A+E Television Networks and I Finalize Deal to Resume Publication of "Unearthing the Truth"

5/23/2013

This morning A+E Television Networks (AETN) and I concluded an agreement so I may resume publication of Unearthing the Truth, which will be back on sale next week after I have had new cover proofs printed and approved. Of course it isn’t as easy as just saying yes to them. Originally, they demanded that I specify twice in the book’s promotional text that the book was unauthorized. Naturally, after I agreed they must have decided that it was too easy because just before concluding the agreement they changed the terms and demanded that I add the word “unauthorized” a third time to the promotional text, even though I went above and beyond their original demands to place on the front cover a disclaimer that the book was not produced or endorsed by A+E—as though I’d want anyone to think I was associated with them after all this.

Quoth the lawyer:

Once these changes are effectuated on your website in all locations (and all mediums) in which you promote, distribute and sell the book, then AETN will make no further claims in connection with the cover, title, or description of your book.

I do want to point out that while AETN, acting in concert with Scott Wolter, have been difficult, the lawyer for the independent law firm acting on their behalf has been nothing but professional and helpful as we worked to resolve the issue, even when AETN returned with additional demands. That is why I have chosen to leave her name out of my blog posts so my disgust at the actions of AETN is not construed as upset with her.

I note that this agreement does not cover content, and I don’t think even AETN would want to try to go the libel route and have to argue in court that Scottish Sinclairs own America because Jesus is their ancestor. Besides, most of the show-specific material in my book has already been published on my website without trouble, and Scott Wolter is a limited use public figure commenting in a public forum about issues of public controversy.

So, next week you can once again enjoy the COMPLETELY UNAUTHORIZED Unearthing the Truth: An Unauthorized Commentary on America Unearthed Season One, which, in case you didn’t know, is completely unauthorized.

So, here is the revised cover, as approved by A+E Television Networks:

Yes, that is the infamous “Hooked X®” (which I think I will instead call a “forked X” or “variant A rune,” since either is a more accurate description) right there almost dead center on the cover, smack dab below the pyramid. Our agreement said only that it could not be a “large” forked X in black. So, now we have a smaller forked X in white. Frankly, I think that a smarter network might have preferred the cover that pretended to take their show seriously over the revised version, with its Masonic conspiracy tropes, that makes the show look sillier.

Later today or tomorrow I hope to have a very interesting piece of news about Scott Wolter’s new book, but it depends on whether I can get an official statement. We will see.

18 Comments

Mila

5/23/2013 09:25:09 am

Jason, do you think that using Masonic symbolism on your book cover will make their show sillier?
I thought that many already have an opinion about that show after reading a few of your blogs or doing own research. lol

B L

5/23/2013 11:54:35 am

As an aside....Jason, what are the chances of a JasonColavito.com app for iPad sometime in the near future? I find myself returning to your blog so often that I feel like an app would really save me some time.

Jason Colavito link

5/23/2013 01:10:33 pm

I've actually been looking into that, but the trouble is that I'm not a programmer, and the services that offer to make apps charge a lot for monthly service for something I wouldn't make a dime on. And, as I learned, one of the leading app-creation sites is owned by Jason Martell, the Ancient Aliens pundit who threatened to sue me.

charlie

5/23/2013 01:59:48 pm

Jason,
Glad that you finally got this sorted out. Or maybe I ought to say hopefully it is finally sorted out.
As to the variant A rune, I am starting to see that poor old rune as nearly runed (or should that be ruined?). Poor old rune, who did it ever hurt to come to this? OK, that was sarcasm, or I hope it was/is.
Hope the book does well.
Oh, the variant A rune t-shirts look cool. Is it OK to say cool now days? Hey, I am 65 and I think the shirts look cool.

5/23/2013 02:01:24 pm

Glad you like them! Yes,I believe "cool" is still cool.

Christopher Randolph

5/23/2013 02:21:17 pm

It's extraordinarily painful to continue to read how these people are dictating how you put out your book by doing nothing other than sending very cheap and likely idle threats, uncontested and unreviewed by other lawyers, judges or arbitrators, which effectively cost them and especially Wolter nothing.

"Of course it isn’t as easy as just saying yes to them."

It never is. I'm not aware of anyone ever being successfully bullied just once, and it ending there because the bully said that it would be a one-off. "No" or complete silence on the other hand...

I see nothing 'professional' about the lawyer abusing the legal system and being personally polite while doing it. I've really had it with people in this society doing terrible things for a living, warping their profession out of all recognition, harming the innocent, and as long as they use an indoor voice and refer to the victim as "Mr." claim to be acting as 'professionals.'

Not quite law, but many times I've sent 'professionals' engaging in this sort of behavior this friendly suggestion from the late great Bill Hicks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDW_Hj2K0wo

Are you really 'negotiating' your rights away by yourself, you have no legal counsel? Painful.

Next they'll be having you slap 'unauthorized' on all of your blog posts on AU and/or AA, or maybe upon your forehead.

Steve

5/23/2013 03:43:47 pm

Being in marketing, I quite enjoyed the Bill Hicks video, Crabby - especially the last line, "This is your world, isn't it?"

Why yes, Bill and Crabby it's a marketing-driven world. And if you spend all your blog comments bemoaning the way the world is going, then you sound like a crusty, old, crabby dinosaur.

But even more enjoyable is a bullying blog troll like Christopher saying things like-

"I'm not aware of anyone ever being successfully bullied just once, and it ending there because the bully said that it would be a one-off."

and

"Bullies don't tend to understand anything other than massive retaliation."

On those two points, crabby, you and I agree entirely. Perhaps you noticed that I applied 'massive retaliation' to you. That's what I teach my kids in dealing with trolls. Get right up in their faces and call them what they are. Troll.

I've thoroughly enjoyed the irony of these two comments, Crabby. Keep up the good work.

5/23/2013 04:08:52 pm

You have kids? Now that's tragedy.

Do I remind you of the kind of dinosaur poorly rendered on a Scott Wolter artifact?

Speaking of your buddy Wolter, I see that he is actually the person suppressing a book, and ideas, and discussion. Not academia, the coward Scott Wolter. Care to comment Your Lordship?

5/24/2013 02:10:48 pm

I should clarify that I was dealing with an attorney from an outside law firm. She was highly professional and did her best to pass along demands made by A+E's in house counsel, from whom the petty claims kept coming. She actually informed in house counsel that they could not make expansive claims about the variant-A rune.

I didn't give up any rights whatsoever; the question was not one of rights but of unfair competition law, which is a much more ambiguous area. The variant-A rune still appears on my book cover, and not a word of the book itself changed.

The only concessions I made were strategic, and I now have a paper trail demonstrating my good faith and utter lack of actual malice. Plus, I play a long game, and you'll need to trust me that there is method behind the madness.

5/24/2013 06:00:01 pm

I greatly appreciate the work your put into the blog and obviously I'm no fan of the crackpots. I certainly hope that your long term strategy has been developed in consultation with a legal professional. Given the nature of the larger issues I can imagine there are people in the skeptic community who could hook you up with some pro bono help.

Wolter and the network have a short-term strategy, namely making as much money from lying about history as they can for a few years. As a one-trick pony he's only good for the network for a couple of seasons, which is part of the reason I don't see anyone on that side of the fence paying for protracted litigation.

That said, for starters you've waived your 7th Amendment right to a civil trial, to have Wolter's claim actually evaluated by anyone with a background in the applicable law (other than the retainer people mailing literally cheap threats). These days most people facing criminal charges get bullied by prosecutors into pleading to non-trumped charges to avoid facing trial for piled-on charges and most people getting screwed by a corporation end up arbitrating away their rights to avoid threatened puffed-up litigation. Bye-bye Bill of Rights.

I'd say any lawyer collecting a penny for being involved in any part of this is being the opposite of 'professional' and is actually a disgrace to the profession. Nader has written some excellent stuff on how, for example, the armadas of lawyers employed drawing up the fine print of cell phone contracts and the like specifically to force the general public out of their 7th Amendment rights really need to be drummed out of the profession.

No doubt the people who first conscientiously swab the arms of lethal injection recipients with rubbing alcohol consider themselves medical professionals of the first order, and no doubt some injectees appreciate the polite and sanitary "service."

Petty indignities are the mother's milk of the bully. Much of that was just to show you (and Wolter) that they could be petty and get their way, not for any rational legal reason; to display that they are thorough and effective bullies i.e. earning their pay. Dante has circles of Hell for these people.

The book has been delayed, the cover art altered and the title changed. These too seem abridgements of your right to publish a book. Any claim that isn't based in a clear abridgement of trade law on your part is a simple violation of your First Amendment rights. Your time has been wasted and this has likely been somewhat stressful. It's harassment.

I should think the shop with the T-shirts is going to be used against you in any future "unfair competition" claims; it makes it look as if (to a slow judge or bought arbitrator or dumb jurors) you do have some intent to profit from a Wolter-related cottage industry, one which could step on the toes of History, which does like to sell shirts and other merch related to their shows online. I do think the shop would be used to argue that you intend to confuse the public mind with the intent to profit, public domain rune or not. No doubt Wolter is reading this but I'm not telling his legal bullies anything they don't already know.

When you just have a self-published book in which you evaluate TV claims as person with a degree in the actual subject being discussed, and you happen to have used public domain images on the cover, and the money you get from the book hardly warrants the amount of time a person doing this for profit and not scholarly purposes... you appear to have a strong case. And one wonders what economic damage Wolter could claim from that which would make litigation economically feasible.

"demonstrating my good faith and utter lack of actual malice"

To whom? To the bully? They're fully aware of your good faith and lack of malice. The problem is their bad faith and malice. You can only demonstrate any of this to some form of arbitrator, which appears to be what you don't have. We all know the content of the book is the reason for the attack on the cover, or broadly for the public attempt to scare anyone out of writing anything about Wolter's fantasy world in the timeframe the network needs credulous people to make him profitable before they move along to the next freak.

Painful.

5/23/2013 03:19:59 pm

It is extraordinary painful to watch drama………I prefer a good comedy. We are living in strange times indeed.

Gunn

5/23/2013 04:14:26 pm

"The exploitation of runic symbols is still rampant today."
(From aforementioned brochure, Uppsula University, Sweden.)

Is it exploitation of the hooked-x rune (on Jason's book cover) to expose exploitation of the hooked-x rune (on Wolter's book cover), or is jason doing the hooked-x rune a favor of redemption?

In the end, we see "innocent" hooked-x runes on a stone document dated 1362, discovered in MN in 1898...the very real Kensington Runestone.

Alix

5/23/2013 07:24:43 pm

I just stumbled across your site a few days ago, and I have to say, first off, I'm glad you're going to be able to publish this. I also have to say that if A&E and Mr. Wolter were trying to prevent people from reading your stuff, they've failed miserably - incensed at their tactics and rhetoric, and wondering what on <I>earth</I> you'd said to piss them off, I've spent the past five days reading everything you've posted here.

This whole fiasco has led me to two decisions: first, Mr. Colavito, you've got a new fan who'll be buying your books as soon as possible, and second, A&E and Mr. Wolter, as someone who's purchased both Mr. Wolter's previous book and who has in the past bought many History Channel DVDs for both myself and my history-loving family, I won't be making any purchases from either party again. Ever.

I find it darkly hilarious that people apparently so convinced their "truth" is being suppressed would try to suppress others. A&E, Mr. Wolter, at least in this one case, your tactics have backfired. You've shown how small-minded, petty, and thin-skinned you are, and believe me, I'll be spreading the news, and directing everybody I know to this site.

Keep up the good work, Mr. Colavito. This blog is awesome.

5/23/2013 07:26:03 pm

Aargh, I somehow failed to pick up on the fact that html tags aren't allowed in this commenting system. *facepalm*

5/24/2013 06:58:31 am

Just to follow on with the comment by Alix. I agree that by Mr. Wolter and A&E trying to suppress/censor your work Jason, they are just creating MORE interest in your new book and this web site.
Remember when you were a child, the things we were not suppose to do, see, read, etc., were the ones we really wanted more than anything? So, in a backhanded way, this incident just may increase your book sales and web hits.
When life gives you lemons, etc.
Just a thought.

RLewis

5/25/2013 12:55:56 pm

Just another example where the establishment is trying to suppressed the hooked-X. Maybe someone will make a documentary on this.

Sean

5/27/2013 12:03:10 am

Lawyer speak amuses me, sometimes. The purpose of legalese is to make meaning absolutely clear and unambiguous, and sometimes it can make sense to use an unusual word with a clear legal meaning over a common word with vaguer shades of meaning.

But, seriously, is 'once these changes are made' really any less clear than 'effectuated'?