Re: Cease and Desist Unauthorized Use of Amanda Michelina's Intellectual Property
- Amanda Riddell
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- Jun 6, 2024
- 2 min read
I am writing on behalf of Amanda Michelina regarding the spectre of unauthorized use of her intellectual property by two institutions: Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington and Red Scare Theatre Company. This letter serves as a formal notice to cease any further claims to the right to use her original screenplay and songs.
Amanda Michelina composed these works independently, and she holds no current affiliation with either Victoria University of Wellington or Red Scare Theatre Company.
Her original compositions, including her classical music scores, are her sole intellectual property, as substantiated by comprehensive drafting documents that she has provided.
Under the Copyright Act of 1994, New Zealanders are afforded inherent rights to their intellectual property. Amanda expects that both institutions, well-resourced as they are, will cease using their resources to manipulate or coerce her into consenting to the use of her works. This behavior can be described colloquially as "punching down" and is entirely unacceptable.
Amanda has no interest in licensing her original scores or any other compositions to your institutions. However, she may consider re-negotiating in the future. This consideration will only be entertained once she has completed the novelisation of one screenplay and the first draft of another. Even at that point, please note that the two aforementioned projects will remain permanently off the table. Nonetheless, she might be open to engaging with your students, or performing at a later date.
In light of the above, we demand the following actions:
Immediate cessation of claiming some kind of pre-determined right to the use, distribution, and performance of Amanda Michelina’s original screenplay, songs, and classical music scores.
Acknowledgment in writing that you will comply with this demand and respect Amanda Michelina’s intellectual property rights moving forward.
Failure to comply with this cease and desist letter will compel us to pursue all available legal remedies to protect Amanda Michelina's rights and interests.
We expect your prompt attention to this matter and look forward to your immediate compliance, and ideally an apology regarding these attempts to neg (another colloquial term) Amanda into giving her consent when she has clearly expressed her disinterest in the disingenuous offers that have been floated over these last 18+ months.
Sincerely,
Amanda Michelina's Progressive Party. Long Story Short: respect my well-considered stance of creative independence, and let me set up my own production company. We actually ran a real company as Riddell Productions: we produced a feature, we produced a number of shorts, and we actually filed legitimate tax returns and set up liability insurance. Yes, Riddell Productions was an LLC. That also protects us from liability. ✊🏻
What does an LLC mean? What it means that any actions taken as the company can only result in sanctions for the company. Like, if we were sued and the company was bankrupt, then they can't claim our personal assets. We also had public liability insurance when we made Portrait of a Knight, so we're covered. Wellington simply hates that I know the rules ten times better than them. I'm like Spielberg in the NZ filmmaking context. I keep my street performances within the law. Talking on the phone is nice and legal, and that's why I do that rather than talking to myself in the way that I previously did as a young person. That's also why I seldom play guitar on…