WME vs. Level 1 lawsuit details

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pdrago

Member
So as many of you have already heard, yesterday our friend Josh Berman, from Level 1 Productions, was served a Lawsuit from Warren Miller Entertainment, (WME). This was not the "scare the kid with the camera by sending a letter threatening to sue him" letter......this was a 100 page Lawsuit filed in Federal Court for Level 1's use of Warren Miller's voice in their new film. As most of you know, the entire Warren Miller involvement was a secret that was not promoted in anyway, shape, or form. It was a surprise for the audience that allowed Josh to do something special for his 10th film. Josh did not seek out Warren, nor did he advertise his involvement in the film whatsoever.Well, as some of you also may be aware, Warren has not been in a WME film in like 6 years. He hates the direction their films have gone and he wants nothing to do with them at all. They have been using his pre-recorded voice-over and old audio to make it seem like he is involved when in actuality he really dislikes the current WME company. Plus he wanted to get back at WME reconnect with his audience by working with Josh this year. (That alone makes Warren just that much cooler in my book by the way).The lawsuit is a really serious one and they are coming after Josh for what they refer to as "irreparable damage" to their brand and they are also claiming that Josh is "misleading their audience" by advertising that he is making a Warren Miller Film. That is not even the tip of the iceberg of the outrageous and asinine claims that they are making in this lawsuit. After reading it you are overcome by both incredible laughter and a burning desire to punch someone right in the face as hard as you possibly can. Not only is the lawsuit absurd, but they actually called the Boulder Theatre and demand that they not play the film at the Premiere on Wednesday night due to the pending lawsuit. WME is already as clueless and as far removed as any company in action sports, but this puts them into far-reaching realm of idiocy in my book.The best part about this is that they deliver the court papers yesterday and the hearing was this morning. So Josh gets this thing with about 15 hours notice and of course is understandably flustered, frustrated, and concerned (even though he did absolutely nothing wrong), and this morning the judge reprimanded WME for the completely ridiculous rush approach they took to try to catch Level 1 with their pants down, and removed the restraining order that WME tried to put on the Boulder Theatre demanding that they not play the film....yeah, WME actually threatened the Boulder Theatre with a lawsuit if they played the movie tomorrow night.Now, the question is, do they really think that they know what "irreparable damages" are? The NS community is as strong (and idiotic) as any community of people on planet Earth. I am pushing for some serious pushback on them from us. Forget sanctions, no one here would ever spend a dollar on the current WME offerings (the old flicks were great and had some soul) so boycotting won't hurt them. I am talking about a full fledged, un-lubricated, assfucking of their brand and reputation. I am not going to give any specifics or recommendations for legal purposes, but you guys know how to really get a tidal wave started.
They have had a really difficult time reaching this demographic already, and I hope that word of this absurdity spreads to a larger audience.

 
What asshats. May their coffee mugs be full of nothing but camel dung, and may every moment spent on their excuses for films echo the hollow rot that is their product.

Grab your slingshots, comrades. We're bringing Goliath down.
 
the fact that warren miller group is suing a company for what warren miller choose to do is rediculous. only in america..
 
wow...can't believe this, absolutely ridiculous.

see everyone at the boulder premier tomorrow, should be interesting
 
FUCK WME everybody in boulder get HAMMERED and BRING DA RUCKUS wu tang style do not let up be as much of a douchebag as you can be. get into a fight i dont give a fuck do something sick that they won't be able to handle.
DO YOU THINK YOUR WU TANG SWORD CAN DEFEAT WME?
 
With all the bad things I have heard about Josh Berman's business ethics and practices, it sounds like he is just getting a taste of his own medicine...
 
there is nothing they can do, warren miller himself agreed to do the film with berman, WME can't do shit.
 
yeah seriously. their movies sucked ass the last couple of years and why would they even sue Level 1 if Warren Miller himself was working together with Berman? that's just ridiculous and makes them look like an embittered company without cred rather than a company that supports skiing (or snow action sports)...

and i agree with Alex. everyone that's going should start a fight ha
 
i was thinking this was a joke for about 2 paragraphs, and then i finally realized this was serious. why the fuck would they sue berman for using warrens voice? well fine i understand why but njgsdlngjslgn sl this sucks
 
Alls Warren is doing is talking in the movie, thats it... so pretty much WME is sueing warren miller cause he "talked" in another movie BULLSHIT, they are just pissed cause the word is gonna get out that they have been using his name and voice and that WME is having their 60th yr movie and he isnt going to be "talking" in it
 
ahh that sucks for level1!!! Anyway, everybody already know that WME is a total joke nowadays and that they want to make cash every way possible...
 
challenge them to a gentlemens duelbut seriously, this is crazy that theyre suing over a voice that they have to re-use

 
So maybe I'm asking the dumb question but, we all know the NS community is the first to ban together no matter the circumstance, is there anything to be done except be lame ducks? Obviously this isn't a normal situation, as the legality makes everything 100x more serious and such, but I feel like there has to be something that can be done by us to disprove WME's theory that "irreparable damages" are being done.

Even boycotting WME doesn't seem effective because those of us who really get ski films know that the true blue Warren hasn't been involved in forever, and therefore haven't purchased anything tagged with Warren's name in a long time. I know some fifteen year old is going to start a facebook group, but the NSG hate fests and a pending lawsuit aren't exactly on the same level. I would hate any illblood from NSers to negatively effect Berman in his situation.

That being said, is there a way to express how (just using this as an example) so many of us at IF3 bugged our eyes at the rumor, and then feverishly clapped and shouted as Warren's voice boomed over the system? The voice hadn't changed, but the realness in his voice was new and exciting and completely encompassed everything that is "Refreshing". I worry though that testimonals from a bunch of snow loving kids won't help out the process.

It's pathetic what people will do to make a buck, and shame on WME for defining patheticness for the last period of time. Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, they try to bring down the last piece of Warren that we still got. Best of luck to Berman and crew, I know we're fully behind them the whole way.
 
Wow! WME has to be the biggest group of assholes around, who tries to pull a lawsuit when the guy your company is named after goes and decides to use his own voice in a work he actually supports!!
 
Depending on how long this goes on, I suggest we start protesting WME's new movie premiers. "Dynasty" is showing in boston on nov. 19, we could certainly cut into the crowd if they knew what the company was doing to the industry.
 
so so gay. i lost almost all my respect to WME movies after Warren left and now i just have absolutely no respect for them anymore.
 
man i wish someone with intimate knowledge with this situation would write up a respectful but devestating complaint letter, put it on a website where we can all sign it, and that would be our symbolic rejection of WME. I would even write it if i could be certain of the details. really nothing else we do will mean much. i just want WME to know how badly they have lost the way. and if its public, it might even hurt their rep with the regulars, the older people that go every year. regardless, we need to present some sort of united front. hating in non ski gabber will never go as far as the publics ears, or even a judges, or anyone else outside of this site.
what a shitty fucking situation
 
anyone that is good at photo shop should probably fuck up some WMEG logos with some absurd shit. i would if i could!

seriously tho, fuck that company. their about as cool as danny kass when he wanted to "keep snowboarding to the snowboarders in snowboard parks"

fuckkking lame
 
I wouldn't joke about something like this. I have too much respect for Mr. Miller and the ski industry as a whole to throw around rumors of this magnitude.
The thing to do now is to support the companies you feel best represent skiing.
 
better hurry and order a copy if you haven't already before the courts {possibly} put a stop on dvd sales!
 
Fucking unbelievable. Hopefully this gets thrown out of court quick. L1P is the greatest! I love that Warren is more stoked on what L1P is doing than what his old company has become.
 
Are you serious? You don't think Fox would care if Seth McFarlane went on to do family guy voices on other shows? It's completely plausible WMEG owns the right to Warren Millers voice and name, AT LEAST for ski films. And I wouldn't be surprised if after they were done suing Level 1 they go after Warren Miller. I'm sure they (Bonnier) paid a lot of money for the company, all based on Warren Millers name and signature voice, and they probably feel like it's a slap in the face by WM.
 
Warren Miller was doing the actual voice over - not just pre-recordings of his voice used for the last 5 years like Warren Miller Entertainment does. Warren Miller (the man) is no longer involved with Warren Miller Entertainment (the company), however the problem is that WME believes they own Warren Miller and his likeness and voice (which I'm not sure they can actually do - but I'm not a lawyer), so when Berman had him do the narration in the movie WME sued Level 1. It has nothing to do with Warren Miller's permission, as he has nothing to do with the company he started (which is obvious with the way the movies have been the last few years). As far as I can tell, unless Warren Miller signed some sort of Non-Compete clause that says he can't be in any other movie (which could have been done, but I don't think Warren Miller would have been in the movie then and the suit would be against him, not Level 1), Level 1 has done nothing wrong, and I hope that any judge in the courts would see it that way too, Warren should be allowed to use his voice in any way he wants. GO GET 'EM BERMAN!
 
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