AGEL Vs MONAVIE's - RANDY SCHROEDER
Court Grants Temporary Restraining Order Against Randy and Tara Schroeder
: October 19, 2008
Editor's Note: Rumors say Monavie paid $3 million for Randy Schroeder (Randy says no $3 million was given) to move over to the Monavie deal. So if you see the $3 million this is a life! Will this TRO have much effect? We will have to see how good a job Agel does of enforcing it. The WatchDog is getting complaints from Agel Distributors having their downlines raided by Schroeder so we know there a a lot of unhappy people in this raiding case.
A Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) will be entered against Defendants Randy Schroeder, Tara Schroeder, and Rising Sun, Inc., by the United States District Court in Utah following a hearing on October 16, 2008. Agel had requested that the Court prevent former distributors from using Agel’s trademarks, web sites, confidential lists and contact information to compete against Agel. The court stated that it will be entering a TRO.
Agel filed a lawsuit against Randy and Tara Schroeder alleging that they had violated various state and federal laws. In the TRO hearing, the Court ruled that Agel had established that there was a substantial likelihood of success on the merits that Randy Schroeder may have used email addresses and names protected by Agel's agreement. The Court also found that there is irreparable harm to Agel if Randy Schroeder is permitted to continue the use of that confidential information.
More specifically, Judge Steward held:
The Court is going to issue a temporary restraining order prohibiting Mr. Schroeder from using e-mail communications, the names of those individuals that are protected by the confidential information and team member lists, section 5 of the policy.
The TRO will preclude the defendant from using any Web site that has Agel in it. And, further, he will be prohibited from any agreement with Yahoo, Google or any other search engine from using—from allowing or requiring them to direct traffic to his Web site or sites when someone types in the word Agel in the search engine.
This week, Agel filed numerous lawsuits against other former distributors alleging that they are improperly using Agel's confidential information relating to cross-recruiting. Over the next few weeks, Agel expects numerous and additional lawsuits to be filed. Agel will also request that the court enter Temporary Restraining Orders against each one of these defendants.
According to a statement released by Agel's General Counsel, Jesse L. Riddle, “If a distributor violates their contract and cross-recruits, they will be sued.”
Agel has established a new email address so that our Team Members may report cross-recruiting or other violations of Agel's Policies and Procedures. It is lawsuits@agel.com.
If any Team Member receives any communication from Randy or Tara Schroeder, or anyone affiliated in any manner with Randy or Tara Schroeder, please send information immediately to lawsuits@agel.com.
Imagenetix - Monavie Lawsuit Dispute Settled
CEO Dallin Larsen
Rod Cook Ur Editor Note: This has been confirmed telephonically with an Imagenetix (the Manufacturer who filed the $2.75 billion lawsuit) represenative and all is well.
Dear Diamonds and Above,
Yesterday I sent out an email to each of you regarding a suit that was filed by Imagenetix against MonaVie and our top distributors. I’m happy to report to you that as we anticipated, this lawsuit has now been dismissed as of early this morning on Friday, May 16th.
Should anyone in your organization inquire as to this situation, you can let them know that this is no longer an issue. We apologize for any inconvenience this lawsuit caused any of you as I’m sure some of you have taken some calls. Their filing of the case was unfortunate but it has now been resolved to the satisfaction of both parties.
Onward and upward and yes, once again as a reminder, MonaVie does not contain Viagra!
Dallin
MonaVie Statement On Imagenetix Lawsuit
CEO Dallin Larsen
Dear Diamonds and Above,
A few days ago in San Diego, California, a company by the name of Imagenetix filed a lawsuit against MonaVie and named many of our top distributors in the suit. This was in breach of an agreement we had reached with Imagenetix earlier in the week. We expect this issue to go away over the next few days.
To give you some perspective and to calm any concerns you may have, when MonaVie first launched in 2005, we included in our product a trademark ingredient called Celadrin®. Because we weren’t able to reach terms of use back in 2005, we stopped using this ingredient. However, Imagenetix has claimed that some of our distributors continued to refer to Celadrin® as an ingredient found in MonaVie Active and as such, Imagenetix believes that MonaVie has violated their intellectual property rights in the ridiculous amount of $2.5 billion!!! As a show of good faith, we’ve reached an agreement to once again include Celadrin® in MonaVie Active. However, we are also very disappointed that Imagenetix chose to breach our agreement through the filing of their lawsuit. We’ve obviously been in contact with them and their attorney called us as early as yesterday apologizing for the filing of the lawsuit, stating that he was uninformed that MonaVie and Imagenetix had already reached an agreement. He was obviously embarrassed and we were less than amused.
Imagenetix has assured us that they will retract the filing and make a statement of such over the next few days and we fully expect them to keep their word. If for whatever reason, they remain in breach of our agreement, rest assured that MonaVie is well prepared as always, to protect the interests of all our distributors. Feel free to share this information with anyone in your respective groups who may have inquired as we’ve fielded approximately a dozen calls over the last few days at the company. However, I would caution you not to overly concern anyone by spreading discussion on this topic, as again, we fully expect it to go away over the next few days.
I guess this means we’re no longer under the radar! Keep up the good work!!! And let this serve as a reminder, MonaVie DOES NOT contain Viagra!
Dallin
Editor's Note: Stunning turn of events! Hope the referenced agreement above was in writing!
IMAGENETIX VS MONAVIE = $2.75 BILLION
LIST OF THOSE SUED BELOW
Rod Cook Ur Editors Notes: Intellectual Property (IP) law is pretty tight. I have worked with some top IP lawyers (as Expert Witness) out of New York. They tell me if the charges made by Imagenetix can be proved, that it is just how much Monavie (and distributors?) pay in a settlement out of court. Why? IF THE IMAGENETIX LAWSUIT IS 80% CORRECT, going to court would be crazy for Monavie (see IP law below).
I am not happy that the lawsuit included Monavie distributors. This is terrible for the industry and the rights of the MLM – Network Marketing distributors. Will MonaVie pull a rabbit out of their hat? Let’s hope so, for these poor folks!
This is an Intellectual Property lawsuit filed by Imagenetix, manufacturer of a "long chain esterified fatty acid" trademarked as Celadrin.
http://www.imagenetix.net/ Note: Yahoo stock tracking for Imagenetix is on the front page of the website. Ed. note: Full disclosure I bought Imagenetix stock yesterday.
The lawsuit states, in early 2005 MonaVie purchased Celadrin from Imagenetix via two brokers for Imagenetix. The Celadrin sales brokers notified MonaVie that if MonaVie wanted to use Celadrin in their juices, then Monavie could get a sub-license to use the Celadrin trademark for use in the MonaVie drink.
MonaVie supposedly added Celadrin to their product for a brief time in 2005 (your editor saw it on the label), but DID NOT purchase any more Celadrin through Imagenetix sales brokers or obtain any kind of license to use the Celadrin trademark.
The Imagenetix lawsuit claims 10,000 web pages existed with Monavie distributors advertising MonaVie and touting Celadrin's benefits. Included were the new folks on the Monavie block and even a page on MonaVie’s website at time of the filing of the lawsuit. The lawsuit by Imagenetix says “There is video footage from February this year of MonaVie's top distributor, Brig Hart, describing Celadrin as an ingredient in the MonaVie drink and promoting Celadrin's health benefits.”
The lawsuit says that Imagenetix took it a step further. Imagenetix had labs analyze MonaVie liquid and for a few months it did contain Celadrin. They claim each bottle had so little Celadrin, it was ineffective.
US Trademark Intellectual Property law is strict. Unless Imagenetix missed a hidden broker contract with, their only real defense will be to claim that responsibility lies with each of the individual distributors. We are waiting for a response to this lawsuit from Monavie HQ. Will Monavie bite the dust? Doubt it! If the lawsuit information is correct, at this point it will be a matter of legal negotiation for a settlement out of court. If they go to Federal Court, it might end up with Imagenetix owning MonaVie.
Here is the real time stock report on Imagenetix: http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=IAGX.OB
Here is a review of Intellectual Property Code applying to this case: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/15/usc_sec_15_00001117----000-.html
LIST OF DISTRIBUTORS IN LAWSUIT TOO
WOW! THE LARGEST MLM LAWSUIT EVER FILED! 2.75 BILLION DOLLARS!
Editors Note: As soon as this hit our inbox from a reporter we tried to call our contact at Monavie. At the time of this posting, we are waiting for a Monavie press release. What is different about this lawsuit is that it is filed against (1) Monavie-Monarch, the company and (2)most alarming..... against top distributors to include 1-10,000. Now let's understand that lawsuits occur with successful MLM companies on a regular basis. The big difference with this lawsuit is the scope of trademark violation goes down to leaders 10,000 levels deep in the binary and it is the biggest amount EVER for a lawsuit in the MLM world!
Imagenetix Inc v. Monavie LLC et al
Plaintiff: Imagenetix Inc
Defendant: Monavie LLC, Mona Vie Inc, Monarch Health Sciences, Inc, Dallin Larsen, Henry Marsh, Randy Larsen, Amy Cowley, John Brigham Hart, Lita Hart, Steven Merritt, Gina Merritt, Corbin Roush, Holly Roush, Charles Kalb, Deborah Kalb, Ronald Prudhomme, Brenda Prudhomme, Edward Aristizabal, Shelly Aristizabal, Brian Cattano, Jill Cattano, Matthew Curtis, Kimberly Curtis, Tina Dupart, Todd Hartog, Angelique Hartog, Rodney Howard-Browne, Adonica Howard-Browne, Mickey Karshner, Victoria Karshner, Jason Lyons, Carrie Lyons, Angel Matos, Grayson Maule, Ken Porter, Robert Robinson, Linda Robinson, Devon Robinson, Todd Smith, Stephanie Smith, Frank Soucinek, Jr, Cynthia Soucinek, Brian Thayer, Jacqueline Thayer, Bo Vanpelt, Carrie Vanpelt, Black Diamond University Inc, Darrell Utterbach, Tracy Utterbach, Joseph Licciardi, Patrice Licciardi, Andre Walton, Penny Walton, James Bellacera, Denise Bellacera, Kelly Bangert, Jillian Bangert, Eric M Gutman, Rebekah Gutman and Does 1 - 10,000, inclusive
Case Number: 
3:2008cv00814
3:2008cv00814Filed: May 5, 2008
May 5, 2008Court: California Southern District Court
California Southern District CourtOffice: San Diego Office [ Court Info ]
San Diego Office [ Court Info ]County: San Diego
Presiding Judge: Judge Janis L. Sammartino
Judge Janis L. SammartinoReferring Judge: Magistrate Judge Louisa S Porter
Magistrate Judge Louisa S PorterNature of Suit: Intellectual Property - Trademark
Intellectual Property - TrademarkCause: 15:1114 Trademark Infringement
15:1114 Trademark InfringementJurisdiction: Federal Question
Federal QuestionJury Demanded By: Plaintiff
Amount Demanded: $2,750,000,000.00
FIRST MONAVIE FILES SUIT AGAINST AMWAY
For trying to enforce non - compete agreements against ex - Amway distributors who left Amway - Quixtar (some years ago) and are joining Monavie. Amway - Alitcor - Quixtar must have felt a little weak on that because they came back with:
AMWAY QUIXTAR SUES MONAVIE FOR NUTRITIONAL CLAIMS
Is The Game "Within" To Make Up For An Older MLM Pay Plan?"
Rod Cook your editor = Never a dull day when something entirely new like this lawsuit comes up. You would expect it from the FDA - FTC, but from another MLM company? We know that competition in the MLM arena is heating up between MLM - Network Marketing companies fighting for sales volume but this is a new step! An MLM company (Amway) taking the role of the FDA, claiming unfair competetion!
P.s. IS THIS THE REAL REASON? SEE MY EDITORIAL BELOW - IS IT ABOUT PAY PLANS?
Press ReleaseSource: Quixtar North America
Source: Quixtar North AmericaQuixtar Files Suit Against MonaVie To Protect Consumers, Halt Unfair Competition
Tuesday March 18, 8:09 pm ET
SALT LAKE CITY, March 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Quixtar North America has filed a multi-count Complaint against MonaVie (Mona Vie, Inc. and MonaVie LLC), and several MonaVie distributors for unfair competition in federal court in Salt Lake City. The Complaint alleges that MonaVie competes unfairly by making false claims about its products. Utah-based MonaVie sells juice blend products featuring acai berries through a network of distributors. Quixtar, a sister company to Amway Corporation, sells nutritional products through its Independent Business Owners (IBOs) that directly compete with MonaVie. Some of Quixtar's products also contain acai berries.
Quixtar's filing is intended to protect consumers from false health claims as well as ensure its IBOs are not damaged from unfair competition stemming from false claims. Quixtar, a respected member of the Direct Selling Association, also hopes to protect other direct selling companies from MonaVie's deceptive tactics.
Ed. Note: If you want to read through the whole case? The Pacer System for getting the entire lawsuit is 8 cents a page: http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court-utdce/case_no-2:2008cv00209/case_id-65339/
The complaint contains numerous examples of false health claims made by MonaVie and its distributors. For example, the complaint includes transcripts of MonaVie meetings with speeches by "doctors" who falsely claim that MonaVie can cure cancer, stop aging at a rapid pace, improve vision, and eliminate pain. The "doctors" describe "dosages" of MonaVie to falsely imply that it is a medicine. In addition, MonaVie distributors have attempted to raid Quixtar IBO organizations using these false claims.
Editorial: IS IT MORE ABOUT MLM PAY PLANS?
Editors Note: This is interesting because the lawsuit is focused on health claims. However, what is not said is that Mona Vie's "overclocked" Binary plan currently pays out approximately 30% more that the Amway - Quixtar old stairstep. The new generations of 50% + payout target hot Unilevels (Xango, Life Force, Freelife, + others) and Binaries (Isagenix, USANA etc.) are simpler and payout more quickly than the old Stairstep Breakaways. How does the WatchDog know this? When Amway Asia was a public company, they gave the amount paid in commissions vs. income from sales. We still have those old documents saved on DVDs from years back. Now, in fairness to Amway Quixtar, if their distributors focused on selling just the Amway - Quixtar line of NUTRILITE nutritional products and soap, the earnings payout of the old StairStep will go up because of the higher commissionable volume rate on these consumable items. See link below: THE WALMART SYNDROME!
The complaint explains that while MonaVie has only been around only a few years, its founder was associated with a now defunct company which enjoyed tremendous growth by marketing a "superfood" derived from a sea plant. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took action against the company for unsubstantiated therapeutic claims for mitigating various diseases. The company eventually stopped selling the product and its remaining inventory was destroyed under FDA supervision.
Ed note: Fair attack or not? Mr Dallin Larson was not running the company - Gary Raser was - So this may be another lawsuit back at Amway? http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2003/NEW00976.html
about Amway and Quixtar
Based in Ada, Mich., Amway is one of the leaders in the US$80 billion global direct-selling industry. Established in 1959 as a seller of household cleaners, Amway expanded and diversified over the years and today sees its sales led by Nutrilite vitamin and mineral supplements and ARTISTRY(TM) skin care and cosmetics. Global sales for Amway and affiliated companies exceeded $7.1 billion in fiscal 2007. In North America, the Amway Global opportunity operates as Quixtar North America. Amway has helped millions of people lead better lives through consumer products, business opportunities and generous sharing with the One by One campaign for children.
________________________________________
Source: Quixtar North America
Editors note: Here is the article I wrote several years ago about the decline of the Stair Step Breakaway
MLM COMPENSATION PAY PLANS
The Worlds Best Source for Good Information about MLM Compensation Pay Plans - is Rod Cook's MLM Compensation Pay Plan book. It is the worlds only completely illustrated pay plan book with diagrams and common person narrative about MLM - Network Marketing Pay Plans. Rod Cook is the worlds Master Pay Plan Designer and Consultant.
