Complaint Review: Fisher Price- Stan Clutton - New York New York

The facts and the correspondence record of NewFuntiers' work with John Saade are indisputable.  His earlier accusations to Dr. Steveanne Auerbach, including her email replies, and her conclusions based on all of those facts and correspondence have been gathered and are available to anyone who takes the time to email me.  My name is Paul Lapidus, and you can reach me by email at [email protected].  So, at this juncture let me be specific: No one ripped John Saade off.  Not me, not my company, and not Fisher-Price.  My company, NewFuntiers, and I have no connection to or financial interest in crib toys past and present at Fisher-Price, including those John mentioned in his posting.  Our creative and representation work with John was done honestly and ethically, as the correspondence record clearly shows.  Instead of stepping back and looking honestly at the work we did on his behalf, as well as all of the correspondence between us, he continues to blame me and others for not licensing his Dreamtime Buddy product.  However, when he now publicly publishes an internet accusation against me and my company, after all we went through after his earlier unfounded accusations to Dr. Toy, Steveanne Auerbach,PhD, he's crossed the line, and weve had enough.

As a result, and after reading John's Ripoff Report posting, I wrote an email asking him to have it removed from the website, and send me an email apologizing for the inaccurate and defamatory statements.  I copied my email to John to Steveanne Aurerbach, PhD, providing a link to John's posting on Ripoff Report.  Bellow is Dr. Aurerbach's email to John after reading his October, 2012, Ripoff Report:

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From: Stevanne Auerbach <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2012 15:32:57 -0700
To: john saade <[email protected]>, Michael Urbanski <[email protected]>
Cc: NewFuntiers <[email protected]>

Subject: Dreamtime Buddy Update October 2012

Dear John,

I am very sorry,  sad and  upset that this situation happened to you and to Paul.  Everyone involved did their best yet you are still complaining. You have no reason to complain as you have done this and its shocking.

You defame people with no regard to consequences,  and this is bad,  and legally actionable. Granted you are disappointed that your concept did not sell to the one company you designated yet the concept was a problem with FP long before you asked for my help but you did not reveal everything upfront to me or to Paul.

You submitted to FP without an agent and then tried to learn as much as you could from Paul and used  him as the excuse. All of this is inappropriate. He made a determination to move forward and find alternatives but to do art work was neeed.  Paul is not responsible for anything F/P did or did not do and yet you are mixing him into the wash. They have developed crib toys for many years and long before you contacted them.

I spent many voluntary hours attempting to assist you because you were a teacher of special needs children and a parent and i have tried my best in my role to be helpful. But you never compensated me for all of the time that was taken on your behalf and the hours of time to read and respond. I  thought you had something to offer that had value but there is no guarantee that your concept can be produced and its  not patentable.

 I don't think i received a thank you for all the time and efforts. I introduced you  to many resources to support your work in chess and special ed teaching. I have also suffered with many of my own good attempts and hard work that did not materialize and had to accept decisions and move on. Its not easy, but you must do it, and find another way to create your concept.

How do you expect others to assist when you make things so complicated?  I sent you to Paul knowing he was a professional agent who has an excellent reputation and was in the best position to evaluate and move forward if he deemed the concept to have potential.  He did his utmost to get your rough concept into better form. Yet you criticize.  If you could have done it cheaper and better than why did you not do it yourself? You do not understand the process and scorn efforts that are tested and expected by the industry.

What is upsetting to me is that you you are now insulting the very people who tried to help you. It's  totally wrong to cause dissension and conflicts now for anyone who did their utmost to provide guidance.  You were angry and disappointed,  but  you still ask him for his assistance to work with you but to make things worse you add fuel to the fire by placing a nasty review about  his services and also defame a long standing employee of FP

Why would you also place your designs to be on public display?

What you have done is compounded the problems. I find this  impossible, unprofessional and libelous. Do you want negative repercussions,  and to force people to take legal actions. Everyone loses.  You do not see how impossible the situation is after many negatives transpired.

There is no crystal ball or magic wand to make what you want happen.  Everyone did their best and allo efforts made were done in a highly professional and protective way.  If you asked how much will it cost and it was too much for you to handle you should have stopped the process and just excused yourself and did it your way. You have to be responsible for what you did.  When i asked Paul about everything he responded promptly and clearly. I think you are causing yourself more harm by dredging up this issue.  You have no cause to suddenly a year and more later complain when everything was done and everyone tried their best

If you did not read the guide to inventors by Richard Levy and Ron Weingartner you should have as I suggested you review that book when you first contacted me.  I now suggest you think about what has happened.  Then let it go.

Provide an apology for your posting and remove it immediately.  Its a disservice to yourself most of all.
Then move forward as you think best doing whatever you feel is best;  informed us that your posting is removed.

I am really upset about this.  I feel you have abused  friendship.

Wish you the best ahead,
Stevanne Auerbach, PhD
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In January, 2011, John wrote me after I had spent more than a month answering questions from Dr. Auerbach, PhD, the highly respected professional in the toy industry (email to John above) who had been kind enough to suggest that John work with my company after he first contacted her.  After all of John's negativity, and after Dr. Auerbach concluded that my work with John was honest and ethical, John wrote to me asking me if I would work with him again.  Unbelievable?  Yes, I know.  Below is my reply to John on January 13, 2011.  Below that email is John's email asking to work with my company again earlier that same day:  

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From: NewFuntiers <[email protected]>
To: john saade <[email protected]>
Cc: Steveanne Auerbach <[email protected]>
Sent: Thu, January 13, 2011 5:51:03 PM
Subject: Re: Dreamtime Buddy

John,

Im afraid the old saying about not burning bridges applies here.  You accused me and my company, via an influential toy industry source, of unethical behavior.  You continue to deprecate the the value of the creative work we did for you, even in your email below.  And you apparently see no value or worth in the amount of un-billable professional time I provided you... Including the time I had to spend answering your defamatory accusations.  You choose to take no responsibility for your actions and decisions.  Instead you continue to proffer a poor me attitude, and look elsewhere to blame others instead of yourself.  Im sorry John.  My associates and I no longer have an interest in working with you.  

Paul A. Lapidus, IDSA
NewFuntiers
1936 Balzac Court
Redding, CA 96003 USA
Voice/Fax: (530) 223-3330
Email:  [email protected].
Alternative Email:  [email protected]
Website: http://www.newfuntiers.com
Member: INDUSTRIAL DESIGN SOCIETY OF AMERICA
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Here's John's email requesting my help after all of the negativity, and outrageous statements he made to Dr. Auerbach, PhD

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From: john saade <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:20:10 -0800 (PST)
To: NewFuntiers <[email protected]>
Cc: Steveanne Auerbach <[email protected]>
Subject: Dreamtime Buddy

Hi Paul, Before I begin, Id like to thank the both of you for putting in the time and effort to scrutinize the situation that transpired between us. I know that much of the frustration on my end comes from the fact that I have heard nothing but great things regarding this concept, but nothing has been done to see it through. I can imagine that much of your frustration comes from my over zealous initiative/questions to understand and know everything about what is going on as I'm sure is the case with others you've dealt with. Please take the time to phenomenally approach this experience and then ask yourself how you would feel. This is my reality, so please show some mercy. It might help to do so by recalling your beginnings and your roots in this business. What I see before me is an argument which nobody can win at this point due to perceptions that are either hazy or misguided. Either way, it is unfortunate to be where it is, especially for me.  It is suggested that much of this rested on my shoulders (i.e., if I had done this or if I had done that, or I should have done this...). I am sorry that you view my bad choices as the catalyst in this crumpled endeavor and not once has anyone commented on the fact that I was misled by Fisher Price. It is not fair to tell somebody not to hire an agent when in fact it was later made clear that it was imperative that I did. As far as the $4,000 goes, I as well as others feel it was outrageous. I have over 30 proffessional designer quotes for the project you did and the average price is $150 per illustration. What am I to think? What is the reality regarding that? I initialy declined your services because I was told by an executive from FP to do so because you couldn't do anything for me anyway. You could have done much, much, more than just "send" the item, as it was stated. Do you not put any blame on that misguidance whatsoever?  You are correct when you told me I was "flying blind" years ago, but I had no idea why until recently. I trusted and got burned. But, I must not blame myself as I was fighting in an arena I had no business being in; and, if I was directed in a particular direction and listened it was because it would have been only natural to do so.  This is the reality and I can't change that. However, what I can change is how I continue with my endeavor and I would like to start with a letter that you wrote to me on September 17, 2007 in which you state: "We still believe that you have a viable baby/preschool toy product idea. As I've mentioned before, this has always been a business of only "good products," as well as "right time right place." We will continue to query our toy and juvenile product company clients over the upcoming months. If their needs or interests change, we'll be back in touch with you, as we have with others we've represented in the past."    In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., "Be true to what you said on paper."  Will you do that? Is this still the case? More importantly, will you and your design team help me to come up with ideas that will parrallel the idea I am expressing if it is?   I know that you said you are done answering my questions. But, if you please I would appreciate just asking one more in addition to the above. Would you still be willing to represent me regarding other concepts I have? Thanks, Paul. Best, John
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All of the correspondence working with John, including all of the correspondence with Dr. Auerbach is available for review.  Please feel free to email mail me a request for the emails.  I can be reached by email at [email protected]

In closing, John is a sad, disappointed, and angry person who want's to feel better by believing he's not responsible for the results of his own actions.  But, he's also dangerous, when it comes to his disregard of others reputations.  Some people just mean well even when they do bad things.  John's recurring accusations indicate he's not one of those people.  When faced with facts he chooses to deny them, and strike out in an effort to hurt other's reputations, and make himself feel better.  But, it doesn't work.  He never feels better.  And I believe he will continue to strike out regardless of what anyone tries to tell him. He's sure he's right, and everyone else must be against him.  It's very sad, and damaging to those who attempt to help him.

Thank you for reading my rebuttal.
Paul A. Lapidus, IDSA
NewFuntiers
1936 Balzac Court
Redding, CA 96003 USA
Voice/Fax: (530) 223-3330
Email:  [email protected].
Alternative Email:  [email protected]
Website: http://www.newfuntiers.com
Member: INDUSTRIAL DESIGN SOCIETY OF AMERICA