In 2003, the Securities and Exchange Commission recognised the patent unfairness of the system and proposed a partial solution, letting large investors propose director candidates that would appear on the company ballot alongside management's nominees, subject to a variety of conditions.
Mr. Miller resisted proposed movies until the director Robert Rodriguez ("Desperado," "From Dusk to Dawn") demonstrated how meticulously he could reproduce Mr. Miller's compositions digitally.
Even in the rare instances when shareholders vote against proposed directors, it can be difficult to persuade one to resign.
"We believe that the proposed directors will carefully review the value represented by Roche's offer and ensure that Illumina acts in the best interests of its shareholders".
Last month, he set up a Web site, ValueYahoo.com, in which he sketched his overhaul agenda for the company and put forth a slate of proposed directors.
This entails publishing and mailing their own list of proposed directors to shareholders, escalating the contest, in effect, into a fight for control of the firm.
The site, which went live at 10 30 Monday morning, includes an outline of his agenda, a mission statement and profiles on his slate of proposed directors.
Institutional Shareholder Services, the biggest of the proxy advisory firms, wrote in a report that Illumina shareholders should re-elect all of the company's proposed directors, instead of voting for director candidates proposed by Roche.
Putting a committee of shareholder representatives in charge of proposing directors would not be a cure-all, or guarantee fresher thinking.
"We do not consider their proposed directors to be independent and believe that Alliance Trust's current board is diverse, dynamic and more than fit for purpose.
