Amidst bizarre stories of contract hits, drug running, and Mexican gangs all involved in the killing of the Billings' who owned this sprawling home, is this stranger than fiction tale...
A bizarre scheme
Report from The Pensacola News Journal:
One unexplained blemish on Billings' past involves a bizarre scheme he started early this decade that aimed to make millions by apparently copyrighting his children's names.
About 2003, he began filing dozens of confusing documents that attempted to copyright his children's names, then demanded millions of dollars for copyright infringements when government agencies used those names.
The documents, obtained from the Escambia County Clerk of Court and the Florida Department of Children and Families, reference "genocide acts," maritime law and "corporate fictions.'' He signed one purported affidavit "Byrd Billings, Agent, Attorney in Fact, With the Autograph, Non-Domestic."
DCF attorney Katie George said every time the agency addressed a letter to Billings that included his children's names, he would reply with an invoice demanding millions of dollars in copyright infringement.
Generally, he demanded silver coins or federal reserve notes of equal value. After nearly two years, Billings began addressing invoices to DCF employees at their homes, and a DCF lawyer sent Billings a sharply worded letter warning him that legal action against him was a possibility.
"At no time in any of your correspondence have you made a plain demand for damages under a clear and cognizable theory of liability," Assistant District Legal Council Richard Cserep wrote in a Dec. 9, 2005, letter.
After that letter, Billings stopped sending invoices.
When asked if she was aware of Byrd Billings' copyright claims, Ashley said he had mentioned copyrighting the children's names to her but said the goal was to protect their privacy.
7 comments:
Copyrighting an adoptee's identity? Well, sadly to say but that's EXACTLY what happens to us when a fictional 'amended' birth certificate is issued to an adoptee. Our copyrights are sold to the highest bidders.
Protecting the children's privacy? I find that extremely hard to believe. They were USING their children for profit. Afterall, they were purchased like cars, weren't they? Gross.
Absolutely! And it does not bode well that they were not in fact simply adopting kids for the $$ since they are obviously schemers and see fit to use their kids to their own profit. Note that he did not copyright his or his wife's name and sue every time a letter used those names - only the children.
He wasn't trying to make money; he was trying to make himself such a nuisance that they would go away and leave him alone, in my opinion. The real question is WHY DID FL KEEP SENDING HIM LETTERS ABOUT THE CHILDREN?
I don't know for sure, but they were likely ending payments too for these special needs kids. Stipends to car for them...
And again, if it was to get them to leave HIM alone, why not copyright his own name? Surely the letters wre addressed to him and used his name? One way or another he was USING his adopted kids.
I await the day some of these kids start talking about how they were treated. There was another Florida resident who also took in numbers of special needs. eleven to be exact. She also lived in a nice house...and then it was finally discovered how she abused the kids. Her name is Judith Leekin. Google it.She starved the kids and kept the money! She also committed fraud and used different names, etc. Scammers and schemers are often sociopaths and get so caught up in the $$ they don't care who gets hurt.
he was a grate guy, he gave freely .he was also very smart if he did as you an i these kid would have never known a mom or dad. look at your self
Judith Leekin made her money by taking in disabled ADULTS. Makes me wonder if adopting the right child could lead to a lifetime cash flow. I can look into Byrd's little slit eyes and know that he wasn't the GREAT GUY that has been alleged. Somebody with the FL dept--maybe the woman who was fired--should come forward with the real scoop.
Besides, who in the world manages to put their kids to bed at 7 p.m.?
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