WME vs. Level 1 lawsuit details

What I find hilarious from a marketing standpoint is that when you piss off a ton of young skiers they will be informing their parents. Now I would bet that Warren Miller Entertainment Group have lots of fans that are parents of young skiers. Young skiers that know anything are on NS. Now they will tell their parents and then the parents will have less respect for the WME brand. Maybe leading them to not go to movie premiers, buy movies or just have a lack of respect for the brand. Marketers and Advertisers know that the way to a parents wallet is through their kids. Well WME good luck getting any kids to support your brand.
 
Warren Miller... step 1) go to your closet... step 2) grab your biggest leather belt... and step 3) beat your son and put him in time out ya dig...
 
i saw refresh at if3 and i have to say it was probably the best ski film i have ever seen and it was one of the only ones that i know can be enjoyed by any generation of skiers. when i find out about things like this it just pisses me off especially coming from another film company in the industry and its sad how WME is going to crush the reputation of warren miller who has built it up for 60 years.
 
refresh was fucking excellent. you can not find that sort of stoke at a warren miller film these days.
and whatever the outcome, it seems like the freeskiing community is tighter than ever.
 
Level 1 has my support...I hope that they can get the DVDs out so that everyone can see how special this movie really is
 
Here's my question: As Warren Miller knew

that his voice, etc. was owned by WME (he would have

signed a contract, been paid for it), did he inform

Level I or Josh Berman? If he didn't (I'm hoping), I think that means a suit

against WM by Level I even if they don't want to do it? Could even mean a countersuit against WME if he can show that they withheld information intentionally, not informing him of their contract with WM, for their own gains? It looks like WME knew all about this

before IF3, had someone in place to see what went down, were ready

with paperwork for lawsuit immdiately. It all smells real bad.
 
WME is full of ass hats. They need some rough TP....
What I suggest is this. We need all of the pro athletes in the ski world to band together, and deny WME to use footage of themselves in the next film they try to put out. It's too late this year, but we can still make it happen. If WME has no athletes, they can't have footage, and they can't have a movie. Simple as that.
 
as soon as warren left everything went downhill. this is a whole new low and the most ridiculous thing to happen to the ski film industry.

good luck level 1!
 
1253765615L1_WME.jpg
 
This is absolutely absurd. The fact that Warren Miller himself is no longer with WME should be an indication as to how ridiculous this actually is. WME is delusional and has indeed lost touch with the industry.

All my support to Josh Berman and level 1.

Best of luck.
 
I'll weigh in on which way this case will go. I am a second year law student (in the states) and am currently taking trademarks.
If 123ski's post is correct, i think WME will have some difficultly litigating the case, but it may go either way. NOTE - the complaint does not allege a violation of Miller's exclusive licensing arrangement. The case appears to be solely one of trademark infringement.
The burden is on WME to establish, firstly, that a TM exists in warren Miller's voice. They would seem to have an argument here. They have been using miller's voice exclusively and the public has come to associate the voice of miller with the films - elements for finding a mark (among others) but more facts are needed. Luckily it does not appear that a mark is registered on miller's voice, therefore WME will have the expensive and fun time of establishing that the mark exists
An aim of trademark law is to protect the public from confusion. The harder argument WME will have to make is that the public will be confused by warren miller's voice in the film. Confusion exists in two forms - pre and post sale.
1. Presale confusion is confusion of origin leading the consumer to purchase the product believing it originates from another company - WME. It does not appear that miller's name is on the packaging of the movie. The packaging does not state - Warren Miller: Refresh for example. His name may be on the box credits but this would not likely be found by a court to mislead given its less than prominent placement. Moreover, L1 did not advertise tickets for ANY of its shows mentioning miller in the film. in fact, miller's involvement came as a complete surprise to most in the ski scene. Thus, there would likely be no confusion found in relation to ticket sales. I think L1 has a good defense on this argument.
2. Post sale confusion occurs when people other than the purchaser are confused as to product origin. The argument here (which they may not have made at all) would be that people watching the movie, at home for example, would watch the film and be confused - believing that it originates from WME. I'm unsure about this argument but it is compelling at first glance.
Legal arguments aside, the big problem is that WME has a fortune available to pay legal fees with. L1 Does not. Thus, WME can simply continue the litigation, increasing costs, and forcing L1 to settle simple because they cannot afford to litigate any longer - this happens often with small companies.

 
Someone said a few pages back that Hathbanger was in the WME movie and some others but I have no ill will to any of the skiers in the movie. Hath and Ingrid did not sue l1, WME did. I have nothing but respect for the skiers in the WME movie, but no respect for the company.
 
everyone should twitter woody paige (writer for the denver post) and tell him to mention this bullshit if he gets face time on around the horn!
 
Wanna know whats even more bullshit? WME WAS in attendece tonight at the Boulder Premiere. As well as numerous lawyers. It was pretty tense im sure for Berman, Decker, and Freedle. But still one of the best times of my life.
 
if this lawsuit goes south I think EC Headwear of jiberish should make some stickers the diss the crap outta WME , stick them all over the resorts and gear but i think the case is fairly weak , im taking lots of law classes, this will most likely be dismissed the judge let the premier happen after all
 
This kinda BS happens amongst the big hollywood filmmakers all the time... but at least when paramount sues columbia-Tristar, they have a much better reason to waste their time than this kinda shit...

It's not like L1P went in and used some slushfund or some other illegitimate means to pay for the rights to a WME script or something...

What the hell man..
 
Tonight, unbeknownst to many- the Boulder Refresh Screening that WME attempted to cancel was full of lawyers and people concerned with the case. OVER 20 ticket holders asked for a refund before the movie was over!!!!!!!!! This has never been seen before, and can most certainly be credited to an influx of folks related to WME. This of course put out a lot of very negative vibes from people that obviously have no interest in the youth or even skiing in general.
SKIERS: We need to stick together on this one!
 
That's ridiculous. If that is true it proves beyond doubt that WME has no interest in the promotion and development of skiing.

WME and those associated with it are left looking petulant and immature. After their restraining order was declined they should have stayed away. I feel that the judge hearing the case will take such disruptive and childish actions into account during the trial.

Screw WME. I won't be supporting them for a long time to come now. I wasn't going to order any movies this year because it's expansive by the time it gets paid for in NZD but this has got me fired up.

Writing to both WME and especially Jeep and other sponsors won't take much of your time, but at least it's something. Actually, I feel that writing to the lesser sponsors - the small companies, will have a greater effect than Jeep. Jeep is a huge company and are probably not too concerned with their sponsorship dollars. The smaller companies are looking for the most representation for their dollar, because they don't have much of a budget to play with. If they get the impression that their involvement with WME is having a negative impact on their company they will be much more concerned than a larger company. Remember - the smaller the company, the more likely correspondance will be read by someone important. Companies are unlikely to get much positive feedback about their involvement and sponsorship, but once they get 100 emails from people disgruntled with their involvement with WME they will take notice!

Two or three companies that take notice of us and approach WME will have some impact on WME.

 
Never mind, JD's extended someones idea about jeep already. And it appears that there aren't many sponsors at all.

Emailing athletes wouldn't hurt either I don't think. As long as everyone is polite and mature about it. An email saying 'fuck you and fuck WME' isn't going to achieve anything at all
 
Their way of trying to toss a stick in the spoke? Who does that crap? I hope refunds weren't granted.
 
You all wanna be writing to Colorado Tourism!!

I believe they sponsor WME movies - and let's be honest, Colorado Tourism is Skiing.... it's the backbone of the CO ecomony and no one company represents or promotes colorado's skiing to the world like Level 1...... it is Level 1 that Colorado Tourism should be supporting...

 
although asking athletes to not allow wme the use of their footage sounds like a good idea on the outside, thats also like taking money out of those athletes pockets at the same time, and we all know these guys arent paid like baseball players that may be a hard thing to ask of them.

now if another company stepped up and said they would take those athletes on if they decided to back out from wme so they wouldnt loose out on a paycheck, that would be sick
 
lets face facts here. This lawsuit is designed to bankrupt level 1. It may not be WME's spoken goal but the intent is to sue them for serious damages, not just to prevent the release of the film in its current state. WME wants Level 1 gone, thats the way you have to look at it, thats the end game if things play out the way WME's lawyers would believe.

If this thing isnt dismissed immediately id be worried level 1 will need everyones support, personal and corporate because if WME really wants to draw a line in the sand like this... with the financial damages they are trying to impart... Level 1 needs the opportunity to defend itself justly. A frivolous lawsuit like this deserves a measured response, its like assault, theyre taking a swing at you and Level 1 should have the opportunity to defend itself. This aint fun and games, WME wants to reach into your pockets.

id be pissed. no i am pissed.
 
I don't know if this has been said already because I just don't have the time to read through it all but:

Instead of just hearing the disapproval from the kids here on NS, I think one effective way to get a point across is if somehow we could get other film companies ie. Rage, PBP and even some of the big name athletes to protest against WME. (Maybe even refusing to be in their movies) With an entire industry in their face, not just the movie watching audience, we can make a VERY strong point. Thats just my idea.
 
I just posted this on one of the other 8,0000000 threads about this -

The shipping of Refresh: could this be delayed / movie canned altogether as a result of pending legal action?

My example is that of the Line Anthem Kiss Graphic, where they had to pull the ski for the season....
 
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