((((Ashitaka!!!!!!!))))) How are you? Miss you 'round these parts!
Watch Tower sues Quotes for $100,000 plus plus plus...
by Quotes 354 Replies latest watchtower scandals
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ashitaka
Hey there Bills! I'll send ya a private in a few. I just heard about this Quotes.com thing from my Dad, and then logged onto Fark.....I love public JW humiliation.
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DannyHaszard
Gotta love the Brits for frank speech. Watchtower sues website
Inquirer, UK - 2 hours ago
A SITE which quotes bits of the Jehovah’s Witness rag Watchtower for the general amusement and edification of its readers has been sued by the magazine for ... Watchtower sues website
Quoting it brings it into disreputeBy Nick Farrell : Wednesday 14 September 2005, 07:28
A SITE which quotes bits of the Jehovah’s Witness rag Watchtower for the general amusement and edification of its readers has been sued by the magazine for bringing it into disrepute.
The magazine, which is usually seen in the pious paws of a Jehovah’s Witness knocking on your door, is apparently miffed at the antics of site .
According to the writ, which can be seen here , Watchtower is claiming that the publication of selected quotes embarrasses the outfit.
The site provides a search engine of quotes about what has been said in Watchtower. When we tapped in the word ‘the Inquirer’ we found the quote “idi"ot"es, 'one without understanding,' the 'inquirer' are both in the unbeliever class in contrast to the saved of the Christian church".
Besides the obvious claim that the site breaches its copyright, Watchtower says the site might be confused with the real Watchtower because it has the domain name "watchtower.ca" which is trademarked.
Watchtower also wants the site to hand over some CDs of material that are only given to Jehovah Witnesses and is not made available to the general public. The site has been generating some interest by quoting some of this material.
Watchtower wants a donation of $100,000, the site name transferred and a quiet chat with a cup of coffee with the site owners about the end of the world. Wwe made the last bit up. Home Discuss on our Forum Flame Author Recommend this article Print
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rebel8
(evil laugh)
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crinklestein
I submitted this story to the Leaf Chronicle in TN. Let's make this known to everyone!
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Kenneson
HELP! I just posted the Quotes lawsuit press release on the religion forum at
http://www.lincolntribune.com/modules/newbb/viewforum.php?forum=17
Come on over and add your comments. It only takes a couple of minutes to register. THANKS.
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DannyHaszard
Jehovah's Witnesses v Cdn site
p2pnet.net, Canada - 17 minutes ago
p2p news / p2pnet:- The Watch Tower Society, used by the Jehovah's Witnesses to promote religious worship, has sued a Canadian website for posting religious ... -
DannyHaszard
The above is a favorable Canadian law opinion and allows for comments from readers so join in folks.
Jehovah's Witnesses v Cdn site
p2pnet.net, Canada - 25 minutes ago
p2p news / p2pnet:- The Watch Tower Society, used by the Jehovah's Witnesses to promote religious worship, has sued a Canadian website for posting religious ...
Jehovah's Witnesses v Cdn siteMichael Geist
p2p news / p2pnet:- The Watch Tower Society, used by the Jehovah's Witnesses to promote religious worship, has sued a Canadian website for posting religious works online. The statement of claim (TIFF format) argues both copyright infringement (for the materials posted online) as well as trademark infringement (for the use of the domain watchtower.ca).
A quick review of the site suggests that the creator is very aware of Canadian copyright law as it features dozens of quotations but only limited full-text. Moreover, the full-text that does appear on the site seems to be older works that are now in the public domain. The site provides a full disclaimer and features a copyright notice that the materials are for private study and research purposes.
The Statement of Claim outlines six reasons why the Society believes the content on the site should not be treated as fair dealing. These include (i) alleged trademark infringement with the domain name; (ii) alleged misleading conduct with use of trademarked terms in the meta-tags; (iii) the reproduction of thousands of pages of materials; (iv) the reproduction of dozens of articles; (v) the absence of restrictions on the use of the site; and (vi) the creation of a search engine to search materials on the site.
It is difficult to speculate whether this case will proceed to trial, but, if it does, it would provide an interesting opportunity to see how the principles articulated by the Supreme Court of Canada with respect to user rights are treated in the online environment.
In breaking down the fair dealing argument, it is difficult to see how the trademark complaints are relevant to the analysis. Similarly, the absence of restrictions on the site and the availability of a search engine don't provide compelling reasons to lose a user right. The remaining two issues, which amount to claims of too much copying, will likely be the bigger questions and they turn on a legal analysis of evidence yet to be presented. A cursory review suggests that much of the content would be viewed as fair dealing since there are a large number of limited length quotations that would benefit from the SCC's liberal interpretation of fair dealing.
One side note: there should be no surprise that a claim was not launched under CIRA' s CDRP since this is clearly not a case of cybersquatting.
Despite claims that the site is being used to embarrass the religion, the CDRP would likely treat this site as a good faith (no pun intended) use of the domain.
Michael Geist[Geist is the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa. He can be reached by email at mgeist[at]uottawa.ca and is on-line at michaelgeist.ca.]
Something you think we should know? tips[at]p2pnet.net
(Friday 16th September 2005)
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rebel8
GOOD ONE Danny! Sending that to my local media.