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LDS author weaving a legal web

It is sad about his marriage. I have read most of his books, except the Passage to Z. and that movie. I figured it was a rip-off to his own stuff.

That said, it sounds like this web designer has got greedy. Chris's last tennis shoes book wasn't as good, and perhaps this last one this year will end the series on a high note.

wow. what an intriguing tale of sordid details. has anyone thought about making this story about the story into a book?

What a mess! This Mike Collins guy has a lot of gall. How can he assert rights to Chris's books and movie if he was just a web designer? With a claim like this, he's got to have a written assignment of copyright, doen't he? And if he does, wouldn't that mean 'Case Shut' for Chris?

I can't figure out how the web designer should have any rights to Heimerdinger's work. That's just bizarre.

Having said that, Heimerdinger's writing is atrociously bad. If it didn't have an LDS theme it wouldn't sell at all, but somehow people overlook the flaws as a result.

To KingM:

"Atrociouly bad" Based on what? Doe he have bad grammer? Does he have bad spelling? Does it have a weak plot? No, No, and No are the Answers. Does he write to an audience that ranges from early independent readers up to adults? Ah... Yes he does. Is that what you call "atrociously bad"? If so, I'd like to see your efforts to accomplish writing well to the same range of readers. It is a difficult task that takes talent.

Lots of people have derived a great deal of enjoyment from Chris' books. That isn't atrociously bad.

I agree with King M. There are a lot of so called "authors" that sell books just because of their LDS links, but have very little merit or value.

That's why I tend to stay away from LDS fiction, and I'm LDS!

Collins is an absolute idiot to believe he has any claim to anything. Anyone with an ounce of sense knows that intellectual property belongs to the creator unless it is sold. Collins might have owned the intellectual property of the stuff he personally created for the website, but that doesn't give him claim to anything else�certainly not to Chris� books or his movie.

Unless Collins has a signed contract, his "partnership" is a lot of nothing. Almost all authors use a web designer, What makes him think this gives him any placement of power? He�s a web designer, not even a very good one, and he needs to get over himself.

And from a national market standpoint, Heimerdinger is an accomplished writer. He has a lot of skills like Orson Scott Card in that he uses simple language to explain something beautifully. His choice to write for the LDS market does not make him atrociously bad.

Since when does being a web designer qualify you as co-author? What's this guy's thought process? "Yeah, I helped put pictures and stuff on the web, so that means I helped make it." Talk about clueless. Here's a tip for Mike Collins - go get a JOB!! EARN your own money, quit trying to take it from other people!!

I don't have comments about the legal site - but I love the books. I can hardly wait for the next one. And I'm 49.

Well, Mr. Authority. I guess you told us. Imagine, LDS and you still don't read LDS fiction. How about non-fiction? It sounds rather..um..snooty if you ask me.
Yea, there is some bad stuff out there, and there are authors who capitilize on the LDS thing, but there are good books out there too. Chris' books are actually quite good. They are creative; they have good plots; what's not to like? I admit, it isn't exactly Dumas, Dickens or even Steinbeck, but it is pretty darn good.
I would urge you to get down off your high horse and give some LDS fiction a try. Robert Marcum also has some very good books. Of course, there is also the great one, Orson Scott Card.

To The Authority . . . I used to agree with you. LDS used to be fairly limpwristed reading, but not any more. There is mystery, suspense, romance, fantasy science fiction, historical, and contemporary general fiction, all written in the LDS market, and, in many cases, written better than you'll find in the national market. Unless you've read something recently, you might want to consider avoiding blanket statements. Those so called authors are doing something great in this market. Many have CHOSEN this market, even though they have national books out as well. They chose to write what they know best to the people they know best. You placing no value in LDS fiction does not equate to LDS fiction having no value. LDS fiction and authors have as much merit as in any other market. They need make no apologies for who they are and what they write.

I think people have missed what the Collins claim actually is. Collins is not claiming any type of author's rights to the work. That would be stupid.

If you've been following the case at all, Collins claimed he helped Heimerdinger create a publishing company for which Collins was to receive 50% of the publishing profits. This is not unusual and unusual type of partnership. I believe that Collins is claiming that once material was published and a profit was produced, Heimerdinger decided to keep all the profits for himself and kick Collins out of the company.
If Collins can produce evidence which show's Heimerdinger worked with him as a partner, then Collins has a valid case. If he can't then this will go nowhere.

That makes more sense. Having worked as a freelance programmer I know there is no end to the number of people willing to promise you the world if you'll work for free. But then as soon as the money starts coming in the promises made to you are quickly forgotten.

This article was way too high level and provided no real details. It actually left me with more questions than answers.

Who's actually suing who? The article mentions multiple lawsuits filed by Heimerdinger against Collins but didn't Collins ever sue Heimerdinger? If not, then how is Collins trying to assert rights to Heimerdinger's works? The article provides no information about this.

Why in the world would someone's attorney be sued for "trying to assert Collins' rights"? That makes no sense! Isn't that what attorney's are for?

Does anyone know anything about this website that his wife is being sued for helping Collins with? (A link would be nice.) The article says it was defamatory but then states that it "outlines some of Heimerdinger's past legal history." How is that defamatory? So is the only past legal history on this website this "criminal mischief" charge? The statement in the article makes it sound like there's more.

There has to be more to this story. The information presented in this article is clearly incomplete.

Some of you don't realize, but verbal contracts are legally enforceable except in certain areas, such as the buying and selling of real estate and of leasing real estate with a term of one year or longer. Past actions can provide evidence of a verbal contract. Examples: Letters, accepting and cashing checks, telling other persons about an agreement, etc. If I wanted to create a web site to sell some of my works on the internet but did not want to invest the money doing so would require, I could make an arrangement with a web site designer to do the work for me and in turn give him a percentage of the profits. That might have happened in this case. We'll just have to wait and see what the court decides. None of us have the evidence that the court will consider. And even after the court rules in favor of one party, that doesn't mean that party was in the wrong -- courts can't and don't always rule in favor of the wronged party.

"Need more info" -- Yes, we do.

Although I think I can see an outline of what's going on. The typical business dispute gets into court when a party who claims he's owed something files a lawsuit for breach of contract or a similar claim. Sometimes, though, it's the party to whom the demand for money is being made who files a lawsuit for "declaratory relief," seeking to have the court enter a judgment establishing that the other guy's claim (which he has not yet filed suit on) is without merit. I suspect that's what Heimerdinger's doing here.

As for the claim against the attorney, it's possible Heimerdinger's suing him for abuse of process or something similar, claiming that the attorney overstepped the permissible bounds in sending demand letters or so forth.

I guess his legal and personal troubles explain why it has been so long since the last "Nephites in Tennis Shoes" sequel.
Like an earlier poster, I'm a middle-aged reader who got hooked on his novels when a friend loaned them to me. They were originally purchased for her 10 yr. old son.
I am strictly a reader of non-fiction as I find little of value in contemporary fiction, but the "Nephite" series took me back to my childhood summer vacations when reading was just plain fun!

Good thing the LDS church isn't suing Heimerdinger for use of THEIR intellectual property...

What LDS writing is non-fiction.

Who really cares except the individuals involved in this? I don't. I didn't even finish reading the whole editorial I was so bored by it.