Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak faces copyright infringement lawsuit against the School of Branded Technology

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But when Riley paid for a partial order Property in the project, encountered radio silence. Riley filed a lawsuit against Wozniak for theft of intellectual property and copyright infringement. He is asking for at least $ 1 million in compensation and damages. Other charges brought by Riley against Wozniak, such as breach of contract, were dismissed by the judge.

Insider reports indicate that Reilly first addressed it via email in September 2010. As the two corresponded over the next several months, Riley asked at one point if Wozniak was considering approving the launch. from the “Woz Institute of Technology,” according to Court Barrada. Wozniak endorsed the idea and used his name for the project in an email response.

Pictured above in 2011, Riley filed for Wozniak a contract granting an online school in Connecticut willing to work with them the right to use Wozniak’s name and image for “Woz School of Technology” in quarterly payment exchange. In a screenshot shared by Insider, what looks like Wozniak’s signature appears in the contract photo provided in court records. In his testimony, Wozniak claimed that he did not recall signing the document but did not suspect that it was his signature.

However, that deal ultimately fell through, as did many others that Riley sought out with additional establishments, in which case the Wozniak team began to distance themselves from the project. When Reilly launched a prototype Woz Institute of Technology website in 2013, the director of Wozniak, Ken Hardesty He demanded that he be removed She asked him to stop contacting Wozniak directly. Since Riley obtained copyright protection for this site, he is now at the center of his multi-million dollar copyright lawsuit.

For its part, the Wozniak team He claims the two never came to any real agreement on the proposal and that the aforementioned handshake was just one of the countless photographs he took regularly with his fans. A key part of Wozniak’s defense, according to a legal statement reviewed by Insider, is that he takes a non-participatory approach in his business relationships and instead leaves contract negotiations to other members of his team. Even in his agreement with Coder Camps, Wozniak did not provide “any agenda or idea on schedules, timelines or anything” to Woz U, as his attorneys wrote on the file.

Namely, when asked by lawyers if Coder Camps paid him $ 1 million for his association with Woz U, Wozniak claimed he did not recall whether he was paid for the deal, although his manager later confirmed that he had been paid.

“One thing that I avoid in life is anything that has to do with money,” Wozniak said, according to the filing.. “I just don’t watch it… I won’t know how much is in our bank account. My life is completely different from most people’s lives. ”

The copyright infringement case goes to trial next month in Arizona, and Wozniak has been called on stage to testify, according to Insider reports. Three-day jury trial set to begin in June 7.

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