What the web has been saying about DirectBuy (before the Dozier Internet Law fiasco)
by tdaxp ~ October 9th, 2007
A google search for “DirectBuy” reveals spam. A lot of spam. It also reveals the three posts at Informercial Blog, Infomercial Ratings, Infomercial Scams which led Direct Buy and Dozier Internet Law to send a barbaric cease-and-desist order.
Before the Direct Buy / Dozier episode, however, negative and mixed reviews could be found at 419 Legal, Brads Blog, Chris Wondra, City-Data, Garden Web, Owner Builder Book, Ripoff Report (twice!), and even a bad experience with a DirectBuy pop-up at Caleval.
Consider that a web search for “JL Kirk” still brings up a horror story as the first result after half a year — and even my bad experience with NationMaster brings up two of the top ten google results — DirectBuy and Dozier Internet Law’s hardball tactics are strange. But then, without groups like EFF and PublicCitizen, many more writers would be too scared to speak truth to power.
I think this is your...
October 9th, 2007 at 12:00 am
Publishing scams have been issuing similar cease-and-desist orders to unhappy customers/authors who blog or post on message boards about why the company is a scam. The good news is that no scam wants to be exposed in court as a scam, and will likely never take it that far; the bad news is that many of the authors victimized can't afford a lawyer to play a game of chicken with the scam's lawyers.
I think that we need people out there actually willing to say, “okay, if you want to play the cease-and-desist game, take me to court,” in order to expose the scams for what they are.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:00 am
fl,
Do you have any links to these discussions on blogs or message boards or forums, or is it just word of mouth? I have been trying to find another case of this [1]…
[1] http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2007/10/09/copyrighted-cease-and-desist-letters.html
October 9th, 2007 at 12:00 am
It's not quite an identical situation because I haven't heard Dozier mentioned in conjunction with it, but:
Victoria Strauss and A.C. Crispin, literary agents who run a site/blog called “Writer Beware,” were issued a cease-and-desist order and apparently later an underhanded “apology” that can also be read as a cease-and-desist letter, even though PublishAmerica had already established a site to slander Strauss and Crispin! In fact, it actually seems to be common practice among scam publishers and literary agents to overwhelm their critics with cease-and-desist requests.
Author's Lawyer notes that PublishAmerica has “cybersquatted on the domain name of one of its most persistent critics for several years.”
Again, it's not quite an identical situation, but it does involve the operators of a scam issuing cease-and-desist letters (and threatening) people who publicly expose that scam.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:00 am
Hmm, it seems that my links didn't appear in the post above.
Strauss & Crispin's letter from PublishAmerica:
http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2007/02/publishamerica-doesnt-hate-us-anymore.html
And on a scam agency sending a cease-and-desist:
http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2006/05/victoria-strauss-barbara-bauer-show.html
Authors' Lawyer on PublishAmerica's cybersquatting:
http://www.authorslawyer.com/l-publishers.shtml#pa
October 10th, 2007 at 12:00 am
fl,
Very distrubing. Thanks for the links.
Any hope of getting the tdaxp and Public Citizen links to this story featured over at Primrose Road?
October 10th, 2007 at 12:00 am
Although I used it as a forum for more of my complaining about PublishAmerica, I've linked you and the Direct Buy story over at Primrose Road. It's sad to think there are lawyers out there who don't understand the basics of how copyright law works. I may need to blog about J.D. diploma mills at some point (there are some quite hilarious examples of these, and I'm willing to bet that the “lawyers” heading up many of these internet law firms “earned” their degrees from them) …