

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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 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 10, 2015

Is the Dispute Between “Poetic Justice” Author, April Brown and the Dash Poet Truly a “Catfight”?

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.

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January 9, 2015

The Courage & Fortitude of April Brown, Author of “Poetic Justice”

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.

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