Karaoke Forums

http://www.apsandassociates.com/soundchoice/
How many of you have seen this?

Or this?
http://www.scsafeharbor.com/aboutlawsuits.php

Read, printed, and filed awhile ago. This statement:
"A lawsuit is a serious matter. Sound Choice does not initiate lawsuits without undertaking an extensive investigation of an accused infringer" - never fails to give me the giggles....

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

Saw and read them both, yes they are interesting! Both look like pretty good pieces of work and neither one bother me at all. I guess if I were a pirate I would be more than little concerned though, and would try to make it look like they were attacking legitimate businesses.

Exactly!

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Like I said before, nothing intimidating or illegal about either. Joe, if an investigation is insufficient, then that would be brought out in court and ruled on.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

So if you have the legal cdgs from which you derived your mp3gs on a 1:1 ratio, but have not gone through the audit, you should worry?

They have been up for quite some time. It looks like a good attempt to let anyone know who has recieved a letter how not to get served if they feel they are 1:1. Note it also advises consulting a lawyer. They seem to be addressing some of the complaints about how they were doing things before.

People might want to check out Chartbuster's policy on their website which basically says that if you haven't received written permission from them to media shift, then you are subject to investigation. Here is an excerpt:

"If you don't want to play from CDs, we understand. A large collection of CDs takes up a lot of space. Bringing your CDs to a venue exposes them to theft and loss. CDs can get scratched from too much handling. If you choose the convenience of a hard drive system, we understand the technical reasons for doing so. But, let's be clear: For legal reasons, Chartbuster Karaoke does not authorize the use of hard drive systems to play our karaoke music commercially. But we will agree not to sue you for "media-shifting" the contents of our CD+Gs or MP3G discs if you follow our media-shifting policy.

The complete format/media shift policy with Chartbuster Karaoke is that in the absence of written permission to perform a media/format shift from CDG to a hard drive based system, you are subject to investigation and notification of infringement (whether by letter of intent to sue or by a notice of a suit being filed or by being served in a lawsuit). However, IF you can prove that you have all the original legal discs in your possession prior to AND at the time of the investigation and continuing through the audit, then you will be dropped from whatever legal action is being contemplated or taken."

I would be worried if I hadn't gone through the Audits. I can run my shows without worry that SC or Chartbuster will sue me because I went through the Audits.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

YES unless you have written permission in advance

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"Integrity is choosing your thoughts, words and actions based on your principles and values rather than for your personal gain."
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Well I've seen the lists, and I'd have to estimate, that about 99.9% of kjs are non compliant....:.....

What list have you seen?

I know of less than 5 kjs in my area that are Compliant so I guess that we are in the .1% legal of the 99.9% that are not.

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Agreed, which is why you will never see it in court. This is also why SC "defaulted" in Ernie's case. That way no legal precedent is set in the loss, ( which means that rumored class action suit won't open there either) and they didn't have to pay an attorney. Harrington is happy to write letters on a contingency basis, but I don't think you will see him in court ( No contingency lawyer will waste billable hours on an invalid court case) and SC doesn't want to pay attorney fees any more than anyone else.

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

MAJOR point. How many of you PC KJs have gotten WRITTEN permission from a mfr. to transfer your discs to computer, and how many just did so because you figured you could do what you want with discs that YOU PURCHASED?

This is the mfr. hook. Even if you purchased your discs, they will attempt to extort money because you didn't get WRITTEN permission from a mfr. who probably had no U.S. licensing to produce and distribute their product. Unbelievable...

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

You don't think that maybe the fact that Ernie settled with Sound Choice before any hearing on the matter was ever set, in fact before any such motion was filed, may have had something to do with it?

And just for your information Sound Choice didn't Default in the case, a Motion to Dismiss went unopposed so it was granted, there is a little difference there!

" MAJOR point. How many of you PC KJs have gotten WRITTEN permission from a mfr. to transfer your discs to computer,"

There have actually been several!


"and how many just did so because you figured you could do what you want with discs that YOU PURCHASED?"

I wish I could understand what you are saying here but it simply doesn't make much sense!

"This is the mfr. hook. Even if you purchased your discs, they will attempt to extort money because you didn't get WRITTEN permission from a mfr."

I think you are seeing "recover" as "extort", and that would be because you copied the product without their permission.

" who probably had no U.S. licensing to produce and distribute their product. Unbelievable..."

Again you make the insinuation (at other times the statement) that these products have no U.S. licensing! It is unbelieveable, do you have any proof of this as of yet?

They sure have upset you for some reason, I hope that you can get it out of your system because that kind of anger can cause serious health problems for you!

even you are using these illegaly produced unlicensed products in your show. if no manu has gotten licensing for any songs why are you in this business?

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens

That's a very interesting link that Diafel provided.... shows that Sound Choice has hired a dead corporation with a newbie website to send letters and coordinate attorneys? From the looks of things below, it appears as though there is still no real investigations being conducted. Just a scary letter mailed on a fancy letterhead....

And a little more "investigation" (pun intended) shows that this corporation (a.k.a. "APS Inc.") was administratively DISSOLVED by the state of Arizona on January 13, 2009.
Further noting that the domain name was registered AUGUST 2010, well after the corporation was dissolved by the state:
Registered Through GoDaddy.com, Inc.
Domain Name: apsandassociates.com
Created on: 8/28/2010 5:55:50 PM Expires on: 8/28/2011 5:55:50 PM Last Updated on: 9/14/2010 9:16:43 PM

---------INFORMATION FROM THE STATE OF ARIZONA-----------------------
Additional Corporate Information Corporation Type: BUSINESS Business Type: GENERAL CONSULTING
Incorporation Date: 07/28/2004 Corporate Life Period: PERPETUAL
Domicile: ARIZONA County: MARICOPA
Approval Date: 07/28/2004 Original Publish Date: 09/08/2004
Status: AD-DISSOLVED-FILE ANNUAL REPORT Status Date: 01/13/2009

Officer Information

ROBERT FAIL
PRESIDENT
3120 W CAREFREE HWY 1-688
PHOENIX,AZ 85086
Date of Taking Office: 07/22/2004
Last Updated: 09/12/2007
------------------END OF STATE INFORMATION------------------------------------------------------------------------

This corporation is NOT in good standing with the state of Arizona and was dissolved by the state over a YEAR AGO....
here is the page from the State of Arizona:

http://starpas.azcc.gov/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=wsbroker1/names-detail.p?name-id=11440479&type=CORPORATION


ROBERT FAIL is also a Real Estate agent in Scottsdale, AZ: http://www.realtor.com/realestateagents/Rob-Fail_Scottsdale_Az_774568_917589858?source=web

Ernie made a small payment toward an agreed upon settlement, which SC broke in regard to Gem deliveries, making it invalid. No further payment was made, and the case was dismissed because SC didn't respond to the court ( IMHO because of previously stated reasons). The motion to dismiss was granted for that reason- which I see as a default. Ernie's case is done, and he owes nothing. On the other hand SC didn't have to deal with a losing precedent either.

Let's see what happens with that other guy ( Dan Dan?) out west.

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

They are APS & Associates a.k.a. Associated Protection Services who have been in business since 1988.

http://www.apsprotection.com/

However the above domain was registered in DECEMBER 2000 well before the 2004 creation of APS Inc.

http://who.godaddy.com/whois.aspx?domai ... id=GoDaddy

Steve Brophy is the Owner. They are located at 3120 W. Carefree Hwy but they are in Ste# 1-301, not Ste# 1-688 that is shown on the starpas.azcc.gov link. Oh & BTW, 3120 West Carefree Hwy, Ste# 1 is the UPS Store so these are mail boxes in the store!

http://www.apsandassociates.com/

http://www.theupsstorelocal.com/4120/

Maybe APS Inc was them at some time but not in 1988 & obviously not now. I would like to know for sure if APS Inc & Robert Fail has any connection with APS & Associates, Associated Protection Services, & Steve Brophy.

Here's a bio on Steve Brophy & APS & Associates.

http://private-investigator-detective.c ... age287.htm

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