PETER PAUL TAKES THE FALL

August 09, 2009 - Washington, DC – Peter Paul, the controversial disbarred attorney, convicted felon and former executive of Stan Lee Media was recently sentenced to ten years in prison (United States District Court, Eastern District of New York, Case No. CR 01-00636(S-2)-01 (LDW)). The court imposed restitution in the sum of $3,828,057.56 to be paid to Merrill Lynch as well as $7,650,977.76 to Spear, Leeds & Kellogg. Peter Paul was ordered to self-surrender to the US Marshals on September 30, 2009 to start serving his sentence in federal prison. The media largely ignored this latest development in an overdrawn legal saga involving legendary Stan Lee, Peter Paul’s extradition from Brazil, as well as generous side helpings of accusations against the Clintons and criticism of a federal judge A. Howard Matz, a Clinton-appointee.

While the mainstream media grew tired of the subject matter, Peter Paul and his associate Doug Cogan (whose online moniker is “Doug from Upland”), continue to flood the Internet with series of blogs and postings pertaining to endless legal battles that could best be described as Peter Paul vs. The World. In one of their latest narratives, they describe Paul’s sentencing hearing as “surreal”. That is quite an accurate description for the events surrounding litigation over the rights to Spider-Man and other Marvel superheroes, brought about by Peter Paul’s affiliates.

Stan Lee called those copyright claims bogus and accused Peter Paul of masterminding the litigation in question. Relevant legal filings show that Peter Paul’s associate John Petrovitz is soliciting funding for the lawsuits against Marvel and Stan Lee, by shopping litigation financing proposals to prospective investors. These solicitations, adorned with full regalia of Stan Lee’s signature, logo and other trademarked/copyrighted images claim that “ Stan Lee Media Inc is the owner of all IP Rights and Claims ever created by Stan Lee during his 60 year career with Marvel Comics ... including Spider Man, X-Men, The Incredible Hulk, Ironman, Fantastic Four among many others” and state that “Stan Lee Media is seeking to obtain the resources necessary to maximize its legal recovery against Marvel Entertainment”.

To bolster the group’s attempts to garner financial backing for their lawsuits, Peter Paul and Doug Cogan appear to be leading the effort to put a positive spin on the litigation in question through Internet blogs and forum postings. These articles would lead you to believe that Stan Lee is the true villain in this story, Peter Paul is an innocent “fall guy” and that the group of Stan Lee Media shareholders is prevailing in the ongoing litigation. Interestingly enough, court rulings show that Doug Cogan and John Petrovitz are not (and never have been) either shareholders or officers of Stan Lee Media. In fact, all legitimate directors and officers of SLMI had resigned and the corporation was dissolved. Additionally, according to court filings, “SLMI has no interest whatsoever in any creation of Stan Lee.” Petrovitz and Cogan have unsuccessfully attempted to revive the corporation and to appoint themselves as its new directors, even though they never had any standing in the company.

That bumpy ride ended when the court determined that Stan Lee Media remains a dissolved corporation, since Petrovitz and Cogan “did not properly revive and assume control” of the company and “were not properly elected its directors and officers”. Judge Stephen V. Wilson further ruled that Petrovitz, Cogan and Paul “have no legal right to utilize any assets of SLMI” (United States District Court, Central District of California, Case No. 07-CV-00225-SVW (SSx)).

In the same case, Stan Lee charges Peter Paul, John Petrovitz and Doug Cogan with copyright infringement, trademark infringement, federal trademark dilution and cybersquatting. The complaint states that “Cogan, Blumen, and Petrovitz – aided and abetted by Paul…have among other things: (a) falsely and fraudulently masqueraded as controlling officers of SLMI-CO…(b) misappropriated, infringed and interfered with copyrights, trademarks, publicity rights and contract rights owned exclusively by Stan Lee and his companies; and (c) asserted bogus claims in the name of SLMI regarding co-ownership of other valuable copyrights, such as copyrights in the characters Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, The Fantastic Four, and many others, all of which are claims that …Cogan, Blumen and Petrovitz knew, or …should have known, through one of their co-horts (Paul) are false.”

Stan Lee’s lawsuit states that “Paul is a convicted felon and is the mastermind behind the Individual Defendants’ actions…Paul approached various individuals…and offered inducements…soliciting money to finance…an illegal attempted takeover of SLMI and the scheme to misappropriate valuable copyrights and other assets…Petrovitz was made “president” of Stan Lee Studios, a company improperly formed by Defendants to exploit Stan Lee’s name…likeness and creations, including, but not limited to, Stan Lee’s trademarked sign-off “Excelsior!” Petrovitz…is raising money to fund their counsel, and is raising money to fund their scheme to steal intellectual property rights of Stan Lee and his companies by selling bogus licenses of his creations to other media and entertainment people and entities. Indeed, Petrovitz…has been publicly peddling a piece of literature…designed to raise additional money to fund their illegal activities. This piece is false – and Individual Defendants know it…Petrovitz…has illegally created an entity called “Stan Lee Media Studios, ” and has issued business cards showing Stan Lee’s likeness on the back of the cards along with Stan Lee’s sign-off “Excelsior!”…Stan Lee never authorized nor knew of Defendant Petrovitz’ knowing usurpation of his name or likeness until June 4, 2008, when he became aware of Petrovitz’s acts…At no time have Plaintiffs authorized Individual Defendants, or any of them, to copy, distribute, license or exploit in any way the marks or Properties described above.”

It’s hard to tell what impact Peter Paul’s impending imprisonment will have on the ongoing litigation, especially since on 04/27/2009, Judge Paul A. Crotty terminated Petrovitz and Cogan as Plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Marvel and Stan Lee (United States District Court, Southern District of New York, Case No. 09-CV-0715 (PAC)).

It’s also difficult to predict whether in his absence Paul’s associates will continue their attacks against Bill and Hillary Clinton, which stooped so low as to include vulgar slurs and sleazy accusations waged against Chelsea Clinton. The same modus operandi of attacking innocent family members was applied by the group in unsuccessfully suing Stan Lee’s wife and daughter. Every super hero story needs a super villain. Stay tuned for future updates.