As many photography companies have experienced, we too have been threatened by Peter Wolf and PhotoCrazy from Thousand Oaks, CA; claiming a violation of a patent issued in his name specifying he is the mastermind behind online event photography searching. (Have you ever heard of anything so ridiculous?)

His attorney sent us a copy of the Patents along with a letter requesting payment for the use of his patent.  Nice try!!

According to the Patent Office, prior art can invalidate a patent, and my previous web-site was using database searches  to locate images from sports events well before his patent was in the works. (It pays to be a web developer sometimes). Additionally, we are searching for other prior art relevant to this patent to strengthen our case – if you know of any or have any leads, be sure to let me know. You can call 805-617-0797 and I would be happy to talk to you or drop me a quick e-mail.

Mike Bouffard (Santa Barbara Pix) is looking forward to and will fight this to the end, regardless of cost or time. Too many people have been bullied into paying fees for a patent that should never have been issued.

We are awaiting a response from Wolf’s attorney in response to our reply to their demand. The original documents are posted and can be viewed using the links below.

UPDATE: June 1, 2009 – It has been 6 weeks since we responded to Wolf’s Attorney’s requesting that we go to court – still no response.

UPDATE: June 21, 2009 – Another 3 weeks have passed since our last update and we have not received anything from Wolf’s Attorney’s.  This week will we begin the process of filing for a Patent Reexamination.

UPDATE: July 18, 2009 – FINALLY – we received the paperwork for the suit against us. We have cancelled our re-examination paperwork, saving us filing fees for that, and are preparing our case against Peter Wolf. We are looking forward to a long drawn out battle in this fight against a patent that is a huge joke.

UPDATE: July 27, 2009 – Our response is almost complete and we are putting together our counter-suit against Wolf. We will scan the documents and have them listed below soon for everyone to view. We will NOT be keeping any information ‘Confidential’, nor will be agree to keep anything “Confidential”, as we have nothing to hide and our income is minimal from events we photograph.

UPDATE: August 5, 2009 – We filed our response to the claim Wolf’s Attorney’s filed as well as our counter-suit against him. We are having the documents scanned and will post as soon as possible.

Related Documents:
Click HERE for the letter we received dated April 3, 2009
Click HERE for our response dated April 15, 2009
Click HERE for Patent 6,985,875 B1 dated Jan. 10, 2006
Click HERE for Patent 7,047,214,B2 dated May 16, 2006

UPDATE: January 14, 2010 – A quick update for those of you following this…. The paperwork shuffle continues. Nothing pertinent to the case, just paperwork the court and plaintiff want, which has nothing to do with our defense. The last papers filed were the claim construction this past Friday. Next filing is the submitting of  a list of expert witnesses due no later than May 14th.  If you have any recommended ‘experts’ that might be helpful to us, drop us a note.

UPDATE: January 20, 2010 – We just received an email giving us some excellent prior art from 1999. This might be the one we were looking for – it is listed on way back machine; shows events and searching by identifying number on the athlete…. I can hardly wait until the meeting with the judge to show this one.  This could also be the ‘slam-dunk’ for a re-examination and have the whole patent invalidated. If anyone is interested in filing, I can provide you the data we have collected.

UPDATE: April 23, 2010 – Received a letter today from Wolf’s attorney indicating a meet and confer regarding my discovery request responses.  They claim, among other items, that I have written agreements with event directors, which I told them I do not – everything has been done verbally and I have to produce those documents (which don’t exist). I even gave them the events, the director and their contact information. Why don’t they just do their job and check – they won’t find any. They also want to see any e-mail sent to a race participant – HUH???  Anyone reading this have an email I sent them?

I love this one: “It defies credulity that no such documents exist”, which was noted for written agreements with photographers. We don’t have written agreements with photographers and never will – it is very casual. Again, they have their names and contact info – do your job and check into it.

Then the threat: “We are prepared to move forward with the filing of a monition to compel”.

SOME GOOD NEWS:  I have it from a reliable source that an attorney has been secured to go after Wolf. This has just occurred and will be developing over the next few weeks.  This looks like it could be the end to the patent. More details as they become available along with links to the documents.

UPDATE: May 17, 2010 – I have heard that a group is being formed for anyone who has paid Wolf, or has been threatened by Wolf, which includes him calling an event director and bad-mouthing a photographer (which he did to me for the Carpinteria Triathlon). Should he lose an up-coming case being filed against him or the patent be re-voked, a lawsuit will be filed against him for re-payment of all funds made by any company or individual.

Don’t know any details yet – just heard this in conversation at a race a couple of weeks ago. When I know more, I will post here.

UPDATE: July 28, 2010 - IMPORTANT – The prior art “Kill Date” is anything dated before November 4, 1998. We have received some from various people, some anonymously, and are looking for any more you may find. We will gladly find you a ‘finders fee’ for anything you can send us. The requirements are:  searchable site using name, bib number or other identifiable information and dated before Nov 4, 1998.