tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847904405428185680.post8054917931516892323..comments2024-02-01T00:05:24.629-08:00Comments on Tropico Station: THE Glendale Blog: The Truth Behind The Meatball/Glendale Bear "Copyright Dispute"Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847904405428185680.post-36997012449534266092013-11-21T11:30:30.176-08:002013-11-21T11:30:30.176-08:00Phyllis,
I know Sarah had asked to be kept in the...Phyllis,<br /><br />I know Sarah had asked to be kept in the loop about this stuff so she could use her account to promote it, but from what I understand they've never been that informative. My guess is that a donor had a well-intentioned idea, moved forward with it on their own, presented it to LTB and they said "great, let's print it!" without thinking that much about it.<br /><br />I would also guess that part of the reason they kept her out of the loop was because last year LTB tried to auction some of Meatball's fur, and Sarah (who is well versed in laws governing wildlife in the state) pointed out that selling the fur was illegal under state law. LTB's intent was good, but they moved forward without doing their research and had to publicly pull the fur auction. <br /><br />http://articles.glendalenewspress.com/2012-11-08/news/tn-818-1108-auction-of-meatball-memorabilia-to-go-one-sans-lock-of-fur-sanctuary-announces_1_bobbi-brink-furry-fur-meatball-christmas-tree-ornamentScotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01395219854435584426noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847904405428185680.post-4949672944242609472013-11-21T05:44:18.588-08:002013-11-21T05:44:18.588-08:00Scott, thank you for your well written account. I ...Scott, thank you for your well written account. I commend you for backing up your friend. It seems odd that the sanctuary would work on a book without letting Sarah know. Where they trying to hide this from her? PhyllisHarbhttp://www.harbandco.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847904405428185680.post-45897810052896797842013-11-20T11:01:41.763-08:002013-11-20T11:01:41.763-08:00Patty,
Lifesavers Wild Horse Sanctuary is a fant...Patty, <br /><br />Lifesavers Wild Horse Sanctuary is a fantastic place, believe me, if there was anything wrong with it I wouldn't volunteer my time there. What I'm saying is this. You are the first GFAS representative I have encountered, and I'm appalled by your behavior, especially given the fact that you are the Executive Director. <br /><br />Sally, as a representative, don't you have better things to do than to come onto a news blog and post rants that try and insinuate that Sarah Aujero is somehow to be likened to people who abused and exploited animals that ACTUALLY suffered? It's exceptionally unprofessional of you and may put your reputation and under the critical eye. <br /><br />This is between Sarah Aujero and LTB. I understand that you want to back them up and I'm sure they are close friends, but with that in mind, I can't help but notice that you didn't remark at all about how the bear is still in its same small temporary enclosure after a year of MORE than successful fund raising. Why aren't you holding LTB to task on this front?<br /><br />I see this kind of thing all the time in animal rescues. Everyone believes that since they are involved with a rescue and by virtue of dedicating their time to saving animals that they are without blame no matter what they do. There are a lot of well meaning people out there working animal rescues, but a lot of rescues with the best intentions can often times get into a rut of thinking that any type of critique against them and how they run their business is a direct attack against their organization and the animals they care for. Thus, they do the typical vilification and intimidate that person into leaving. (Thus Sarah is now not allowed to see the bear because she DARED to hold LTB accountable and wasn't going to cave into their bullying behavior). This is Los Angeles, if LTB thinks they're going to muscle someone out of their copyright in this city, you got another thing coming. <br /><br />LTB not only needs to apologize to Sarah for their ridiculous behavior, but they need to collaborate with her to help continue the donations coming in for Meatball.<br /><br />Right now, LTB has failed to appropriate and manage funds in a transparent and responsible way. The bear is still in his temporary enclosure despite successful fundraising. That, honestly, is the end of the discussion. <br /><br />-Wild Horse Advocate<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847904405428185680.post-57750197900827967532013-11-19T18:22:23.404-08:002013-11-19T18:22:23.404-08:00Patty, how much does GFAS charge to accredit nonpr...Patty, how much does GFAS charge to accredit nonprofit animal sanctuaries? Certainly, An Executive Director must get paid enough to do more than just leave despicable comments on the Internet.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847904405428185680.post-58088078670124876152013-11-19T18:17:46.675-08:002013-11-19T18:17:46.675-08:00Patty, your arguments are invalid.Patty, your arguments are invalid.Scott L. Spencerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16245791499906335344noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847904405428185680.post-70078948718252822162013-11-19T17:53:37.634-08:002013-11-19T17:53:37.634-08:00Oops. Typed too fast....I meant Lions Tiger and Be...Oops. Typed too fast....I meant Lions Tiger and Bears supervised all the transports and carried out MOST of them. Pattynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847904405428185680.post-68637930040816284182013-11-19T17:39:17.478-08:002013-11-19T17:39:17.478-08:00Sarah and online persona = good
Bobbi and LTB = go...Sarah and online persona = good<br />Bobbi and LTB = good<br />LTB's lawyers = bad<br />Patty = misguided effort to support LTB that leads to foolishness which we've already seen with LTB's lawyers.<br /><br />Correspondence/relations between Aujero and LTB appeared fine until LTB's lawyers sent that ridiculous letter. Now they appear to be worsening by GFAS's involvement.<br /><br />Nailed it, again.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847904405428185680.post-34551087464155879272013-11-19T17:29:18.183-08:002013-11-19T17:29:18.183-08:00Don't be selfish, it's about the bear not ...Don't be selfish, it's about the bear not your 15minutes of fame..... Besides he was called meatball by the locals and the media. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847904405428185680.post-74121599639915409162013-11-19T17:18:52.998-08:002013-11-19T17:18:52.998-08:00Point of clarification. GFAS is not a trade associ...Point of clarification. GFAS is not a trade association, nor a foundation. We accredit and verify sanctuaries against strict criteria. Our standards can be found at http://www.sanctuaryfederation.org/gfas/for-sanctuaries/standards/<br />It is a strictly voluntary process for sanctuaries, rescues, and wildlife rehabilitation centers around the globe. <br /><br />We are very proud of Lifesavers Wild Horse Rescue.<br /><br />Lifesavers Wild Horse Rescue: <br />•Facility is extremely well maintained<br />•Horse fencing is in wonderful condition and is the recommend 6ft for wild horses and is very secure.<br />•Attention paid to record keeping was exceptional<br />•Great overall volunteer involvement<br />•Natural horsemanship and volunteer evaluations have led to excellent re-homing options for many of the wild horses.<br /><br />In fact, Lifesavers Wild Horse Rescue met a very high bar, which involved assessment against 60 some standards. <br /><br />Just wanted to make sure there was no confusion about that. <br /><br />I won't be checking this board anymore, nor responding to any other comments. I'm still mystified why one of the best sanctuaries out there, Lions, Tigers and Bears, is being attacked publicly...by a friend of the sanctuary??? <br /><br />Whenever there are animals being abused, I can count on Bobbi Brink and her team to work tirelessly to save those animals. THAT is what deserves publicity. There were six bears I was sure could not be saved. The owner wouldn't give them up, and law enforcement felt their hands were tied. Bobbi worked for more than a year to get the owner to give up the bears and then found sanctuary for all 6. Because of Bobbi Brink, those bears are no longer in caging where they could not even stand up!!!! In fact, it was extremely cruel, small caging. After the rescue, the former owner went online and bad-mouthed Bobbi Brink for calling it a rescue! Those kinds of attacks are expected. <br /><br />Bobbi also headed up a rescue for GFAS where a sanctuary had run out of funding. 23 big cats and a bear needed placement. I had spent the 4 months prior, just trying to place 3 tigers. I didn't think we could find good placements for all these animals. Bobbi was in charge of approving the placements, and found excellent places. She oversaw the loading of all the animals in a facility not designed for safe transport. In fact, it was a dangerous situation. Lions, Tigers and Bears carried out all the transports. I just wish those kinds of things made headlines and got picked up by CBS, et al. It gets discouraging!Instead the local paper ran a big story in which this sanctuary, which was flat broke, claimed they had to give up their animals because of the new law in Ohio.....which was not even a law when we carried out the rescue.<br /><br />None of that means Lions, Tigers and Bears couldn't do something wrong, but in this case with the copyright, they have not, in my opinion.They sent a requested contract over, and if there were objections, that could have been handled privately, as it usually is. There is no need for a public attack. <br /><br /><br />Patty FinchPattynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847904405428185680.post-56739546538291700452013-11-19T15:21:54.455-08:002013-11-19T15:21:54.455-08:00Hey Patty!
If you're so concerned about the m...Hey Patty!<br /><br />If you're so concerned about the money part of this don't you think the funds that have already been raised by the bear should have him in his own habitat by now? Why is no one talking about the runaway budget for this enclosure LTB keeps rallying for while the bear stays in the same small enclosure he was first put in?<br /><br />You're right! People will get burnt out giving money for the bear, especially when it seems like it isn't being managed or utilized appropriately. Sallynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847904405428185680.post-74268544531555673812013-11-19T15:07:29.369-08:002013-11-19T15:07:29.369-08:00Patty,
I volunteer regularly at a rescue accredi...Patty, <br /><br />I volunteer regularly at a rescue accredited by your foundation. If emotionally charged messages with ridiculously overblown finger pointing and pathetic insinuations is the way you conduct your business and treat people who don't agree with you, then your badge of approval for Lifesavers Wild Horse Sanctuary's is a blemish, not an honor. <br /><br />Go troll somewhere else.<br /><br />-Wild Horse AdvocateAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847904405428185680.post-6652248961088401632013-11-19T14:38:48.414-08:002013-11-19T14:38:48.414-08:00in response to Patty at 1:59pm:
Patty, in this ca...in response to Patty at 1:59pm:<br /><br />Patty, in this case, the copyright and trademark for a fictional character named Meatball The Glendale Bear existed long before LTB had the actual bear. As the correspondence shows, Sarah pointed out that there were legal issues but you can clearly see that she wanted to resolve them in a way that allowed LTB to fundraise without restriction but kept her legal protections intact. She states that repeatedly.<br />The appropriate response from LTB to an offer to use the trademark for free without restriction should have been: thanks, this solves the problem.<br />Instead, they escalated the situation by sending a settlement agreement that would have required Sarah to turn over all of her preexisting creative work (again, dating to before LTB was involved) to LTB and prevent her from speaking as her fictional bear creation in the future. And instead of being nice about it, they prevented her from visiting the bear and made public statements that are directly contradicted by the settlement agreement they sent. That is the reality of how they have handled the situation -- badly.<br /><br />in response to anonymous at 2:30:<br /><br />You nailed it.Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01395219854435584426noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847904405428185680.post-73880568532914346112013-11-19T14:36:01.238-08:002013-11-19T14:36:01.238-08:00Patty,
With all honesty and no disrespect intende...Patty,<br /><br />With all honesty and no disrespect intended, but I feel like your comments are intended for a completely different article. <br /><br />Whether what was presented here is one sided or not it has nothing to do with animal abuse. It has nothing to do with cyber stalking.<br /><br />This person wants nothing more than to help and is being asked to turn over her creative property or be "banned". Since you are bringing up irrelevant examples let us equate this to something the readers of this blog might understand, what LTB is asking for is the equivalent of Retailers asking Apple for all of its creative property or they won't sell Apple product any more. Except in this case, Apple has already granted license to the Retailer to use the names and images that Apple has rights to. Apple has already said, go ahead and publish your book, I give you permission to (called licensing), but I'm retaining my rights.<br /><br />It really looks like you are trying to make this into a bigger issue that is unrelated to abuse or cyber stalking. Evening mentioning that in this conversation is an insult to the person that has been the biggest advocate for meatball before there was "Meatball".GeorgeLnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847904405428185680.post-45287212037469370292013-11-19T14:33:23.483-08:002013-11-19T14:33:23.483-08:00The reputation of the sanctuary is already in some...The reputation of the sanctuary is already in someone else's hands. Unfortunately, it's the hands of their lawyers and trade association.AVNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11204716776306117623noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847904405428185680.post-28136251648240366772013-11-19T14:31:43.667-08:002013-11-19T14:31:43.667-08:00I know a veiled multi-million dollar lawsuit when ...I know a veiled multi-million dollar lawsuit when I see one. Stay classy, Patty.AVNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11204716776306117623noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847904405428185680.post-30611078053261437322013-11-19T14:30:48.137-08:002013-11-19T14:30:48.137-08:00Reading through this soap opera, it looks like the...Reading through this soap opera, it looks like the only people who screwed up, here, are the sanctuary's lawyers. It looks like they jumped the gun and sent unreasonable requests without actually reading the emails between Aujero and the sanctuary's PR people.<br /><br />Way to go, lawyers. Congratulations on making a big stink out of nothing. Classic lawyer move. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847904405428185680.post-90275295196818357172013-11-19T13:59:31.954-08:002013-11-19T13:59:31.954-08:00There is quite a bit of correspondence and convers...There is quite a bit of correspondence and conversations left out! But I assume the attorneys will examine that, without spin. <br /><br />It is not irrelevant that Lions, Tigers and Bears has taken on the lifetime costs of this bear. In fact, it is the crux of the matter. And also that someone else should not hold the sanctuary's reputation in her hands. <br /><br />Luckily, one sanctuary did copyright their name and photos, and won a little over a million dollars in a lawsuit.http://bigcatrescue.org/today-at-big-cat-rescue-feb-9-2013-big-cat-rescue-wins/<br /><br />In another case, a woman was cyber-stalking a sanctuary, trying to ruin their good name, and the sanctuary eventually won a settlement in excess of $6 million. http://batworldwins.com/<br /><br />Collecting the funds is another matter, and no sanctuary wants this kind of battle. <br /><br />It would be ridiculous to expect sanctuaries to copyright the name of each of their animals. I helped bring about the prosecution of a terrible horse abuser in AZ. Two of the horses were able to be saved and were sent to a sanctuary. I would never dream of writing a book about those horses without the permission of the sanctuary, and without giving them full editorial control, and without giving them 100% of the profits. That is because I realize how hard sanctuaries work to raise funds. People give when a bear is first rescued, and for updates, but 20 years from now, the sanctuary could well be still caring for that bear, and people get burned out on the giving. Lions, Tigers and Bears receives no government support and doesn't deserve this negative publicity from someone who did a good deed, but now wants to make money off of it, at the expense of the sanctuary. I'm no attorney, but I do know what a decent person would do. <br /><br />Patty Finch<br />ED of GFAS www.sanctuaryfederation.org <br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847904405428185680.post-12741075355620892952013-11-19T13:18:37.681-08:002013-11-19T13:18:37.681-08:00Patty,
No one is questioning the accreditation of...Patty,<br /><br />No one is questioning the accreditation of LTB, their level of care for the animals, or the fact that they are very expensive to care for. But that is irrelevant to the awkward fact that LTB proceeded with a project that they didn't legally have the rights for. Despite that, as you can see from the correspondence, Sarah supported them publishing their book and fundraising and wasn't trying to prevent that.<br /><br />In response, LTB insisted that Sarah sign over ALL of her preexisting creative work (much of it dating to when Meatball was just a bear running around Glendale) and "cease and refrain" from "use of the Meatball designations" or she wouldn't be able to visit the bear again. That's a shoddy way to treat someone who,in addition to directly donating thousands of dollars to LTB, was largely responsible for generating the public interest that both saved the bear and unquestionably helped LTB's worthy fundraising efforts.<br />Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01395219854435584426noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847904405428185680.post-73656514913361449402013-11-19T12:16:38.478-08:002013-11-19T12:16:38.478-08:00I am the Executive Director of the Global Federati...I am the Executive Director of the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS). GFAS accredited Lions, Tigers, and Bears in Alpine, which means they met or surpassed the requirements set forth in more than 90 standards. Bobbi Brink is respected nationally by all the other sanctuaries she has so generously helped, and the rescues she has carried out.<br /><br />It was NOT Lions, Tiger, and Bears who first brought up trademarks or copyrights, because ordinarily no would try to make money off an animal in a sanctuary! The lifetime costs for the care of these animals is enormous, but now the person who started out helping the bear, wants to make money off the bear, when she has not taken on the life time care costs. She'll give a PORTION of the proceeds from a book she may get written? And meanwhile this turmoil is blocking the publication of another book (already written) by the sanctuary where ALL the profits go to the care of the animals? And trying to make the sanctuary look bad? And what business, nonprofit or not, wants to put their reputation in someone else's hands, especially someone who is attacking? Already, Lions, Tigers and Bears have received a complaint from someone saying they paid for Meatball merchandise but did not receive it. Yet Lions, Tigers and Bears is not the one selling the merchandise. But you can't blame the public for thinking the sanctuary is the one selling things about Meatball. They should be!Patty Finchnoreply@blogger.com