SAN DIEGO BENEFIT FOR LP
Wednesday, October 24, 2007, 05:14 PM
Free Lithium Picnic San Diego has organized a fundraiser on behalf of Lithium Picnic to raise money to assist in paying for the legal fees and financial losses incurred during his ongoing litigation with Sean Shul of SuicideGirl's. The Free Lithium Picnic San Diego fundraiser will be held at The Rubber Rose Gallery on November 3rd from 7-9pm it is a 21+ event. Please RSVP if planing to attend. Guests attending the fundraiser will have the opportunity to purchase Lithium Picnic prints and originals.Handmade corsets will be available for silent auction along with unique items worn by Apnea. A donation at the door is suggested. Lithium Picnic Photography will be on display free of charge in the gallery at The Rubber Rose on November 3-4 so that those who can't make the fundraiser will get a chance to see his photography.
more here:
http://freelpsandiego.com/
http://www.myspace.com/freelpsandiego
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Ges leaves SG
DIGG.COM
Wednesday, October 17, 2007, 07:17 AM
Someone posted about the lawsuit on Digg.com please go vote a digg for it to raise it's rating and help spread the word, thank you!http://www.digg.com/offbeat_news/Suicid ... or_100_000
xx,
apnea
Questions and Answers
Monday, October 8, 2007, 05:21 AM
I've been getting a lot of questions in email and from press lately, so I decided to post a few of the more frequently asked questions here on the site.Feel free to contact me through the site if you have questions, concern, or a way to help.
xx,
Apnea
(click on the questions below to open my replies, click again to close)
What's going on with SuicideGirls, why are they suing Philip?
They are suing Philip over an alleged breach of contract for shooting TFP photos of me which were used on my membership site apneatic.com. They also claim that he is the owner of my site and are trying to take the money I've made on my site from me. My site is and has always been mine in every way possible. Of course we will prove all of this in court, but it costs $350 an hour for attorneys to help us do that.
His SG contract (see court docs) allowed him to shoot for single girl personality based sites like mine but for some reason SG suddenly decided that my site was a competitor to their empire of books, magazines, DVDs, radio shows, and television and demanded $100,000 in damages from him. The lawsuit has gone on for almost all of this year, SG has made no attempts to resolve or mediate and are pushing this to a very expensive trial. Philip has had to spend over $10,000 so far defending himself and this figure will likely triple when it goes to trial.
His SG contract (see court docs) allowed him to shoot for single girl personality based sites like mine but for some reason SG suddenly decided that my site was a competitor to their empire of books, magazines, DVDs, radio shows, and television and demanded $100,000 in damages from him. The lawsuit has gone on for almost all of this year, SG has made no attempts to resolve or mediate and are pushing this to a very expensive trial. Philip has had to spend over $10,000 so far defending himself and this figure will likely triple when it goes to trial.
Someone at SG told me Philip was shooting for Godsgirls.com and other sites while he was at SG and that's why he was let go, is that true?
No. Philip has never shot any sets for Godsgirls and never shot content for competing sites while he was working with SG.
Why are you guys fighting this in Oregon and why do you have to hire attorneys from Portland?
The contract that he and the other staff photographers were given to sign (under more than a little duress) designated the jurisdiction of the contract as Oregon where SG used to be based. A non-compete contract structured like this would never hold up in the state of California, and forcing the defendants to travel across the US to appear in Portland every time something related to the case occurs has the added tactical advantage of creating financial stress on the defendants.
If Philip wins his case won't SG have to pay for all his legal costs and damages?
No, there are no guarantees that he'll be able to recoup his expenses even if he wins the trial.
Isn't there pro bono legal support for the arts or people in his situation?
The jurisdiction of his contract with SG is in Oregon so an Oregon attorney must handle the case. While there are many "pro artist" legal groups out there, most of them only help with dispute letters and contract interpretation. There are no pro bono litigation resources that we are aware of in Oregon.
But isn't apneatic.com a "single girl personality based web site"? You're in every photo on the site. Didn't his contract with SG allow him to shoot for "single girl personality based web sites"?
Yes and Yes. You'd be surprised how hard and expensive it is to prove that when the person harassing you has 10 times more money to throw at the problem and an attorney highly skilled at creating expensive problems. We have no doubts we will win this if it goes to trial, their strategy appears to be to draw it out and outspend us.
Two SuicideGirls we were recently threatened with lawsuits in excess of $30,000 for shooting with Philip for portfolio and Gasoline Glamour Jewelry since he is a "competing photographer" what does that mean and what was the outcome?
The idea of an intrinsically competitive photographer is a construction they made up to threaten the models with breach for shooting with him. The shoots were in no way competitive to SG and were shot for portfolio and for promotion for Gasoline Glamour jewelry. Both of the models have portfolios on Model Mayhem and are available for portfolio work.
Philip is a contract freelance photographer with over twenty clients, he is not "employed" by any of them. If he shoots luggage tags for Continental Airlines he is not a competitor to American Airlines. He is not an airline. He is not a paysite. Philip does not own or operate a paysite and he's not an employee or stakeholder of any web site.
The notion that he is intrinsically "competitive" is preposterous, there is only 'competing photography' shot for a competing business purpose.
Both of the models were threatened and told that they would be sued, they were also told that SG was in possession of the photos (though they had never left Philip's laptop). They told the girls that Philip had contacted them and taunted them about the photos, again untrue. Both of the girls were given pre-prepared statements to sign by the end of the day saying that Philip solicited and tricked them into breaking their SG contracts. They were told that they wouldn't be sued if they signed the statements.
The irony is that Sean and Missy forgot that the official policy on shooting for noncompetitive projects is stated on the SG site (see below) and clearly states that what they did was allowed - Philip's nonSG portfolio work is linked as examples of what models are allowed to do! More on that can be found HERE.
Philip is a contract freelance photographer with over twenty clients, he is not "employed" by any of them. If he shoots luggage tags for Continental Airlines he is not a competitor to American Airlines. He is not an airline. He is not a paysite. Philip does not own or operate a paysite and he's not an employee or stakeholder of any web site.
The notion that he is intrinsically "competitive" is preposterous, there is only 'competing photography' shot for a competing business purpose.
Both of the models were threatened and told that they would be sued, they were also told that SG was in possession of the photos (though they had never left Philip's laptop). They told the girls that Philip had contacted them and taunted them about the photos, again untrue. Both of the girls were given pre-prepared statements to sign by the end of the day saying that Philip solicited and tricked them into breaking their SG contracts. They were told that they wouldn't be sued if they signed the statements.
The irony is that Sean and Missy forgot that the official policy on shooting for noncompetitive projects is stated on the SG site (see below) and clearly states that what they did was allowed - Philip's nonSG portfolio work is linked as examples of what models are allowed to do! More on that can be found HERE.
I'm currently a Suicidegirl, I'm sick of supporting and being a part of all of this and I want to quit the site. I've asked them to archive me but my profile is still active. How can I quit SuicideGirls?
Send a certified letter to the SG office with a signature receipt request to validate it was received. All you have to do is tell them in writing that you no longer wish to be a part of the site and are formally terminating the contract. If that doesn't work you can try posting this phrase on your profile "Why is SG suing Lithium Picnic?" and you'll be on your way to the archive in no time. Do not do anything to violate the terms of your agreement or you may find yourself in a lawsuit.
Did SG really sell your SG photos to other porn sites?
Yes. The photos that I shot with Missy (one of the owners of SG) for the SG site were sold and those images have appeared all over the web on various porn sites. The irony here is that when i told her I was thinking about shooting with Godsgirls she warned me they were owned by a large porn company and she told me my images would end up on porn sites all over the web.
Many have speculated that the sale was punitive in nature as they mostly chose girls that had left or been kicked off the site. The photos were not screened or edited, light tests and outtakes were all packaged. You can read more about it and see some samples of the photos here
Many have speculated that the sale was punitive in nature as they mostly chose girls that had left or been kicked off the site. The photos were not screened or edited, light tests and outtakes were all packaged. You can read more about it and see some samples of the photos here
SG lost their case against Chad Grant of Deviantnation.com and it looks like they will lose their case against Godsgirls.com. Doesn't SG realize the precedent and impact losing against Philip is going to have on their other cases not to mention the impact it will have on enforcing contracts with their current models and photographers?
Apparently not.
What can I do to help?
Right now the most helpful and effective thing people can do to help is to spread the word and help insure this doesn't get covered up swept under the rug. Many SG members and models have been booted for asking questions about Philip's situation. SG has done a great job of scrubbing any mention of him from the boards and member posts. Posting links to this site and spreading the word and the truth is one of the most effective ways to support us. We also have shirts and prints for sale, the links are at the top left of this page.
+ SG Model Mitsuko Quits Under Pressure
Suicide and Censorship
+ Shutting Down the LP Site
Wednesday, July 25, 2007, 10:29 AM
Hi Everyone,This is Apnea with some not-so-happy news.
As a result of the ongoing pressure and financial losses incurred from defending against Sean Suhl of SuicideGirl's $100,000 lawsuit against Philip for shooting me for my site apneatic and the emotional stress and damage this has done to his business, Philip is taking the Lithium Picnic site offline until further notice.
I've taken it over for now so he can focus his time and resources on his case and raising funds. Please contact him at lithiumpicnic at gmail dot com if you have a paid project that you would like to discuss with him.
SG is now making the preposterous claims that they taught him photography and web design and they are going after the profits of my site.
You can read my response to their recent public statement HERE.
Someone scanned and posted the public legal documents related to the case which included his contract HERE for those of you interested in reading it.
His SG contract very specifically defined single girl sites like mine as an exception to the competition rules but now SG claims my single girl site is a competitor to their empire of over one thousand girls, books, DVDs, radio shows, merchandise, a magazine and television syndication. Entering into litigation over this is costly and takes a lot of time, thousands of dollars a month. SG knows they can outspend him 100 times over and this is likely more about breaking him and locking him into a permanent non-compete than any truth about their claims.
His studio at 1602 Ovid Street Houston TX 77007 and much of his photography gear is for sale, if you are interested in discussing a purchase please contact him at lithiumpicnic at gmail dot com.
If you have recently sent in a model application or contacted him about a shoot please be patient it's unlikely he will be shooting or working on new projects for the next several months.
If you would like to help support his defense, here are a few links:
+ Prints for Sale
+ T-shirts for Sale
+ Apnea's Auctions and Paypal Donation Link
If nothing else please help spread the word, post and link to this page.
Stay tuned for more links to auctions - we're auctioning off more clothing and props from our published and well known shoots as well as more photography gear very soon.
Philip still makes frequent posts and updates on his LiveJournal page. Thanks to everyone who has shown support over the years, especially those that have recently donated or supported us through these rocky times.
We know we are in the right and we won't give up or go away until we are able to live our lives freely and unmolested.
Stay Tuned. Spread the Truth.
Apnea
+ New Sheriff in Town
Sunday, May 20, 2007, 11:20 AM
I'm taking over the LP site. It is now in my name and under my control. I'm going to be using this as a channel to help with fundraising and awareness of SuicideGirl's $100,000 lawsuit against Philip.Stay Tuned.
xx,
Apnea
