The Digital Entertainment Network®

I first had the idea for The Digital Entertainment Network in 1996. The concept was to produce a website that would provide worthwhile entertainment on the Internet. I reserved the logical urls tden.com and tden.net. Initially there was a single product on the website: a CD album I produced and played the piano on called The Great American Ragtime Revival. The album contains various piano pieces composed by important Ragtime composers such as Scott Joplin, James Scott and Tom Turpin. Relevant sound effects are also incorporated into the album.

Sometime around the middle of 1998 I started receiving emails from numerous individuals who were inquiring as to when a video called Chad’s World would be available on the website. At first I thought it was some sort of mistake but when the inquiries did not stop I replied to one of the writers and asked her what Chad’s World was. She informed me that there was an article in the L.A. Times that said a company named Digital Entertainment Network was going to have an online video called Chad’s World. Since video on the Internet in those days was a new concept there was a lot of buzz about this. I asked her to email a copy of the article to me. Lo and behold everything she told me turned out to be correct.

I immediately started searching the Internet for another company calling itself Digital Entertainment Network but I could not locate one. About a month later I received a letter and a six-page contract from a law firm based in Hollywood, CA that stated they represented a company calling itself Digital Entertainment Network, that I was infringing upon their trademark, and that I should turn over my website and urls to them for the princely sum of $2,500.

My first impression was that this was a practical joke being played upon me by one of my friends, a few of who had a history of being pranksters. Upon further investigation it turned out that the letter and law firm were real. Their letter made no reference to either their client’s mailing address or website url. I did some additional searching on the Internet and finally located them. A check with the whois directory indicated that tden.com was reserved on March 23 1996, but their website was reserved on June 28, 1996. Therefore it turns out that this other company was infringing on my trademark and their attorneys had not done their homework. I had also made application to register the trademark The Digital Entertainment Network and they had not.

I sent their attorneys a reply explaining the situation to them. Upon further investigation I discovered that Digital Entertainment Network had raised $70,000,000. in venture capital from various groups and individuals. Some of their investors were Microsoft, Dell, Chase Capital Partners, and numerous actors and other individuals in the entertainment industry. The CEO of Digital Entertainment Network was Marc-Collins Rector. He and Chad Shackley (hence ‘Chad’s World’) had started Concentric Networks, sold it and kicked in $15,000,000. of their own financial resources to start the company. Another major player in their company was the actor Brock Pierce. As it turns out these three individuals turned out to be the Unholy Trinity Of Hollywood Entertainment Disasters (UTOHED, my acronym). There was also a fourth player in this fiasco named Dana Giacchetto who was raising capital for the company.

Their company was heavily promoted by various media organizations such as the L.A. Times and the Howard Stern Show. The concept behind it was that they were going to provide online shows similar to the way TV series are shown. These shows were geared towards the so-called gen-x generation. What happened to gen-a thru gen-w we will never know but gen-x appeared to be the key for them as a lot of major players were stepping over themselves to get involved in this venture. The idea was sound but unfortunately (for them, not me) the founders of the company had ulterior motives.

A large production facility in Hollywood was setup and they created a few series episodes. In doing so however they hired their buddies from other major entertainment companies such as Disney and paid them outlandish million dollar salaries. Remember, this entire operation was being financed by venture capital and had not generated one penny of actual revenue. Then things got really ugly. The company was going to go public with a $75,000,000. IPO at the end of 1999 but allegations of improper behavior on the part of Collins-Rector, Shackley and Pierce surfaced. It appears that they were drugging and intimidating male teen actors who were auditioning for parts in their series in order to have sex with them. Then stories surfaced that their financier Dana Giacchetto was spending the capital he had raised for the company on his own lavish lifestyle. In other words, they turned out to be a typical Hollywood operation.

During the interim, I was involved in ‘negotiations’ with their attorney’s regarding rights to the name Digital Entertainment Network. The reason negotiations is in quotes is because when you are dealing with individuals of this caliber you should not expect them to act in good faith. After reading about all the capital they had raised, one would have thought that they would be seriously interested in wrapping up the trademark rights to the name. Considering their financial position, I felt that $2,000,000. was a reasonable price tag for the exclusive rights to the mark The Digital Entertainment Network.

Interestingly enough, after they found out about my website they started adding ‘The’ to the name as it definitely made more sense. The highest counter offer I received from them was a non-specific amount in the 5-figure area. It was an improvement over their original $2,500. offer but I countered with a 6-figure amount. Then all of a sudden the dirt hit the fan. Their IPO was cancelled, lawsuits by injured parties were filed against the company and arrest warrants were issued for UTOHED and their financier Dana Giacchetto.

You have to keep in mind that all this was happening during the era of the dot-com craze. While everyone else was raising millions of dollars to create a website with their grandmothers picture on it, I was locked in business combat with these clowns of creation who had raised millions of dollars in venture capital by usurping my trademark. However, as Shakespeare said, all’s well that ends well.

UTOHED fled to Spain where they were arrested in a house that contained enormous amounts of child pornography. Collins-Rector was extradited back to the U.S. where he served some time in a Federal Prison and is now a card-carrying member of the Florida Sex Offender Registry. I believe he and Shackley are somewhere in Europe engaged in yet another Internet venture. I have no idea what happened to Brock Pierce but a few inquiries have been made through my website from various collection agencies as to whether I know of his whereabouts. I explained to them that they had the wrong Digital Entertainment Network and referred them to the attorney’s that were on record at the time. Dana Giacchetto was convicted of fraud and served 3 years in a Federal Prison. He has been released and has promised to be a good boy.

After the IPO was cancelled the company could no longer raise capital for obvious reasons and was forced into bankruptcy. The assets of the corporation were put up for auction by the bankruptcy courts and were sold to the highest bidder for a total of $105,000. In order to avoid further problems and trademark conflicts I called the purchaser and explained to him that the rights to the name The Digital Entertainment Network were not part of the package. He agreed and to this day we have had a cordial relationship.

When the other Digital Entertainment Network was heading down the tubes I contacted the media outlets that were hyping them and informed them of the trademark situation in an attempt to receive equal publicity for my website. The L.A Times outright refused to write anything about my company. Howard Stern had one of his lackeys call me back but he never aired the story or invited me on the show. I guess my boobs aren’t big enough for him but the boobs who ran the other Digital Entertainment Network obviously were. The NY Post however wrote an article about it and you can read it here

There is a moral to this story. Do not let bullies push you around because given enough time they will eventually self-destruct. In any case we now know why there are more horses asses in the world than horses heads. And if you happen to know where Brock Pierce is, kindly inform the nearest collection agency.