Open Letter from Bo KelleherWritten by Bo Kelleher Thursday, 21 AprilAn open letter to the registered residents. On March 31st I received a cease and desist letter from an attorney representing "DMB Ladera LLC, LARCS and Planned Community Intranet LLC, collectively 'LaderaLife'" insisting that this site was infringing upon a trademark for the name "laderalife" because it's name was similarly confusing. I felt that most residents would be able to tell the difference immediately, but their attorney was quite aggressive. She insisted that I would be sued. I contacted my business attorney, who specializes in Technology Law and Intellectual Property, and while we believed that the use of LaderaLIVE was defensible, based on the non-commercial nature of both sites, it may have cost as much as $25,000 or more to fight an injunction and could have been upward of $200,000 for a protracted legal battle. LARCS has an approximate legal budget of $63,000 and suffice it to say, I do not. I have already spent several thousand dollars in attorney's fees attempting to keep this site with this name, but they have the option to fight me with my own money (and yours). I believe that the purpose of their legal action was retaliatory, and designed to shut down our collective discontent about the way that the developer has operated laderalife. Just so we're clear, and to bring some of the newly joined folks up to speed... DMB Ladera and its associated business interests have structured an elaborate scheme that funnels money from HOA dues and other homeowner-derived funds through an unaccountable non-profit organization (LARCS) to their for-profit business (Planned Community Intranet).
They deliberately deceived homeowners for years in an attempt to hide this scheme and to protect their revenue stream. The reason that LaderaLife has cost almost $1.8 MILLION over the last five years is that the developer and its "friends" are profiting from all of us in a way that is wasteful and improper. The developer controlled almost all aspects of the LaderaLife operation, ignoring residents and its own Technology Advisory Committee. The Merit staff who answer the phones dare not tell you that the reason that they can't help you is because they have no control over anything with respect to the technical operation of the site. You and I paid a lot of money so that we could have a "connected community" and the developer has consistently declared success, through press releases and PR, even when we all know that LaderaLife is far below the value that it should be, given the millions spent by all of us. I can't tell you how many residents have made comments like "my nephew makes better websites than LaderaLife" or "why does it take a month to fix the message boards?". Because of the legal bullying that I've had to endure, I have no choice but to change the name of this site.
So I am in the process of transitioning LaderaLIVE to become: LaderaPortal. ComOriginally, this website was called LaderaUnderground.com and the name was considered by many to sound too subversive. We also seriously considered "FreeLadera.com" on the basis that it represented the movement for liberation a low cost. Ideally, we settled on something more mainstream and self-descriptive. Please welcome LaderaPortal.com! Some people have asked what they can do to help. There are a couple of ways that you can be effective in making change happen in our community. 1. Stop using LaderaLife. When there is no traffic and no usage, there will cease to be any justification for the $5 a month that is collected from your HOA dues to operate the site. 2. Participate Here: Donate your time to add content and ideas here. Blog, post events, come up with ideas for how to make the site better. Thank you to each of you who has joined this online community. Being here is what counts.
Bo KelleherLast Updated (Tuesday, 26 April)
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