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Band Stickers and the Municipal Code

Mo'Phat

Mo'Phat

Oct 1, 2003
3,351
1,391
51
Raleigh, NC, USA
www.redhotchilipepperstribute.com
#1
So I open up my emails this morning and have received one from 'somebody at the city' saying that My Company (the band) is in violation of Municipal Code suchandsuch for placing stickers on a public right-of-way (ie: Street signs, light poles, electrical boxes) and the like. Language in the email included "This will be your only warning.", "This law provides for assessing sticker removal costs and civil penalties that currently are at $100 per sticker for repeat offenders.", "Our communities consider your approach to advertising as graffiti..."...since we consider our stickers an advertising device, they're emblazoned with our website address, which is how they were able to email me.

As you can see, I have a problem. I read the municipal code and there's a provision: I can file a declaration rebutting Presumption of Responsible Party...essentially stating that, hey, I just handed out the stickers, it's not my problem where they went.

Since everybody here is infinitely more intelligent than I, what legal legs do I have to stand on? I currently have nearly 1,000 stickers out there somewhere (that's how many I've given away), so I'd rather not have to give the city $100,000 for violations.
 
#5
It's possible that it's false, but we do have our website address on our stickers and any email to that domain would be sent to the address this email was sent to.

The person who sent the email didn't have a phone number (even though it is listed on our website), and said they're from the "Office of Neighborhood Code Compliance", named towns where I know our stickers are everywhere, and left a phone number to contact for questions.

Maybe I should call the number?
 
#6
Mo'Phat said:
It's possible that it's false, but we do have our website address on our stickers and any email to that domain would be sent to the address this email was sent to.

The person who sent the email didn't have a phone number (even though it is listed on our website), and said they're from the "Office of Neighborhood Code Compliance", named towns where I know our stickers are everywhere, and left a phone number to contact for questions.

Maybe I should call the number?
Click to expand...

Someone's messing with you.
 
#9
It's possible it's legit; it's also possible it's a fake. You don't have adequate information to make a good determination and although I like TalkBass, this forum wouldn't be my first choice for legal advice.

If they are "stickers" that could have multiple functions, you are on much safer ground than if they are posters for specific shows and such. I think they would have to prove that you stood to benefit in some way from the stickers being placed where they were. Otherwise, it is much as you said; you gave things away and folks were naughty with them.

I would seek advice from someone with a legal background and knowledge of the enforcement of local codes in your area.
 
#10
Can you see your local village constibulary contacting the owners of Nike to complain about Nike stickers being plastered all over, say, a police car? By email?

Yeah, neither can I.

I'm not a lawyer so I advise that you not listen to me. But someone is probably messing with you. If you still have the email, you can view the email header to see what mail server your ISP's mail server got the email from. If it looks official then it bears investigation, but chances are the originating address is from Hotmail or something.

If they're really pissed about it they will present you with something written, or it never happened. It's too easy for things like that to be wiped out by spam filters for it to be an official document.
 
#11
get a lawyer.

since you were in the band when the sticker was placed on the sign, and since the owner of the sign said that you are the provider of said sticker, a judge at sticker court will find you legally responsible for the sticker, and order you to pay sticker support.

and dont bother getting a dna test to prove that you had nothing to do with stickering up the sign, because sticker court has a kangaroo clause that states that they can do whatever they damn well please as long as its in the best interest of the sticker, the sign, themselves, or anybody else who is not YOU.
 
#12
There's some damn funny replies here...

ESP-LTD said:
although I like TalkBass, this forum wouldn't be my first choice for legal advice.
Click to expand...
I wasn't really asking for legal advice, moreso just asking peer musicians if anyone has run into this problem or if it's commonplace.

msquared said:
chances are the originating address is from Hotmail or something.
Click to expand...
Dude has a Roadrunner (cable service provider) account.

Pierce said:
since you were in the band when the sticker was placed on the sign, and since the owner of the sign said that you are the provider of said sticker, a judge at sticker court will find you legally responsible for the sticker, and order you to pay sticker support.

and dont bother getting a dna test to prove that you had nothing to do with stickering up the sign, because sticker court has a kangaroo clause that states that they can do whatever they damn well please as long as its in the best interest of the sticker, the sign, themselves, or anybody else who is not YOU.
Click to expand...
Maybe I should press charges of sticker harrassment against him...I feel I've been violated by his heinous charges of sticker malpractice...Those stickers were placed as an expression of personality, and when they were removed, it was as if I was 'pantsed and wedgied' in a crowded square. I'm calling Johnnie Cochran.

I have since come to the conclustion that this is most likely a crotchety old man (or young man...just crotchety for some reason) that has a form e-mail that he sends out to anybody who has a readily-trackable advertisement or sticker. Consider him blown


off, I mean.

Kangaroo Clause.
Click to expand...
funny.
 
#14
Sounds to me like it's some group of moms that call themselves an organization against the defamation of their communities. Similar thing happened to a band in my hometown, went by the name "we lick." When "We Lick" stickers started being plastered all over town, a few people got offended, and tried to scare them into cleaning it all up by saying they could face fines.
 
#15
Actually, the one good suggestion that I received was to print a load of really small disclaimer labels and put them on the back of the stickers, basically saying that we're not responsible for where the stickers end up. That way, if anything does happen, we can say that we gave the stickers away with the caveat that, although we hope they are placed on legal and legitimate locales, we cannot be held liable for the actions of our idiot fans...I mean legion of devoted, intelligent, music appreciators.
 
#16
I'm sure no-one in any administration would send any e-mails without proper signature fields containing at least name, position, office, e-mail address, phone number, fax number, street address et cetera. They are always there.

Also, official people tend to use very polite, almost dull language when approaching matters like this. It's just the proper way of handling things, and these people do it by the book.

I think someone's playing a prank on you, or it's someone who doesn't have anything else to do than to whine about everything. Either way, you should be good until anything official shows up.
 
#17
Mo'Phat said:
Since everybody here is infinitely more intelligent than I...
Click to expand...

How do you figure? It's a pleasure reading your posts Mo, mainly because it's so nice to read someone's replies here on TB without five typos per sentence, no caps or punctuation, "your" when they mean "you're", etc., etc.

And btw, my Dad's a lawyer and he says someone's messin' with ya. ;)
 
#19
Craig Garfinkel said:
How do you figure? It's a pleasure reading your posts Mo, mainly because it's so nice to read someone's replies here on TB without five typos per sentence, no caps or punctuation, "your" when they mean "you're", etc., etc.

And btw, my Dad's a lawyer and he says someone's messin' with ya. ;)
Click to expand...


Wow...thanks Craig, wow. (for what it's worth, I was an English major, so that may have something to do with teh grammmer. ;))

I have a hunch that, yes...someone is messing with me. Crotchety, disgruntled, over-stickered men are the grease that keep small towns runnin' smooth.

"Email? What email? I never received an email, and we don't put stickers on public right-of-ways...so eat me, Mr. Clark."

Thanks alot for the advice, people, and may this thread pass into the netherworld in peace.

Jazzbo, you can go ahead and close this bad boy down.
 

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