A Good Old Fashioned Podcast Legal Battle
Nothing legitimizes New Media like a good old-fashioned court battle. Unfortunately, it would seem that this one is more about sour grapes (and previous competitive issues) than anything else. Regardless, it’s official; two Essex County, New Jersey Videographers are now in a legal battle over their respective Wedding focused podcast efforts.
I’ll let you decide for yourself what is really going on after reading the original Star-Ledger story. Full disclosure: I have been involved in plenty of media stories that prove the rule that the media are generally only half right/accurate.
One thing all court cases need is expert witnesses. It is clear from this “spat” that both parties are in need. Feel free to contact me. As one of the true podcast pioneers involved from the very beginning I have the expertise they require. Though, I can also name 10 different ideas I developed that they have both infringed upon. Heck, maybe I should sue them both! Did they list “Podcast” as the genre in iTunes – I won’t bore you with the details but that was my hard fought public battle back in the very early podcast days. Many of us worked countless hours to develop this medium. We were working to build a platform for all to share, not something to parse into ownership segments. Unless I am missing something, it is sad that two wedding videographers will possibly set a precedent. Perhaps an Amicus Brief is appropriate? One thing that amazes me – a podcast effort that is not yet making money, is suing other financially unstable podcast entity. That tells me it is personal. Am I missing something?
Michael,
You are very correct in regards to many of the statements you have made above on this case. I for one certainly did not ask for this unjust lawsuit. Neither did I want it to be made public. You may thank the Wedding Podcast Network for the negative publicity and the impact it may have on the podcasting industry.
As podcasters,videographers, wedding professionals. etc… we should be working with one another to make the wedding community and the world of podcasting stronger. This type of press only sends out unfavorable messages. It is ashame that one podcaster feels he has a copyright on such ideas. To my fellow podcasters out there do not let this case put a damper on what your doing. If you believe in something and enjoy it continue to pursue it. Never let any one intimidate you. The podcast community must continue, be kept alive and continue to grow!
Ralph Mucci
The Wedding Planning Audiocast
Michael. You are right. Ralph has made it personal. Holli & I have been working hard trying to build a revenue-generating podcast business and Ralph is maliciously and intentionally interfering with that. Please do not characterize this as a spat or sour grapes. We welcome competition. Here is what you are missing.
This is a case of cyberstalking. Ralph Mucci purposely has created confusion in the marketplace. It’s not WHAT he did, but HOW he did it. As an entrepreneur of a start up new media online business we need safeguards to be in place. They do not currently exist for protection of Internet businesses. Do you think it’s okay that he called our web designer and publicist using a fake identity name pumping for information about our company to directly compete against us? Holli & I are trying to make inroads for podcasters everywhere as a viable place to make a living and support our family. What we have created matters to us. Weddings are a $125 billion industry. We would appreciate it if you did not trivialize our efforts.
Ralph Mucci is a despicable human being and I believe that he is a pathological liar. We are not the first to be the victim of Ralph. He has done (and continues to do) similar things to other videographers. We are just the only ones to take action against him. He has used delay tactics to avoid telling his story in front of a judge. Is he afraid of the mountain of evidence that we have against him?
Why would Ralph Mucci need to visit our website thousands of times? Why would he need to download our podcasts nearly 900 times (we have 135 episodes online)? Why does he post negative comments on iTunes and other places on the Internet about our podcasts and favorable ones about his using fake identities? Feel free to check it out for yourself. He has even attacked Holli & I personally on various blogs around the world. How would you feel if you were in our shoes? How are we supposed to brand ourselves if someone like Ralph uses our company website and content as his favorite resource to create his business and directly compete against us? We are reluctant to release new concepts for fear that he will copy them and create more confusion. Is that fair? Ralph has copied and distributed the content of press releases that we have paid a lot of money for a publicist to write. We have proof of all of this. He proudly admits to regularly contacting our guests to be on his show yet he makes his guests sign a contract stipulating that they can not appear on Wedding Podcast Network. We have a copy of this contract. Are there not enough wedding experts in the world where he has to go after the exact same people we feature? He contacts our sponsors to work with him and damages our relationship. We have proof of interference with our sponsors. We will be proving damages.
Ralph Mucci is a menace. I don’t wish what he has done to us over the last 2 years on my worst enemy. I welcome anyone to contact me for the full details. Want to hear about the time he ambushed me by blocking my car and trying to physically assault me? Luckily I was able to maneuver around him and avoided injury.
To challenge his lie above I want to make it very clear that Ralph Mucci is the reason that the article was written. Ralph contacted the newspaper to harass them because they refused to do an article about him on podcasting after they found out what he was doing to us. I am on record stating that I wanted our case to go to court before speaking to the media. We were forced into participating in the article. Ralph Mucci caused the Star Ledger to write the article at this point. Even the author of the article can attest to that, just ask her. The Star Ledger’s legal department insisted that the story be done because of all of the harassing phone calls they got from him. That is what Ralph Mucci does.
Michael, I would take you up on your offer of being an expert witness except for the fact Ralph is afraid to go to court. Come on Ralph crawl out of your hole in the basement and let’s go to court and set a precedent that proves what you are doing is unfair business practice.
Ralph Mucci is the worst thing to happen to podcasting. Hey Ralph why did you refuse to give your interview to the paper in person? Were you afraid to let Kelly see what a creep you really are?
There is nothing unjust about the lawsuit. It is distressing to have to deal with this situation but we will not let Ralph Mucci get away with what he is doing and make a mockery of us. If it turns out that what Ralph is doing is deemed acceptable behavior in the digital space then podcasting as a viable business is doomed. Every podcaster that desires to make a good living with podcasting should keep a close eye on the outcome of this case. We are comforted by the overwhelming support we have received from fellow podcasters and hope that we can count on yours.
BTW - don’t be surprised if Ralph goes crazy after reading this comment and requests that you remove it from your blog. We are all too familiar with how he operates.
Robert Allen
Wedding Podcast Network
I believe Mr. Allen and his wife are just a little bit upset above. They’ve been holding back their anger for many months now and finally have an avenue to let it out which is this blog. As you can see I kept my comments short above instead of writing a dissertation. I did not say anything derogatory about Mr. Allen or his wife above nor did I discuss the events of this case. It’s apparent they want to state their case on this blog. Unfortunately some people do not take kindly to competition. The satisfaction I get from doing my show is knowing that I produce a high quality show which has benefitted and helped thousands of brides, wedding planners, and bloggers around the world. All you have to do is just listen to our shows. I enjoy what I’m doing and have been dedicated even though there haven’t been any monetary rewards to date. It would be nice but it just hasn’t happened. In any event certainly I could sit here and write nasty things back after being so viciously attacked above but what would it solve..nothing..just a bunch of nonsense. I’ve been dealing with it for over a year now. As I stated above we should be working together and not against one another. This also has certainly set a bad example in anger and self control toward another podcaster.
Michael it’s your blog keep the posting up if you like I don’t mind when you’re in the public eye people will make their own judgments.
Mr. Alan Bloom former member of the NJVA and creator of the 30 minuet edit..thank you for your support and encouragement.
Ralph Mucci
The Wedding Planning Audiocast
Oh the humanity… The comments say it all.
A quick search on iTunes reveals 73 podcasts with the word “wedding” in the title. These guys will beat each other senseless and it won’t even be a blip on the wedding podcast landscape. Welcome to New Media.