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The present application claims priority, under 35 U.S.C. § 119, of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/742,964, filed on Dec. 7, 2005 and entitled “Image-Based Contextual Advertisement Method and Branded Barcodes”. Further, the present application is a continuation-in-part, under 35 U.S.C. § 120, of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/433,052, filed on May 12, 2006 and entitled “Mobile Image-Based Information Retrieval System”, which claims priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/727,313, filed on Oct. 17, 2005 and entitled “Mobile Image-Based Information Retrieval System”, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/680,908, filed on May 13, 2005 and entitled “Mobile Image-Based Information Retrieval System”, and which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/129,034, filed on May 13, 2005 and entitled “Image-Based Search Engine For Mobile Phones With Camera”, which claims priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/570,924, filed on May 13, 2004 and entitled “Improved Image-Based Search Engine For Mobile Phones With Camera”, and which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/783,378, filed on Feb. 20, 2004 and entitled “Image-Based Inquiry System For Search Engines For Mobile Telephones With Integrated Camera”.
Almost all modern mobile phones come with an integrated camera or image capture device (such phones often being referred to as “camera phones”). The camera is typically used for taking pictures for posterity purposes (e.g., taking still shots of a particular scene).
According to at least one aspect of one or more embodiments of the present invention, content media having images associated with remotely stored information are provided with barcodes marked with indicia to indicate a source of the information. In this manner, a user, having, for example, a camera phone, will become aware that the particular content medium has images that can be scanned to retrieve additional information (from the remote information store) via their camera phone.
FIG. 1 is a figure illustrating the main components of a Visual Mobile Search (VMS) Service in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a figure illustrating the population of a database of a VMS server with image content pairs in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a figure illustrating the process of retrieving mobile content from a media server through visual mobile search in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a figure illustrating an effective recognition server in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an image-based information retrieval system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a flow diagram for an operation of an object recognition engine in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 illustrates an example of an intelligent museum guide implemented using the VMS service in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8 illustrates an example of how VMS may be used as a tool for a tourist to access relevant information based on an image in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 9 illustrates an example of how VMS may be used in using traditional print media as pointers to interactive content in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIGS. 10-11 illustrate the use of the VMS client in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary web page having an image with objects in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 13 illustrates recognized objects in the web page of FIG. 1.
FIG. 14 illustrates a flow chart of a method for presenting image-based contextual advertisements in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 15 illustrates an exemplary web page having image-based contextual advertisements in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIGS. 16-25 illustrate branded barcodes in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present invention.
One or more embodiments exploit the eminent opportunity that mobile phones with inbuilt camera are proliferating at a rapid pace. Driven through the low cost of cameras the percentage of camera phones of all mobile phones is rapidly increasing as well. The expectation is that in a few years in the order of one billion mobile handsets with cameras will be in use worldwide.
This formidable infrastructure may be used to establish a powerful image-based search service, which functions by sending an image acquired by a camera phone to a server. The server hosts visual recognition engines that recognize the objects shown in the image and that returns search results in appropriate format back the user.
The disclosure herein also describes in detail the realization of the overall system architecture as well the heart of the image-based search service, the visual recognition engines. The disclosure lists multiple inventions on different levels of the mobile search system that make it more conducive to successful commercial deployments.
A visual mobile search (VMS) service in accordance with one or more embodiments is designed to offer a powerful new functionality to mobile application developers and to the users of mobile phones. Referring to FIG. 1, mobile phone users can use the inbuilt camera of a mobile phone 12 to take a picture 114 of an object of interest and send it via a wireless data network 118 such as, for example, the GPRS network to the VMS server 120. The object gets recognized and upon recognition the servers will take the action the application developer requested. Typically this entails referring the sender to a URL with mobile content 121 designed by the application developer but can entail more complex transactions as well.
The VMS server 120 may be thought of as having two components. A visual recognition server 122, also sometimes referred to as the object recognition (OR) server, recognizes an object within an image, interacts with a media server 124 to provide content to the client, and stores new objects in a database. The media server 124 is responsible for maintaining content associated with a given ID and delivering the content to a client. The media server 124 may also provide a web interface for changing content for a given object.
A VMS client piece is responsible for running the VMS client to send images and receive data from the server. The VMS client is either pre-installed on the phone or comes as an over-the-air update in, for example, a Java or BREW implementation. Alternatively, the communication between the phone and the recognition servers is handled via multimedia messaging (MMS). FIG. 1 illustrates the main components of the Visual Mobile Search Service.
To make use of VMS service, the application developer submits a list of pictures and associated image IDs in textual format to the visual recognition server. Referring to FIG. 2, an application developer 126, which can occasionally be an end user himself, submits images 114 annotated with textual IDs 128 to the recognition servers 122. FIG. 2 illustrates the population of the database with image content pairs.
FIG. 3 shows in more detail the steps involved in retrieving mobile content and how the system refers an end user to the mobile content. Initially, the user takes an image with his camera phone 12 and sends it to the recognition server 122. This can either be accomplished by using a wireless data network such as GPRS, or it may be sent via multi media messaging MMS as this is supported by most wireless carriers. Then, the recognition server 122 uses its multiple recognition engines to match the incoming picture against object representation stored in its database. In one or more embodiments, multiple recognition experts may be used, where each specializes in recognizing certain classes of patterns. For example, a facial recognition engine is good for recognizing textured objects. Optical character recognizers and barcode readers try to identify text strings or barcodes. A more detailed description of the recognition engines is given below. Successful recognition leads to a single or several textual identifiers denoting object, faces, or strings that are passed on to media server 124. Upon receipt of the text strings, the media server 124 sends associated mobile multimedia content back to the VMS client on the phone. This content could consist of a mix of data types such as text, images, music or audio clips. In one or more embodiments, the media server 124 may send back a URL that can be viewed on the phone using an inbuilt web browser.
Further, it is notes that the content may consist of a URL that is routed to the browser on the phone, which can then be used to open the referenced mobile webpage through standard mobile web technology.
Years of experience in machine vision have shown that it is very difficult to design a recognition engine that is equally well suited for diverse recognition tasks. For instance, engines exist that are well suited to recognize well textured rigid objects. Other engines are useful to recognize deformable objects such as faces or articulate objects such as persons. Yet other engines are well suited for optical character recognition. To implement an effective vision-based search engine it will be important to combine multiple algorithms in one recognition engine or alternatively install multiple specialized recognition engines that analyze the query images with respect to different objects.
In one or more embodiments, multiple recognition engines are applied to an incoming image. Each engine returns the recognition results with confidence values and an integrating module that outputs a final list of objects recognized. The simplest fusion rule is a rule that simply sends all the relevant textual IDs to the media server. Another useful rule if one wants to reduce the feedback to a single result is to introduce a hierarchy among the recognition disciplines. The channel which is highest in the hierarchy and which returns a result is selected to forward the text ID to the media server. FIG. 4 shows an effective recognition server 14′ that is comprised of multiple specialized recognition engines 22, 24, 28, 26 that focus on recognizing certain object classes.
It is noted that it is important to regularly update the object representations because objects change over time and/or space. This may be achieved in at least two ways. One way is that the service providers regularly add current image material to refresh the object representations. The other way is to keep the images that users submit for query and upon recognition feed them into the engine that updates the object representations. The later method may require a confidence measure that estimates how reliable a recognition result is. This may be necessary in order not to pollute the database. There are different ways to generate such a confidence measure. One is to use match scores, topological and other consistency checks that are intrinsic to the object recognition methods described below. Another way is to rely on extrinsic quality measures such as to determine whether a search result was accepted by a user. This can with some reliability be inferred from whether the user continued browsing the page to which the search result led and/or whether he did not do a similar query shortly after.
To facilitate object recognition, it is important to cut down the number of object representations against which the incoming image has to be compared. Often one has access to other information in relation to the image itself. Such information can include time, location of the handset, user profile or recent phone transactions. Another source of external image information is additional inputs provided by the user.
Overall it will be helpful to organize the image search such that objects are looked up in a sequence in which object representations close in time and space will be searched before object representations that are older, were taken at a different time of day or carry a location label further away are considered.
One implementation of a search engine is one in which the recognition engine resides entirely on the server. However, it may be desirable to run part of the recognition process on the phone. One reason is that this way the server has less computational load and the service can be run more economically. The second reason is that the feature vectors contain less data then the original image thus the data that needs to be send to the server can be reduced.
Another way to keep the processing more local on the handset is to store the object representations of the most frequently requested objects locally on the handset. Information on frequently requested searches can be obtained on an overall, group or individual user level.
To recognize an object in a reliable manner, sufficient image detail needs to be provided. In order to strike a good balance between the desire for a low bandwidth and a sufficiently high image resolution, one can use a method in which a lower resolution representation of the image is sent first. If necessary and if the object recognition engines discover a relevant area that matches well one of the existing object representations, one can transmit additional detail.
For a fast proliferation of the search service, it will be important to allow a download over the air of the client application. The client side application would essentially acquire an image and send appropriate image representations to recognition servers. It then would receive the search results in an appropriate format. Advantageously, such an application may be implemented in Java or BREW so that it is possible to download this application over the air instead of preloading it on the phone.
In one or more embodiments, it may be helpful to provide additional input to limit the image-based search to specific domains such as “travel guide” or “English dictionary”. External input to confine the search to specific domains can come from a variety of sources. One is of course text input via typing or choosing from a menu of options. Another one is input via Bluetooth or other signals emitted from the environment. A good example for the later might be a car manual. While the user is close to the car for which the manual is available, a signal is transmitted from the car to his mobile device that allows the search engine to offer a specific search tailored to car details. Moreover, a previous successful search can cause the search engine to narrow down search for a subsequent search.
Accordingly, with reference to FIG. 5, one or more embodiments may be embodied in an image-based information retrieval system 10 including a mobile telephone 12 and a remote server 14. The mobile telephone has a built-in camera 16, a recognition engine 32 for recognizing an object or feature in an image from the built-in camera, and a communication link 18 for requesting information from the remote server 14 related to a recognized object or feature.
Accordingly, with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, one or more embodiments may be embodied in an image-based information retrieval system that includes a mobile telephone 12 and a remote recognition server 14′. The mobile telephone has a built-in camera 16 and a communication link 18 for transmitting an image 20 from the built-in camera to the remote recognition server. The remote recognition server has an optical character recognition engine 22 for generating a first confidence value based on an image from the mobile telephone, an object recognition engine, 24 and/or 26, for generating a second confidence value based on an image from the mobile telephone, a face recognition engine 28 for generating a third confidence value based on an image from the mobile telephone, and an integrator module 30 for receiving the first, second, and third confidence values and generating a recognition output. The recognition output may be an image description 32.
As described above, the VMS system has a suite of recognition engines that can recognize various visual patterns from faces to barcodes.
A general object recognition engine may learn to recognize an object from a single image. If available, the engine may also be trained with several images from different viewpoints or a short video sequence which often contributes to improving the invariance under changing viewing angle. In this case, one may invoke the view fusion module that is discussed in more detail below.
From a usability standpoint, it is important to allow a user, who is not a machine vision expert, to easily submit entries to the library of objects that can be recognized. A good choice to implement such a recognition engine is based on the SIFT feature approach described by David Lowe in 1999. Essentially, it allows recognition an object based on a single picture.
Referring to FIG. 6, macro algorithmic principles of the object recognition engine are: extraction of feature vectors 162 from key interest points 164, comparison 168 of corresponding feature vectors 166, similarity measurement and comparison against a threshold to determine if the objects are identical or not.
Sub modules may be used for additional or improved features. With an interest operator, using phase congruency of Gabor wavelets may be superior to many other interest point operators suggested in the literature such as affine Harris or DOG Laplace (Kovesi 1999). As to feature vectors, instead of Lowe's SIFT features, Gabor wavelets may be used as a powerful general purpose data format to describe local image structure. However, where appropriate, they may be augmented with learned features reminiscent of the approach pioneered by Viola and Jones (Viola and Jones 1999). Finally, a dictionary of parameterized sets of feature vectors extracted from massive of image data sets that show variations under changing viewpoint and lighting conditions of generic surface patches (“Locons”) may be used.
As to matching 170, displacement vectors as well as parameter sets that describe environmental conditions such as viewpoint and illumination conditions may be explicitly estimated. This may be achieved by considering the phase information of Gabor wavelets or through training of dedicated neural networks. Thus, one or more embodiments may more rapidly learn new objects and recognize them under a wider range of conditions than anyone else. Further, embedded recognition systems may be used. The recognition algorithms are available for various DSPs and microprocessors.
In one or more embodiments, to support the recognition of objects from multiple viewpoints, feature linking is applied to enable the use of multiple training images for each object to completely cover a certain range of viewing angles. If one uses multiple training images of the same object without modification of the algorithm, the problem of competing feature datasets arises. The same object feature might be detected in more than one training image if these images are taken from a sufficiently similar perspective. The result is that any given feature can be present as multiple datasets in the database. Because any query feature can be matched to only one of the feature datasets in the database, some valid matches will be missed. This will lead to more valid hypotheses, since there are multiple matching views of the object in the database, but with fewer matches per hypothesis, which will diminish recognition performance. To avoid this degradation in performance, feature datasets may be linked so that all data sets of any object feature will be considered in the matching process.
To achieve the linking, the following exemplar procedure can be used. When enrolling a training image into the database, all features detected in this image will be matched against all features in each training image of the same object already enrolled in the database. The matching is done in the same way that the object recognition engine deals with probe images, except that the database is comprised of only one image at a time. If a valid hypothesis is found, all matching feature datasets are linked. If some of these feature datasets are already linked to other feature datasets, these links are propagated to the newly linked feature datasets, thus establishing networks of datasets that correspond to the same object feature. Each feature datasets in the network will have links to all other feature datasets in the network.
When matching a probe image against the database 172, in addition to the direct matches, all linked feature datasets will be considered valid matches. This may significantly increase the number of feature matches per hypothesis and boost recognition performance at very little computational cost.
In one or more embodiments, an efficient implementation of a search service may require that the image search is organized such that it scales logarithmically with the number of entries in the database. This can be achieved by conducting a coarse-to-fine simple to complex search strategy such as described in (Beis and Lowe, 1997). The principal idea is to do the search in an iterative fashion starting with a reduced representation that contains only the most salient object characteristics. Only matches that result from this first pass are investigated closer by using a richer representation of the image and the object. Typically this search proceeds in a couple of rounds until a sufficiently good match using the most complete image and object representation is found.
To cut down the search times further, color histograms and texture descriptors such as those proposed under the MPEG7 standard may be used. These image descriptors can be computed very rapidly and help to readily identify subsets of relevant objects. For instance, a printed text tends to generate characteristic color histograms and shape descriptors. Thus, it might be useful to limit the initial search to character recognition if those descriptors lie within a certain range.
A face recognition engine described in (U.S. Pat. No. 6,301,370 FACE RECOGNITION FROM VIDEO IMAGES, Oct. 9, 2001, Maurer Thomas, Elagin, Egor Valerievich, Nocera Luciano Pasquale Agostino, Steffens, Johannes, Bernhard, Neven, Hartmut) also allows to add new entries into the library using small sets of facial images. This system may be generalized to work with other object classes as well.
Adding additional engines such as optical character recognition modules and barcode readers allows for a yet richer set of visual patterns to be analyzed. Off-the-shelf commercial systems are available for licensing to provide this functionality.
Let us start the discussion of the usefulness of image-based search with an anecdote. Imagine you are on travel in Paris and you visit a museum. If a picture catches your attention you can simply take a photo and send it to the VMS service. Within seconds you will receive an audio-visual narrative explaining the image to you. If you happen to be connected a 3G network the response time would be below a second. After the museum visit you might step outside and see a coffeehouse. Just taking another snapshot from within the VMS client application is all you have to do in order to retrieve travel guide information. In this case location information is available through triangulation or inbuilt GPS it can assist the recognition process. Inside the coffeehouse you study the menu but your French happens to be a bit rusty. Your image based search engine supports you in translating words from the menu so that you have at least an idea of what you can order.
In the specific case of visiting and researching the art and architecture of museums, image-based information access, can provide the museum visitors and researchers with the most relevant information about the entire artwork or parts of an artwork in a short amount of time. The users of such a system can conveniently perform image-based queries on the specific features of an artwork, conduct comparative studies, and create personal profiles about their artworks of interest. FIG. 7 illustrates an example of the intelligent museum guide, where on the left side user has snapped an image of the artwork of his/her interest and on the right side the information about the artwork is retrieved from the server. In addition, users can perform queries about specific parts of an artwork not just about the artwork as a whole. The system works not only for paintings but for almost any other object of interest as well: statues, furniture, architectural details or even plants in a garden.
The proposed image-based intelligent museum guide is much more flexible than previously available systems, which for example perform a pre-recorded presentation based on the current position and orientation of the user in museum. In contrast, our proposed Image-Based Intelligent Museum Guide has one or more of the following unique characteristics: 1—users can interactively perform queries about different aspects of an artwork. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, a user can ask queries such as: “Who is this person in the cloud?”. Being able to interact with the artworks will make the museum visit a stimulating and exciting educational experience for the visitors, specifically the younger ones; 2—visitors can keep a log of the information that they asked about the artworks and cross-reference them; 3—visitors can share their gathered information with their friends; 4—developing an integrated global museum guide is possible; 5—no extra hardware is necessary as many visitors carry cell-phones with inbuilt camera; and 6—the service can be a source of additional income where applicable.
Presentation of the retrieved information will also be positively impacted by the recognition ability of the proposed system. Instead of having a ‘one explanation that fits all’ for an artwork, it is possible to organize the information about different aspects of an artwork in many levels of details and to generate a relevant presentation based on the requested image-based query. Dynamically generated presentations may include still images and graphics, overlay annotations, short videos and audio commentary and can be tailored for different age groups, and users with various levels of knowledge and interest.
The museum application can readily be extended to other objects of interest to a tourist: landmarks, hotels, restaurants, wine bottles etc. It is also noteworthy that image-based search can transcend language barriers, and not just by invoking explicitly an optical character recognition subroutine. The Paris coffeehouse example would work the same way with a sushi bar in Tokyo. It is not necessary to know Japanese characters to use this feature. FIG. 8 illustrates how VMS may be used as a tool for a tourist to quickly and comfortably access relevant information based on an acquired image.
A specific application of the image-based search engine is recognition of words in a printed document. The optical character recognition sub-engine can recognize a word which then can be handed to an encyclopedia or dictionary. In case the word is from a different language than the user's preferred language a dictionary look-up can translate the word before it is processed further.
Image-based search can support new print-to-Internet applications. If you see a movie ad in a newspaper or on a billboard you can quickly find out with a single click in which movie theaters it will show.
Image-based mobile search can totally alter the way how many retail transactions are done. To buy a Starbucks coffee on your way to the airplane simply click on a Starbucks ad. This click brings you to the Starbucks page, a second click specifies your order. That is all you will have to do. You will be notified via a text message that your order is ready. An integrated billing system took care of your payment.
A sweet spot for a first commercial roll-out is mobile advertising. A user can send a picture of a product to a server that recognizes the product and associates the input with the user. As a result the sender could be entered into a sweepstake or he could receive a rebate. He could also be guided to a relevant webpage that will give him more product information or would allow him to order this or similar products.
Image-based search using a mobile phone is so powerful because the confluence of location, time, and user information with the information from a visual often makes it simple to select the desired information. The mobile phone naturally provides context for the query. FIG. 9 illustrates how VMS allows using traditional print media as pointers to interactive content.
Another useful application of image-based search exists in the print-to-internet space. By submitting a picture showing a portion of a printed page to a server a user can retrieve additional, real-time information about the text. Thus together with the publishing of the newspaper, magazine or book it will be necessary to submit digital pictures of the pages to the recognition servers so that each part of the printed material can be annotated. Since today's printing process in large parts starts from digital versions of the printed pages this image material is readily available. In fact it will allow using printed pages in whole new ways as now they could be viewed as mere pointers to more information that is available digitally.
A special application is an ad-to-phone number feature that allows a user to quickly input a phone number into his phone by taking a picture of an ad. Of course a similar mechanism would of useful for other contact information such as email, SMS or web addresses.
Visual advertising content may be displayed on a digital billboard or large television screen. A user may take of picture of the billboard and the displayed advertisement to get additional information about the advertised product, enter a contest, etc. The effectiveness of the advertisement can be measured in real time by counting the number of “clicks” the advertisement generates from camera phone users. The content of the advertisement may be adjusted to increase its effectiveness based on the click rate.
Image recognition can also be beneficially integrated with a payment system. When browsing merchandise a customer can take a picture of the merchandise itself, of an attached barcode, of a label or some other unique marker and send it to the server on which the recognition engine resides. The recognition results in an identifier of the merchandize that can be used in conjunction with user information, such as his credit card number to generate a payment. A record of the purchase transaction can be made available to a human or machine-based controller to check whether the merchandise was properly paid.
A group of users in constant need for additional explanations are children. Numerous educational games can be based on the ability to recognize objects. For example one can train the recognition system to know all countries on a world map. Other useful examples would be numbers or letters, parts of the body etc. Essentially a child could read a picture book just by herself by clicking on the various pictures and listen to audio streams triggered by the outputs of the recognition engine.
Other special needs groups that could greatly benefit from the VMS service are blind and vision impaired people.
Object recognition on mobile phones can support a new form of games. For instance a treasure hunt game in which the player has to find a certain scene or object say the facade of a building. Once he takes the picture of the correct object he gets instructions which tasks to perform and how to continue.
Image-based search will be an invaluable tool to the service technician, who wants more information about a part of a machine; he now has an elegant image query based user manual.
Image-based information access facilitates the operation and maintenance of equipment. By submitting pictures of all equipment parts to a database, the service technicians will continuously be able to effortlessly retrieve information about the equipment they are dealing with. Thereby they drastically increase their efficiency in operating gear and maintenance operations.
Another important area is situations in which it is too costly to provide desired real-time information. Take a situation as profane as waiting for a bus. Simply by clicking on the bus stop sign you could retrieve real-time information on when the next bus will come because the location information available to the phone is often accurate enough to decide which bus stand you are closest to.
A user can also choose to use the object recognition system in order to annotate objects in way akin to “Virtual Post-it Notes”. A user can take a photo of an object and submit it to the database together with a textual annotation that he can retrieve later when taking a picture of the object.
Another important application is to offer user communities the possibility to upload annotated images that support searches that serve the needs of the community. To enable such use cases that allow users who are not very familiar with visual recognition technology to submit images used for automatic recognition one needs take precautions that the resulting databases are useful. A first precaution is to ensure that images showing identical objects are not entered under different image IDs. This can be achieved by running a match for each newly entered image against the database that already exists.
To offer the image based search engine in an economically viable fashion, various business models may be offered as described below. The VMS service may be offered on a transaction fee basis. When a user queries the service at transaction fee applies. Of course individual transaction fees can be aggregated in to a monthly flat rate. Typically the transaction fee is paid by the user or is sponsored by say advertisers.
To entice users to submit interesting images to the recognition service, one may put in place programs that provide for revenue sharing with the providers of annotated image databases.
With reference to FIG. 12-15, one or more embodiments may be embodied in method 300 (FIG. 14) for presenting image-based contextual advertisements 420 (FIG. 15). In the method, objects (FIG. 12) are located in an image 120 (step 320) on a webpage 100. The located objects (FIG. 13) are recognized using image recognition techniques (step 340). Contextual advertisements 420 are generated based on the recognized objects in the image (step 360). The contextual advertisements 420 are displayed on the web page 400 (step 380).
In a more detailed description, the image 120 may display a magnifying glass, a newspaper, and a pitcher and glasses. The contextual advertisement 420 may be directed to the website of a merchant selling magnifying glasses, or to the website of a newspaper. Further, in one or more embodiments, the contextual advertisements can be part of a context sensing program that rewards website content providers with revenue for the advertisements.
From a usability standpoint, it is important to let camera phone users know that certain media contains images/text associated with back-end server advertisement or other information. In other words, in the absence of some additional information about the availability of the back-end server, it may not always be readily apparent to a user that certain media can be scanned and information retrieved based thereon. In these circumstances, the user does not obtain the benefit of being able to access the additional information from the back-end server. Accordingly, to overcome this problem, one or more embodiments provide a mechanism/technique by which the user can be made aware of the scannability of certain media by including particular indicia on some media to indicate that that particular media contains images/text is associated with back-end retrievable information, and that an image thereof can be transmitted to a back-end server to retrieve such information. The presence of the indicia associated with a back-end server thus signal to the user both the availability of the additional information, as well as the particular mechanism or means by which the information can be retrieved.
The content medium on which images and barcodes are placed in accordance with one or more embodiments may vary. For example, the content medium may be a printed document (print media) such as a newspaper, magazine, book, or a brochure. In another example, the content medium may be product packaging (e.g., a liquid bottle, a food box, a box used for packaging). In still another example, the content medium may be a surface of an article of manufacture (e.g., a barcode marked with indicia on a surface of a computer).
Further, one or more of various types of barcodes may be used in one or more embodiments. For example, barcodes may be one or more of the following known types: EAN-13; EAN-8, EAN Bookland; UPC-A; UPC-E; Code 11; UPC Shipping Contained Code; Interleaved 2 of 5; Industrial 2 of 5; Standard 2 of 5; Codabar (USD-4, NW-7, 2 of 7); Plessey; MSI (MSI Plessey); OPC (Optical Industry Association); Postnet; Code 39; Code 93; Extended Code 39; Code 128; UCC/EAN-128; LOGMARS; PDF-417; DataMatrix; Maxicode; and QR Code.
The indicia, in one or more embodiments, may be a branded barcode. In other words, a scannable barcode may have adjacent to it some particular branding that would inform a user that the media contains images/text that can be scanned to retrieve information using an entity associated with the particular branding. In one or more embodiments, the branding comprises indicia indicating a name, identity, mark, or logo associated with a back-end server.
It should be noted that the methods described herein may be implemented on a variety of communication hardware, processors and systems known by one of ordinary skill in the art. For example, the general requirement for the client to operate as described herein is that the client has a display to display content and information, a processor to control the operation of the client and a memory for storing data and programs related to the operation of the client. In one embodiment, the client is a cellular phone. In another embodiment, the client is a handheld computer having communications capabilities. In yet another embodiment, the client is a personal computer having communications capabilities. In addition, hardware such as a GPS receiver may be incorporated as necessary in the client to implement the various embodiments described herein. The various illustrative logics, logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but, in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.
The embodiments described above are exemplary embodiments. Those skilled in the art may now make numerous uses of, and departures from, the above-described embodiments without departing from the inventive concepts disclosed herein. Various modifications to these embodiments may be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments, e.g., in an instant messaging service or any general wireless data communication applications, without departing from the spirit or scope of the novel aspects described herein. Thus, the scope of the invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein. The word “exemplary” is used exclusively herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.
providing on the content medium a barcode scannable by an image capture device, wherein the barcode is marked with indicia designating a source of the information.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the image capture device comprises a mobile phone.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the indicia comprises at least one of a brand, a name, an identity marking, a mark, and a logo.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the indicia comprises an indication of a search engine system adapted to receive the at least one image scanned by the image capture device.
positioning the indicia to the right of the barcode.
positioning the indicia to the left of the barcode.
positioning the indicia above the barcode.
positioning the indicia below the barcode.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the content medium is a printed document.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the content medium is product packaging.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the content medium is a surface of an article of manufacture.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one image comprises text.
wherein the at least one image is scannable by an image capture device to retrieve the information from the source.
14. The content medium of claim 13, wherein the content medium comprises one of a printed publication and print media.
15. The content medium of claim 13, wherein the at least one image comprises text.
16. The content medium of claim 13, wherein the image capture device comprises a camera phone.
17. The content medium of claim 16, wherein the information is externally stored in the camera phone.
18. The content medium of claim 13, wherein the indicia comprises at least one of a brand, a name, an identity marking, a mark, and a logo.
19. The content medium of claim 13, wherein the indicia is positioned to the right of the barcode.
20. The content medium of claim 13, wherein the indicia is positioned to the left of the barcode.
21. The content medium of claim 13, wherein the indicia is positioned above the barcode.
22. The content medium of claim 13, wherein the indicia is positioned below the barcode.
23. The content medium of claim 13, wherein the content medium is product packaging.
24. The content medium of claim 13, wherein the content medium is a surface of an article of manufacture.

matches:
§ 119
Application No. 60
§ 120
Application No. 60
Application No. 60
Application No. 60


text:
Thanks to Jack for sending me this.
This is the first in a series of articles that detail the things that I have done in fighting judicial corruption.
I went into this process expecting to win because mine is an easily-proven case of judicial misconduct and corruption. I have found that you can’t win with the system because the judges are corrupt and protect each other. Your best hope is a grand jury, but I believe taking every available shot is the best way to go.
If I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t have done much any different. When I realized how pervasive the corruption was, I set out to document as much wrongdoing as possible. This is very important in the fight against corruption because we need to build a tsunami of evidence of wrongdoing.
As you make decisions about what you will and won't do in battling corruption, please realize that you will probably lose in court. You won't lose because you have a bad case or because you won't do an adequate job of presenting your case. You will lose because the system is corrupt.
How to Fight Judicial Corruption and Government Corruption -- A Step-by-Step Procedure Part 1 in this series is "Go in with Your Eyes Open."
Fire Your Attorney I began by firing my attorney (though he would have withdrawn if I hadn’t fired him). Few, if any, attorneys will risk his/her career pursuing action against judges who will get their revenge. I contacted dozens of attorneys in an attempt to find one to represent me, and no one would.
Simply insist that your attorney file a motion to withdraw, and file a consent to the withdrawal.
Then you will need to file a notice with the court clerk providing your name, address, telephone, fax, and email, so the court has a record of who to contact for matters regarding the case. A letter should be sufficient, but I called the Clerk of the Court to ask.
I obtained a fax through efax.com so legal faxes would come to my email to be seen only by me. You may want to obtain a Post Office Box so all the legal mail doesn’t come to your home. I used a telephone number that goes only to me. I did all of this to insulate my family from the day-to-day grind of litigation.
Now that I have been through this process, I feel that I have done an infinitely better job than any attorney ever would have, and I haven’t had to pay legal fees.
If I ever again hire an attorney to represent me in court, I will never hire anyone but an attorney with one of the biggest law firms in town. I believe the biggest law firms in town will have "special relationships" with the judges that may enable them to win. Due to the dishonesty and corruption in the judicial system, I believe flushing money down a toilet would be more productive than hiring an attorney from a small law firm. The courts and the "just us" system is for the favored rich people.
Establish a Support Network I spent years fighting judicial corruption unable to find others in the same predicament as me. My how things have changed in the last 18 months. Victims have come forward from everywhere, and support is available to you in various forms.
LawlessAmerica.com is the first place to start. Register as a user. This will put you on the Lawless America mailing list. You will receive an email newsletter every week or so, and you can login to leave comments on stories, ask for help, etc.
Second, email Bill@LawlessAmerica.com with a brief summary of your situation. Try to send something that can be read in three minutes or less. Include your name, address, telephone numbers, and website, if any.
Third, tune into my TalkShoe Conference Call any Thursday night from 10 midnight Eastern Time. Or watch my Online TV Show, Sundays 5-7 pm Eastern Time. Read this article to learn how you can participate.
Fourth, Join Facebook, if you aren't already a member. The reason to join Facebook is that we will use Facebook to get what we want from it, which is the ability to reach our friends, relatives, and acquaintances. Our goal in all of this is to build a network of millions of people.
As soon as you join, click here and invite Lawless America, GRIP, and William M. Windsor to be your friends. When you do this, any article that appears on www.LawlessAmerica.com or www.GetaGripAmerica.us will automatically display on your wall. Then it might be seen by people looking at your Facebook page, and they may choose to "Like" it, which would then put it on that person's Facebook page, where others may see it, and so on, and so on. So, once you have made me a Friend, with no further effort whatsoever, your Facebook page will be listing at least one article a day from me...forever. Your Facebook page thus becomes part of the GRIP network that will ultimately reach millions.
Fifth, join LinkedIn; if you aren't already a member Once again, the reason to join LinkedIn is because we can use LinkedIn to reach our friends, relatives, and acquaintances. We want each supporter of GRIP to build your network of contacts so that we collectively will have the largest network possible. As soon as you join LinkedIn, click here and invite William M. Windsor.
Sixth, read LawlessAmerica.com regularly, and every time you go to the home page, be sure you are logged in to Facebook, and click like for each of the articles. This will put these articles on your Facebook page and on your friends Facebook pages. Add comments on stories that have special interest to you.
All of this will serve to link you with many others who are battling corruption, and you will have friends who you can call on for support when you need it.
Always abide by the Rules This is the sixth in a series of articles that detail the things that I have done in fighting judicial corruption.
I found that the opposing party and the judge would seek any and all opportunities to try to screw me.
They broke many rules, but I tried to always know the rules and follow them to the letter.
Since I am complaining about all the misconduct, I feel it is very important to be squeaky clean.
Study the applicable rules of civil procedure. The rules depend on whether you are in state court or federal court.
The rules also depend upon which court you are in. For example, the federal rules are different for district courts, the court of appeals, and the Supreme Court. Federal courts will also have local rules that you must study.
In addition to abiding by the rules, you should be aware of the rules that the attorneys and judges are SUPPOSED to abide by. Review your state's Rules of Professional Conduct. These will be published by the state Bar Association.
Study the Code of Judicial Conduct. There are different codes for each state and a different Code of Judicial Conduct for federal courts.
In my dealings, I found that the attorneys regularly violated a variety of provisions of the Rules of Professional Conduct as did the judges. I always file complaints against the judges and the attorneys, but I will discuss this in a later chapter.
Know How Judges Commit Crimes To effectively battle judicial corruption, you must have a good handle on the various techniques that judges use to break the rules, favor the other party, and commit crimes. Keep these techniques in mind as you analyze what has been done to you.
One of the primary techniques used by corrupt judges is to simply ignore the law. One party cites the law and overwhelming case law. The favored party doesn't have the law on their side. The judge simply ignores the law and rules against the party that was legally right. In one instance, I presented literally thousands of cases that proved that I was right. In fact, there had never been a case in any court where there was a ruling other than one that would be in my favor. But Judge Orinda D. Evans had one and only one motive, so she ignored the law and ruled against me. The same is true with Judge William S. Duffey, Judge Thomas W. Thrash, Judge Joel F. Dubina, Judge Edward Earl Carnes, Judge Rosemary Barkett, Judge Frank M. Hull, Judge James Larry Edmondson, Judge Stanley Marcus, Judge William H. Pryor, Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat, Judge Susan H. Black, and Judge Charles R. Wilson. To know that judges ignore the law, you must carefully research the legal issues in your case.
Sometimes a judge will feel like citation of case law is needed to support their ruling. So, they claim a case applies when it doesn't. Judge William S. Duffey has done this a number of times. He cites a case in his orders, and then when I review those cases, I find that they actually proved my position. But he ruled against me because he needed to in order to shield his good friend, Judge Orinda D. Evans, from criminal prosecution and impeachment. Always review the cases cited by judges so you can identify the invalid cases that are cited.
Judges don’t address points raised by parties who aren’t favored. I find appellate judges are even more dishonest than lower court judges when it comes to ignoring the issues, facts, statutes, and case law. Lying about the facts in orders and lying under oath both constitute perjury. Judges are always under oath, and a judge is supposed to never say or write anything that isn't true. So, when a judge knowingly lies in orders for the purpose of ruling against a party for the judge's criminal reasons, it is a criminal violation of perjury. Each such instance is a separate count. In my case, Judge Orinda D. Evans has committed hundreds and hundreds of counts of perjury. The record filed with the Court proves that she lied, but she gets away with it because the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals judges will lie to protect their fellow judge. I have many counts of perjury against Judge William S. Duffey and Judge Thomas W. Thrash as well.
Another favorite technique is to simply ignore issues in orders. Judge Orinda D. Evans has not responded to motions on a timely basis, and then she takes many motions at once and rules on them. This buries the fact that she ignored motions where her ruling could not possible be explained. So, rather than make up an explanation, she just ignores those tough issues. Judge William S. Duffey often ignores the issues, and Judge Thomas W. Thrash always ignores the issues.
A really dishonest judge like Judge Orinda D. Evans will simply conceal evidence. In my case, she has two documents that will prove fraud by the other party and their attorney as well as obstruction of justice by her. She simply conceals that evidence and refuses to allow it to see the light of day so her criminal efforts are not exposed. Approximately 12 other judges have aided and abetted her in this concealment.
One of the favorite techniques of Judge Thomas W. Thrash and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals judges is to say nothing. They corruptly call an appeal "frivolous" and dismiss it with no explanation whatsoever. Sometimes the Eleventh Circuit writes a page or two simply reciting history of the case, so it appears it is a real order, and then they write one sentence dismissing the appeal with no valid reason or explanation.
By allowing the favored party to file anything they choose and blocking the filings and motions of the pro se party, judges commit the worst form of obstruction of justice. The pro se party is denied the information needed to defeat the other party, and there is no record of this evidence and these arguments on appeal. Judge Orinda D. Evans, Judge William S. Duffey, and Judge Thomas W. Thrash have done this to me repeatedly.
Tampering with evidence is a crime. Judges commit tampering with evidence by causing evidence submitted for filing to disappear and not get added to the court record. Judge Orinda D. Evans, Judge William S. Duffey, and Judge Thomas W. Thrash have done this to me repeatedly, in cahoots with the staff of the Clerk of the Court. I have proof that orders have been backdated. I suspect that we will discover that the two documents filed under seal in 1:06-CV-0714-ODE Docket #168 have been tampered with or destroyed. Maid of the Mist’s attorneys did a lot of tampering with evidence, and Judge Orinda D. Evans ignored it all.
The Constitution is meaningless to corrupt judges. They simply violate Constitutional rights with no regard for the people they damage. All of the judges who I have encountered have violated my Constitutional rights. I have been raped of my rights to due process. I have been denied the right to call witnesses, to testify under oath, to cross-examine witnesses, to introduce evidence, to file answers to motions filed by the favored party, to file lawsuits, to contact witnesses, and much more. It is very important for you to know the Constitutional rights that judges routinely deny.
Judges automatically rule against certain classes of people. The concept of fair and impartial judges is a fairy tale. I have proven that people who represent themselves as plaintiffs in the federal courts in Atlanta always lose. We have a right to represent ourselves in court, but we automatically lose. Judges are simply attorneys in black dresses, and they seem to uniformly hate parties who aren’t spending a fortune with attorneys, so they screw them.
The criminal judges inflict damage on parties who aren’t favored by ordering monetary sanctions against them. They inflict financial punishment to break people. Judge Orinda D. Evans has done this to me several times, and judges of the Eleventh Circuit have done it to me as well. Judge William S. Duffey has done the same to me.
The Constitution and case law clearly provide that we are supposed to be entitled to a fair and impartial judge, but the corrupt judges simply ignore the law. They refuse to disqualify themselves so they can inflict damage on parties who aren’t favored. This has happened with Judge Orinda D. Evans, Judge William S. Duffey, Judge Thomas W. Thrash, and every judge with the Eleventh Circuit.
Like the rules of civil procedure, a judge’s Oath of Office and Code of Judicial Conduct READ great. But the judges pay no attention to the Oath or Code. When they intentionally violate their Oath and the Code of Judicial Conduct, they are intentionally damaging a party.
Dishonest judges allow a favored party to lie and cheat. The felony of perjury is ignored. This is an excellent way for a crooked judge to allow a favored party who is dishonest to obstruct justice. When the judge knows the testimony is perjured, the judge is suborning perjury when he or she does nothing about it and accepts the perjury as if it was fact. Judge Orinda D. Evans and Judge Thomas W. Duffey have done this to me as have the judges of the Eleventh Circuit.
Dishonest judges don’t issue valid orders, and they don’t maintain legal dockets. I guess this makes it easier for them to manipulate things. Judge William S. Duffey and the Clerk of the Court have done this to me. None of Judge Thomas W. Thrash’s orders are legal.
Judges corrupt the judicial process by depriving parties of a jury trial. Juries can’t be controlled by the judges to ensure that their favored party wins, so judges end cases before the people who should win can reach a jury. Judge Orinda D. Evans and Judge William S. Duffey have done this to me, as has Judge Thomas W. Thrash.
Corruption is the abuse of power by a public official. As I see it, judicial corruption is dishonesty by a judge. Corruption does not have to be economic in character. A police officer who fabricates evidence against a person he believes to be guilty of pedophilia is not committing an economic crime; and he might do so because he believes the accused to be guilty, and does not want him to go unpunished. Economics is not necessarily involved as an element of the officer's crime or as a motivation. When police do wrong they are often motivated by a misplaced sense of justice, rather than by financial reward. Again, a person in authority motivated by sadistic pleasure who abuses her power by meting out cruel and unjust treatment to those subject to her authority, is not engaging in an economic crime; and she is not motivated by economic considerations. Judges and many of those who occupy positions of authority are motivated by a desire to exercise power for its own sake, rather than by a desire for financial reward. That said, bribery is generally regarded as the most serious form of public corruption.
Document Everything -- Take Notes - Put it in Writing “The shortest pencil in the world is better than the longest memory.” That means: WRITE IT DOWN!
I tried to keep notes of everything: phone conversations, research efforts, you-name-it. I became especially diligent when speaking to the office of the clerk of the court. I got names; dated every note; wrote down exactly what happened. I discovered the corruption extends to the clerks offices, so I came to realize that I had to document everything.
When you have a telephone conversation, follow it up with a confirmation letter. I sent every letter that I could by fax as well as mail, and I saved the confirmation of the successful transmission of the fax, and I stapled it to the fax. I learned that the opposing attorneys will lie as do the judges, their staff, and the clerk’s office staff. So, DOCUMENT everything. Put everything in writing.
I found that paper files were a nightmare, so I converted to electronic files. I have a combination fax/printer/copier/scanner with a 50-page sheet feeder. I scanned everything and saved it as pdf files. I used a consistent naming system and always ended every document with a date in yyyy-mm-dd format so I could always sort and easily find the latest version of documents. I uploaded everything that I scanned to my website server so there would always be a copy of my files in a separate safe place (one that gets backed up regularly).
I set up a legal folder on my computer, and then I set up a sub-folder for each issue, motion, etc. A place for everything, and every thing in its place.
Also remember to get witnesses every chance you get. If something important happens and there are witnesses, get their name and contact information. Always try to have someone with you whenever you will be in a situation that might result in proof (such as any time you go to the courthouse for anything). ALWAYS, always have court watchers in the courtroom whenever you have a hearing. Don't let court personnel see you with them. Have them sit in the back row with a pad and pen as if they were reporters. Have them pay close attention to what happens.
Always file a motion requesting permission to audio record every hearing.
Among our many challenges in battling government corruption and judicial corruption is that we are dealing with pathological liars.
Since I have learned that Georgia law allows me to record conversations as long as I am a party and consent, I've got my recorders operating whenever and wherever I can get incriminating evidence or proof of lies.
Now, once you get your recordings, keep them secret until you need them. You don't want the liars to be able to hear what you have on them. And remember: the fear that you have a recording is probably even more valuable than actually having a recording.
Federal law allows recording of phone calls and other electronic communications with the consent of at least one party to the call.
A majority of the states and territories have adopted wiretapping statutes based on the federal law, although most also have extended the law to cover in-person conversations.
Twelve states require, under most circumstances, the consent of all parties to a conversation. Those jurisdictions are California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington. Be aware that you will sometimes hear these referred to inaccurately as “two-party consent” laws. If there are more than two people involved in the conversation, all must consent to the taping.
Regardless of the state, it is almost always illegal to record a conversation to which you are not a party, do not have consent to tape, and could not naturally overhear.
Here is a state-by-state report.
CHECK YOUR STATE'S CURRENT LAWS as this report is from 2006.
Amazon.com has a great selection of spy recorders. The Flash Drive looks good.
But the best is probably already in your hand -- your cell phone. Seeing someone carrying their cell phone is just as natural as can be -- they are almost invisible. The iPhone has an app called "Voice Memos." Just press the red button to record. I just sit the phone on the table right in front of me. Cell phones are accepted at courthouse scanning stations.
Record a conversation using a computer with a built-in microphone. This is only possible if your telephone has a speakerphone option. Although this may seem a little primitive, it is a cost-effective solution. The basic setup is that you open a recording program on your computer (most modern computers come with a built-in microphone and recording program) and set your telephone to its speaker mode. As the conversation is transmitted through the speakerphone, the computer is recording the voices. This is good idea for an impromptu recording on the move or when you don't have all the excess equipment to hand: just turn on your computer and speak away.
If you have a tape recorder, here is an inexpensive device that connects the telephone line to the recorder. There are also call loggers available that will record all of your calls so you don’t have to be on your toes and remember to turn on the recorder.
Your goals in “writing everything down” are (1) so you “remember” everything that proves to be important, and (2) so that you have proof of everything that happens.
I am naturally EXTREMELY detail-oriented, so I simply approached this like I have everything in business. I always wanted to know more than the other guy and be the best-prepared person in any setting.
The Rules of civil procedure (such as Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 11) require careful research and nothing but accurate, relevant filings. The opposing party and the judges have violated the rules repeatedly in my dealings, but I always prepared very carefully.
When I prepared to file a motion, I researched the issues and in essence drafted a “brief” on the subject. I created a Microsoft Word file with quotes from cases and the case law citations, and I crafted a brief that proved that what I was filing was correct. I only used what I needed in the motion, but I had this as back-up to be used on appeal and to prove the due-diligence that I had done. This is very important because the judges have sanctioned me and found me in contempt by falsely and maliciously claiming I made improper filings. I never did, and I always had massive proof. You have no power over the corrupt judges, but you can have proof.
I later transferred my Microsoft Word research into excel files so I could sort by different fields to find what I needed. I no longer use Microsoft Word for this; I now paste my research right into a Microsoft Excel file. Here is an example of one of the research files that I created (federal case research regarding jurisdiction following the filing of an appeal).
Do not ever file anything that is in any way frivolous. Have legal support for everything that you file. Because we are fighting the system, the judges will be against you, so when they declare your filings to be frivolous or violate the rules, you want to have proof that they are committing obstruction of justice when they make such rulings. If your research indicates that a theory was not valid, drop that theory.
Prepare everything very carefully. Use spell check. Be sure everything is done as well or better than the best attorney would.
Get your facts and evidence together. I have found that creating a chronological report of everything that happens is the best way to organize. I do it in Microsoft Word, and I hyperlink scanned documents and other Word files of my court filings and the like. You could even do this on your website rather than a Word file. I have also converted this to a Microsoft Excel file at times when I wanted to group all like motions, key points, etc.
I have found that a chronological document provides the best means for me to be sure I have everything accounted for. It proves to be extremely valuable when responding to filings by the bad guys and bogus orders by the judge.
After years of dealing with paper galore, I finally started scanning everything. Working with the electronic files is infinitely easier.
I use a standard file naming system that helps me find things. (case-number)- (name-of-filing-or-document)-date (yyyy-mm-dd))-(docket-number-when-applicable). I separate each word with a hyphen so there are no spaces in the filenames. This helps ensure uniformity. The use of the dashes also helps in searches (“46” pulls up Docket #46 rather than other uses of the digits 46).
When I send a letter, I always try to fax it so I have proof of delivery. I then scan the letter and the proof of delivery.
Get help from others. I have always looked for help from others. When I started my efforts against the judicial corruption in 2009, I couldn't find much help. Now there are a boatload of websites. LawlessAmerica.com is full of resources. I have literally several thousand website links to add, but here are some of the sites that I reviewed -- LawlessAmerica.com Web Links. Another great source now is the LawlessAmerica.com Corruption Reports. Click on your state, and then check out the listings. When you click on a listing, check the Complainant's name and contact information. This may give you someone in your area who has fought similar problems who you can contact.
GRIP “Government Reform and Integrity Platform“ is a coalition of organizations, groups, websites, bloggers, and victims who work together in certain ways to battle corruption. GRIP maintains databases of activists, victims, and interested people in each state. When you need help, email HELP@GetAGripAmerica.us, and we will forward your email to someone who will try to help. Be sure to indicate your city and state when you email. Better yet, email Bill@LawlessAmerica.com right now with your name, address, city, state, zip, telephones, fax, website (if any), so I can add this to my database. That way, you will be on our confidential state email list, and when someone says they need to find others battling a specific judge in your state, an email will go out to everyone in the state.
No one but an attorney can give you legal advice, but those of us who are pro se can confer with our fellow pro se parties about our experiences.
There are paralegals (not attorneys) who can help with certain legal support functions, just as they help attorneys when working for them.
Google is a great source for help. Search for what you need, and you will probably find it. You can certainly find many examples of various types of motions and the like that you can use as “inspiration” for your work. www.LawlessAmerica.com has hundreds of motions and pleadings posted in Microsoft Word files that anyone is free to reference. The site has thousands of hours of legal research by pro se parties that may save you a ton of time.
Find a cheap (preferably free) notary nearby. Banks will notarize for free. Some government buildings offer free notary services.
Establishing friendships with fellow pro se parties will definitely help you. When I come to your capital city to film Lawless America - The Movie, be sure to come. You will meet a lot of key people in your state!!!
Take Advantage of Every Opportunity to Generate Proof of Corruption Since the reality is that we will probably fail in all of our efforts to obtain justice, I set out to document all the wrongdoing that I could identify. I set out to win the war though I knew injustice would win some of the battles along the way. I believe that the more proof we all get of corruption, violation of the rules, ignoring of the law and facts, the better chance we have to expose all of the corruption and get action taken to fix this.
I was advised to appeal early and often, and I did. Virtually every appeal provided proof of wrongdoing and/or corruption by the appellate courts. I documented everything. I recorded telephone calls.
I filed motions regarding everything dishonest by the opposing party, their attorneys, and the judge. Each and every one of these was ignored or dismissed without any factual or legal basis. I documented it all. I repeatedly found the judges to be making false statements in their orders that they knew to be false. I consider these to be felonies, and I carefully documented all such statements and the proof in the record that the statements were false and were known to be false by the judge.
When I realized that the clerks of the court were also corrupt, I began documenting everything there. I always obtained independent proof of delivery of documents to the clerks (as receipt by them constitutes filing). I began printing the docket every few days so I could prove items that were filed but never docketed. This has also enabled me to prove that some docket entries were backdated and that some disappeared.
I attempted to obtain the Notices of Electronic Filing from the clerk of the court, but my requests were denied. These will prove backdating of docket entries as well as other important information. Making this information available to attorneys and the court but denying pro se parties of this information is absolutely a denial of due process.
I always carefully researched the law on every issue so I was absolutely sure that my position was correct. I retained all of this research, and in essence, I prepared in advance to be able to prove that anything written by the opposing counsel or by the judge to the contrary was proven false by all of the legal research.
When I was allowed to take depositions, my focus was as much on getting proof of false sworn statements and generating more false sworn statements. I always wanted to build as big a case of perjury and subornation of perjury as possible.
I always filed motions for reconsideration because the orders were almost always bogus, and because I wanted more proof of wrongdoing. I always filed petitions for rehearing with the appellate courts for the same reason.
There are way too many potential issues to address them all. I was simply always on guard, knowing that there was corruption and dishonesty taking place all the time. When I identified it or merely sensed it, I tried to get the proof.
No matter what it is, ALWAYS take advantage of every opportunity to generate proof of corruption. Get proof of everything. Use "Delivery Receipts" and "Read Receipts" on emails (though many will block them). [To add these, click on "Options" in the header of your email, and check the two boxes.] Send by fax so you have a delivery confirmation. Send documents by courier with proof of delivery, and have the courier delivery number tied to a cover letter that lists all documents being delivered. Take notes. Confirm oral conversations with written documentation. File motions. File appeals. Do everything that I have listed in this series and anything else you can think of.
File Motions for Conferences and Hearings.
Judges don't seem to like to conduct conferences or hearings. Instead, they run up the legal fees on everyone by keeping the parties and their attorneys in the dark and requiring a massive amount of paperwork -- called "motion practice."
Litigation could be much simpler if judges would meet with the people involved. pro se parties need all the help we can get, so I regularly requested conferences and hearings.
I regularly filed motions for conferences. I made it clear in my motions that I am pro se and that I needed a conference to be sure I was not doing anything objectionable.
I was NEVER granted a conference, but I have tons of proof that the judges refused conferences that I requested stating the reason for the request was to be sure I was doing nothing wrong. Once they issued orders making up claims that I was doing things wrong, at least I had proof that the judge ignored my requests for hearings.
Once again, this only adds proof of the corruption, but I want all the proof I can get. I filed a motion for conference every few weeks, and I filed a motion for a hearing as a separate filing every time I filed anything. In six years, I was never granted a hearing that I requested. I do, however, have proof of denial of this important right again and again and again.
Always have Witnesses at Hearings! Always have court watchers. ALWAYS. If you have to run an ad in Craigslist and pay someone, do it.
ALWAYS try to get several people to come and sit in the courtroom. Unfamiliar faces will cause the judges to be SLIGHTLY more honest. That's your primary goal in having people there. At the one hearing I participated in where there were a bunch of people in the courtroom waiting for another hearing, the wickedly corrupt judge was better behaved.
You may need these people to testify for you at a later date about the unfair practices of the judge, so ask them to pay attention. After one hearing, the transcript produced was clearly falsified. Fortunately, I had six witnesses in the courtroom, and I was able to obtain sworn affidavits from them that the transcript was false.
If you can record the proceedings, do it. iPhone apps include a spy recorder. You can have your ringer turned off so you comply with the requirements of the court, but it can sit there and silently record. The program I have also has a spy camera that silently takes photos.
I make it a routine practice to file a motion seeking to record the proceedings. Here's an example of one such motion.
It is outrageous that courts do not automatically record everything. They don’t because they can commit more wrongdoing when their words and actions are not on tape. There is no valid excuse to deny recording.
Always have a Court Reporter! Always, always, always have a court reporter transcribe what takes place. Insist on a court reporter at any and all conferences, hearings in chambers, and hearings in court. I made specific arrangements to have a court reporter once, and there was no reporter when the hearing was to begin. One of the judge's assistants reminded him that I had requested a court reporter, and he said we wouldn't have one. I SHOULD HAVE objected and refused to go on without one. A month or so later -- before rendering a decision -- the judge was appointed to a higher court, and a new judge came in and ruled against me without the benefit of a transcript of the hearing in which I wiped out the other side.
I have experienced that the court’s own court reporter will allow transcripts to be falsified. So, if you can afford it, hire your own court reporter to come in and transcribe what takes place.
Please realize that the court you are in most likely is not fair. The abuses and violations may be small, or the court may simply be out-and-out corrupt. Always expect the worst. Assume that your judge is a crook and that the opposing counsel, the court reporter, and the clerks of the court are all crooks who will conspire with the crooked judge. While this may not be the case for you, I believe you will be better prepared if you always have your guard up. Plan to protect yourself in every way possible. Witnesses and recordings of anything and everything can prove invaluable.
Check the Orders in Your Case This is the thirteenth in a series of articles that detail the things that I have done in fighting judicial corruption.
This article applies specifically to federal courts where the courts are (in my opinion) knowingly and intentionally issuing invalid orders. If your case is in local, county, or state court, check the requirements for valid orders and process for your state, and then compare your orders to those requirements.
One of the many ways that federal judges routinely violate the law is by issuing "orders" that appear to be court orders, but they are merely invalid pieces of paper.
28 U.S.C. Â§ 1691 requires that all orders must be signed and issued under seal.
The word process at 28 U.S.C. Â§ 1691 means a court order. See Middleton Paper Co. v. Rock River Paper Co., 19 F. 252 (C.C. W.D. Wisconsin 1884); Taylor v. U.S., 45 F. 531 (C.C. E.D. Tennessee 1891); U.S. v. Murphy, 82 F. 893 (DCUS Delaware 1897); Leas & McVitty v. Merriman, 132 F. 510 (C.C. W.D. Virginia 1904); U.S. v. Sharrock, 276 F. 30 (DCUS Montana 1921); In re Simon, 297 F. 942, 34 ALR 1404 (2nd Cir. 1924); Scanbe Mfg. Co. v. Tryon, 400 F.2d 598 (9th Cir. 1968); and Miles v. Gussin, 104 B.R. 553 (Bankruptcy D.C. 1989).
"The term process' is not limited to summons. In its broadest sense it is equivalent to, or synonymous with, procedure, or proceeding....the term is also broadly defined as the means whereby a court compels a compliance with its demands. 72 CJS Process 2, at 589 (1987).
See also Chisholm v. Gilmer, 299 U.S. 99 (1936).
It is clear that an order is a "process," and thus must be signed and issued under seal as required by 28 U.S.C. Â§ 1691.
But in my cases in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, there are only a few orders that have been signed and issued under seal. In my five actions in the United States Supreme Court, there has never been an order signed and issued under seal. Note: There is no statute that allows a judge to sign using /s/, but even if there was, the orders do not bear the required seal.
This is a legal order -- signed and sealed with signature of the Clerk of the Court.
Here are three ILLEGAL so-called "Orders" just issued on three petitions that David Schied filed in the United States Supreme Court.
Here is one of hundreds of examples from my actions in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
Here are some of my invalid orders from the U.S. Supreme Court.
It is my opinion that if the orders issued in a case were not signed and sealed, they are void. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 60(b) and 60(d) provide a procedure where you can file a motion (60(b)) or a new complaint (60(d)) to set aside the orders and judgments in your case.
I have not filed motions with the District Court complaining about the invalid orders, because a judge could simply correct the errors by issuing corrected orders. Instead, I have used it on appeal and in Rule 60(b) and 60(d) actions where the invalid orders should result in setting aside the orders. Unfortunately, my experience is that all the federal courts are corrupt, so they will not comply with the law. But my strategy has been to take every opportunity I have and at the very least build further evidence of the corruption.
I went back and checked every order issued, and then I checked each new order. I scanned all of the orders and had them in a file on my computer so it was easy for me to generate the orders as evidence when needed.
I am not an attorney, and I do not offer legal advice. I am simply sharing the results of the thousands of hours that I have spent conducting legal research into legal and judicial corruption.
Put your Proof on a Website I finally started adding my proof to a website. This serves many purposes.
The primary purpose is to expose the dishonesty and corruption in your case. If you have a website and do the right things in the way you set it up and maintain it, your website should appear in the top Google search results for the bad guys. We all want to educate the public about dishonesty and corruption, and the only media we can control is the Internet, so we must use it.
The second purpose is to make PROOF available for others to see. It seems the natural tendency of most people is to doubt that what we say is true. So, I want to always prove it with the documents and other evidence that I have.
The third purpose is to have a way to organize your information and to have an offsite storage of your key documents and information. This is a backup.
I will ultimately get websites in the names of every corrupt government official that I have encountered. This is because a website that includes their name is more likely to bring up your website high in the search results for that name.
Domain names are inexpensive through www.bulkregister.com, and GoDaddy offers inexpensive website hosting that enables many websites to be hosted at one low cost.
GRIP will provide free website hosting to those who need it to expose government corruption; just email Bill@GetAGripAmerica.us. You can have a website for less than $15 a year total cost.
I have been so busy that I haven't done a good job of this. I want to put all of my proof on websites so the truth is out there for anyone interested to see. I want others dealing with the same corrupt government officials to have the benefit of knowing about my experience. I want interested people to be able to contact me. I want anything that I have done to be able to benefit anyone else interested. I want this evidence out there for the public should any of these worthlessly corrupt judges get nominated for a higher position.
If you don't have a website, I encourage you to set one up.
Appeal Early and Often I said this at the beginning, but I say it again. APPEAL.
Use the right to appeal as a means to generate more and more proof of corruption.
If you happen to win an appeal by reaching some honest judges, that will be great...but it is much more likely that you will be doing this simply to build the proof of corruption.
When I appeal, I make sure you have valid grounds.
I am always sure that the issue is one that you have the right to appeal at this stage of the litigation. Many issues cannot be appealed until after a case has reached the final judgment.
When I file a notice of appeal, I always include detailed grounds for the appeal. I include a sworn affidavit and attach exhibits. I do this because the judges I have dealt with ALL try to keep my evidence out of the court record. With a notice of appeal, the judge should not be able to meddle with it. In federal court, the clerk of the court has a duty to simply forward it to the appellate court.
I am always sure that I meet the requirements for what your court requires in a notice of appeal. I carefully read the state or federal statutes and the court's rules to be sure.
I am always extremely thorough in conducting research into the case law applicable to my appeal. I always know that I am absolutely right as to the law. I find cases where the appellate court judges who are hearing my appeal have already issued orders that support my position. I cite those with the name of the judge.
Knowing that my appeals will be dismissed or denied solely because the judges will do whatever it takes to block me from disclosing the corruption, I am even more careful to document everything. I always file petitions for panel rehearing or en banc hearing. My goal is to gather as much proof as possible of wrongdoing and corruption by the judges involved.
File Criminal Charges with the District Attorney and U.S. Attorney I made it a point to send letters summarizing the corruption of the judges to the local District Attorney and U.S. Attorney. I asked them to pursue criminal charges against the corrupt judges.
My undeniable evidence was ignored. This is because these so-called "law enforcement" officials are covering up for the corrupt federal judges.
I continue to send these letters when additional criminal acts are committed. This gives me proof that they failed to take action when I reported felonies to them. This is a crime, a felony -- violation of 18 U.S.C. 4 -- Misprision of Felonies.
When you later seek to place your charges before a grand jury, you can include charges against the U.S. Attorney's Office and the District Attorney's Office so they must be banned from the grand jury proceedings. This will be extremely important as the U.S. Attorney or the District Attorney will tell the grand jury outside your presence to ignore you. So, you need to get them out of the equation.
It is very important to establish this failure to act before you pursue presenting charges to a grand jury.
File Motions for Recusal When you are dealing with a corrupt judge, seek to have the judge recused (removed from the case). Do it a lot, if you aren't afraid of the punishment a judge can inflict upon you.
There are two federal statutes for recusal. 28 U.S.C. 144 is appropriate at the beginning of a case. 28 U.S.C. 455 applies at any time. You will need to check your state's statutes if you are in state/county/local courts.
According to the Constitution, we are supposed to have a fair "trial" before an impartial judge. But judges do whatever they want to do. From my experience, judges could care less about my Constitutional rights. It is as if the Constitution doesn't exist.
The best shot at getting a judge recused is if they violate one of the easily-proven canons of the Code of Judicial Conduct. But if you are trying to get a judge recused for the bias they have shown in your case, the judges will claim that anything that happens in a case is not grounds for recusal. That concept violates the Constitutional guarantee of due process, but judges do that all the time. If you expect the appellate courts to come to your rescue, you'll be wrong again. In my experience, the appellate courts simply cover-up for the lower court judges.
You may then be asking why try? I try simply because I am out to document as much wrongdoing and corruption as I can find.
Know this: Once you file a motion for recusal of your judge, you immediately went on the s**t list. The judge is likely to work even harder against you. Sadly, seeking your Constitutional rights in courts today is a great way to ensure that your rights will be violated even more. You should expect the judge to fight back and try to stick you with legal fees and sanctions. That's what they've done to me.
Motion to Recuse Judge Jerry W. Baxter.

matches: v. v. v. v. v. v. v. v.


The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held that speculative evidence was not enough to show a genuine issue of material fact relating to damages in a copyright infringement lawsuit. Dash v. Mayweather, et al., Case No. 12-1899 (4th Circuit, September 26, 2013) (available here). Anthony Dash sued Defendants Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (“Mayweather”), Mayweather Promotions, Mayweather Promotions LLC, Philthy Rich Records, Inc., and World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (“WWE”) for copyright infringement. Dash argued that Mayweather Defendants violated his copyright by playing a variant of his copyrighted music during Mayweather’s entrance at two WWE events. The lower court granted summary judgment in favor of Defendants and Dash appealed. The Fourth Circuit affirmed.
In 2005, Dash created an instrumental musical track called “Tony Gunz Beat” (“TGB”). Dash never received any revenue from any of his musical compositions. In 2008, Mayweather, a famous boxer, entered into a contract with WWE to perform at Wrestlemania XXIV. Mayweather chose to enter the arena to a song called “Yep.” Mayweather’s manager told the WWE that Mayweather owned all of the rights to the song. The song was played for around 3 minutes while Mayweather entered the arena. Dash alleges that “Yep” added lyrics to TGB. In 2009, Mayweather entered into another contract with the WWE to appear as a guest host. “Yep” was played in connection with his appearance.
Dash alleges that he created TGB in 2005, however he did not file a copyright application until 2009. Dash alleges that Defendants’ use of “Yep” at both WWE events violates his copyright in TGB. Thus, this alleged infringement occurred after creation but before copyright registration. The lower court separated the litigation into two sections: liability and damages. The parties jointly moved for summary judgment regarding Dash’s entitlement to damages under § 504 of the Copyright Act (actual and profit damages). Dash’s motion contained a report by expert Dr. Michael Einhorn (the “Einhorn Report”), which concluded that Dash’s actual damages were no more than $3,000 based on licensing fees paid to other copyright holders for use of songs at Wrestlemania XXIV. The Einhorn Report concluded that (1) $541,521 of the WWE’s net profit from Wrestlemania XXIV was attributable to the use of TGB; (2) $480,705 of Mayweather’s net profits from his appearance at Wrestlemania XXIV was attributable to the infringing use; and (3) Dash should receive at least $1,019,226 in profit damages plus actual damages. The lower court held that Dash was not entitled to damages because he failed to meet his burden of proof.
§ 504(a) states that “an infringer of copyright is liable for either (1) the copyright owner’s actual damages and any additional profits of the infringer, as provided in subsection (b); or (2) statutory damages, as provided by subsection (c).” 17 U.S.C. § 504(a). “ The copyright owner is entitled to recover the actual damages suffered by him or her as a result of the infringement, and any profits of the infringer that are attributable to the infringement and are not taken into account in computing the actual damages.” 17 U.S.C. § 504(b). First, the Fourth Circuit looked at whether Dash was entitled to actual damages under § 504(b), which is typically measured by the extent of injury caused to the copyrighted work’s market value at the time of infringement. It is the copyright holder’s burden to prove the existence of a causal connection between the alleged infringement and loss of anticipated revenue. The lower court concluded that Dash was not entitled to actual damages because he did not offer sufficient evidence to indicate the value of TGB. Dash argues on appeal that the Einhorn Report provides evidence of TGB’s value, which is based on the $3,000 lost licensing fee. Defendants moved for summary judgment regarding Dash’s damages, and thus had to show no genuine dispute as to the existence of any actual damages. Defendants satisfied this requirement with Dash’s admission that he never received revenue from TGB.
The Fourth Circuit concluded that the Einhorn Report was too speculative to show actual damages. First, the Einhorn Report failed to expressly conclude that TGB had a market value, instead it stated that Dash could have earned a maximum sum of $3,000 as a licensing fee. This is not enough to establish that Dash was entitled to actual damages. “The Einhorn Report’s failure to clearly state that TGB had a fair market value is notable in light of the fact that Dr. Einhorn was retained for the express purpose of evaluating the economic damages resulting from [Defendants’] alleged infringement of [TGB]. His omission of a clear statement of value suggests that he could not conclude, either with certainty or sound reasoning, that Dash would have been paid a licensing fee for [Defendants’] use of TGB.” Dash, Slip Op. P. 27. Even if the Einhorn Report had concluded that the use of TGB at the WWE events was of some value to Defendants, that evidence would still be too speculative to support Dash’s contentions that there was a genuine dispute regarding actual damages. Further, Dash did not present any evidence that he ever received compensation for any of his works.
“Evidence of licensing fees paid to other artists for the use of other works may, in some cases, be sufficient to support the conclusion that a copyright holder would have been entitled to such a fee for the use of his work; however, such evidence may properly be rejected as a measure of damages if it is too speculative.” Dash, Slip Op. P. 33. Evidence of WWE’s licensing deals with other copyright holders can be sufficient if those licenses were based on a comparable use and on whether the work was comparable to TGB. The WWE’s licensing deals were with well-known artists, and thus were too speculative and inapposite to be used to compare with Dash. “[A]lthough the Einhorn Report acknowledged that ‘Yep’ was ‘a new derivative work based purportedly on [TGB],’ it failed to explain at all how this fact impacted the analysis of Dash’s actual damages claim.” Dash, Slip Op. P. 40. Thus, the Fourth Circuit affirmed summary judgment in favor of Defendants regarding actual damages.
Turning to profit damages, the Fourth Circuit noted that the lower court granted summary judgment in favor of Defendants because “it found that Dash had failed to present evidence that [Defendants’] revenues bore any causal link to the infringement.” Dash, Slip Op. P. 50. Dash had an affirmative duty to prove that the Defendants’ gross revenues were reasonably related to the alleged infringing use of TGB. Thus, Dash had the burden to prove that the connection was at least hypothetically possible. If Dash could prove a conceivable connection between the infringement and the claimed revenues, then his next step would be to prove a causal connection between the infringement and the level of Defendants’ revenues. “In order to demonstrate a causal link, the plaintiff must show that the infringement could reasonably be viewed as one of the causes of the claimed revenues. In order to rebut a defendant’s evidence that the claimed revenues are not attributable to the infringement, the plaintiff must show that at least some portion of the revenues was actually generated by the infringement, rather than by other factors.” Dash, Slip Op. P. 63.
The Fourth Circuit noted that many of the revenue streams claimed by Dash had no conceivable connection to the infringement because they involved revenues that customers and businesses paid to Defendants prior to discovering that “Yep” would be played. Dash presented no evidence that the playing of “Yep” increased any of the WWE revenue streams. Dash argued that he did not have to prove this, instead he argued that because the WWE broadcasts included “Yep,” the revenues from the events were derived exclusively from TBG. If the infringement forms a significant part of the product generating the claimed revenue, then this can be enough to establish a causal link. “However, when, as here, the infringing content forms only a small, incidental portion of the products that generated the claimed revenue streams, further evidence is necessary to link the claimed revenues to the infringement.” Dash, Slip Op. P. 66. As a result, the Fourth Circuit affirmed summary judgment in favor of Defendants regarding profit damages.