Damaged Goods wrote:
> running them is a) we are trying to avoid legal action as we can't
If the content on the sites was created by you, it is your
intellectual property --- unless one of the forms you signed turned
over all intellectual property rights to the organization. If that is
the case, you can bill them for webhosting/traffic, and the like.
> b) I'm feeling a little unsure of the moral obligation to the people that I've introduced
Your moral obligation would be to delete the content on the site, and
replace it with an explanation of why you regret introducing people to
the organization.
> We've thought about penning a letter to our downline politely explaining that we are leaving the company etc - pulling our website down and using it for my new business
Perfectly legal. That would be the moral and ethical thing to do.
> have warned against doing that too.
You have three options here:
* Shut the site down, and wait for the lawsuit. If sued, you file a
countersuit that the organization is a bona fide pyramid scheme,
meeting all of the criteria for such, as defined by both federal law,
us case law, and the pyramid scheme laws in your state.
* Keep the site up, but submit a monthly bill to them. If the account
goes 30 days delinquent shut it down. If sued, you can simply point
to their failure to honour a legitimate debt. If the organization
counters that, then your counter-counter-
sued by an ongoing criminal enterprise, whose business model
explicatively violates US Federal and state laws.
* Keep the site up, but repurposed for your current/new business.
You may, but need not have a page explaining why you left that
organization. If sue, countersue on the grounds that that organization
is an ongoing criminal enterprise, and that you were a victim of their
criminal activity.
> On what actual legal grounds can a company such as them tell me that
It depends upon the wording in the contracts you have signed.
* It is extremely unlikely that the contract requires you to keep the
information online, either for duration of your "affiliation" with the
organization, or in perpetuity. (Clauses that have that requirement
are generally considered to be onerous, and hence unenforceable.
* Regardless of that contract, all you need to demonstrate to the
court is that the organization is an ongoing criminal enterprise, and
the contracts will be declared null and void, because they were signed
for pursuing an illegal action.
* I haven't reviewed a recent contract from them, but the one I did
review required one to violate US Federal Law. As such, the entire
contract is null and void, on the grounds that criminal activities may
not be protected by civil contracts.
You _need_ to get a good lawyer now.
You might be able to get a contingency fee based attorney. Forget
about the percentage that the lawyer takes. Focus on getting out of
the situation with minimal damage to you.
> I must keep my websites running when I'm not going to be with the company
Oops. I thought that you were in the US, not Canada. Canadian law is
slightly different.
For starters, Canada does not have a "work for hire" clause in its
copyright law. Canada also has slightly stronger "moral rights" in
its copyright law. Those two factors make it much less likely that
that organization will be able to utilize your material,than under US
Law. On the flipside, Canadian MLM is generally weaker than US
law,but has a couple of interesting twists.
I don't know what the Canadian equivalent of RICO is.
Note: I am not a lawyer. You need to consult with a lawyer.
xan
jonathon
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