News: Lawsuit
On 1 April 2009, attorney Jane Litte of The Dalitagency filed a motion for injunctive relief and damages on our behalf against Smart Bitches Trashy Books LLC and Touchstone Fireside, a division of Simon and Schuster. We sought relief against the defendents due to the imminent publication of internal email messages from our organization in the upcoming book Beyond Heaving Bosoms: the Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels. These messages were stolen from our organization and are used in the book without our permission, which constitutes copyright infringement. The complete text of Ms. Litte’s correspondence with Smart Bitches and Touchstone Fireside is below.
Friday 27 March 2009
I am writing on behalf of my clients, the International Consortium of Heroes (ICH). ICH, as you may know, is primarily responsible for sourcing hero archetypes to the romance novel industry. It has come to our attention that you intend to publish a book entitled Beyond Heaving Bosoms: the Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels. This book contains several emails that the ICH members had exchanged. It is unknown how your authors have come to be in possession of these emails but they are private correspondence between ICH and are not for public consumption.
The publication of these emails would violate the ICH copyright and would be improper republication of creative content. We would think that you, a publishing house, would be particularly mindful of individual content creators right to control the distribution of their own work. Any republication of these private copyrighted documents would expose you to untold monetary damages and a loss of reputation within the publishing community. There is no argument for fair use as the entirety of emails are being republished. It is not for commentary or discussion, but rather a wholesale use of my clients’ private ruminations for your profit.
Further, the publication of these emails would reveal trade secrets. The ICH is always working to create romance heroes that provide the correct balance and superiority over the International Coalition of Villains (hereinafter ICV). A trade secret is information including, but not limited to, formulas, patterns, compilations, methods, techniques that are generally not known and not readily ascertainable by ordinary means. ICH takes pride in maintaining the secrecy of overcoming personal angst, seeking revenge while maintaining a soul, learning to overcome bad parenting to seek solace in the arms of a good virginal woman, knowing which women are innocent despite their sometimes brazen outward appearances, pursuing the secret of providing orgasms to women who have never had an orgasm before, impregnating heretofore barren women, and other traits, methods, techniques that provide the demarcation between heroes and villains. If these trade secrets were to become known, the ICV would obtain an unfair advantage over the members of ICH and perhaps, bring ruination to ICH.
Finally, the publication of these emails are an invasion of privacy. The emails intrude upon the private affairs of ICH, include public disclosure of private facts, the publicity is likely to place the ICH in a false light in the public eye and you or your authors are appropriating the ICH for your own advantage.
Please cease and desist all publication, marketing, distribution, sales, and any other activities related to the book Beyond Heaving Bosoms. Failure to comply with this letter will result in our filing a motion for injunctive relief and damages against you. Please respond in writing to this request by April 1, 2009.
Jane Litte
Attorney at Law
Litte, Mehangurl, and Puppett, LLCcc: Sulay Hernandez, Editor, Touchstone Fireside, a division of Simon and Schuster
Daniel Lazar, Writer’s House
Sarah Wendell, Smart Bitches Trashy Books LLC
Candy Tan, Smart Bitches Trashy Books LLC
We will continue to update you on the progress of our lawsuit.