[This Scientology vs. critics battle has been going on for years -- I first wrote about it in 1993 or 1994 -- and it shows no signs of going away. --Declan] ******** From: "Jon Beets" <Jon.Beetsat_private> To: <cypherpunksat_private> Subject: Legal Communication and Censorship.... Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2001 21:28:41 -0500 I got a notice today from MOXON & KOBRIN Attorneys at Law representing the Church of Scientology International ("CSI") and Religious Technology Center ("RTC") stating infringement Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act for a web site I currently mirror at http://xenu.pacer.com. It appears that some of the infringements may be true ( I will have to look to be sure) but what really gets me is the part quoted below.. They are saying since "Scientology", "Dianetics", "Hubbard" and "NOTs" are registered trademarks they cannot be used in metatags in a webpage... The restriction in use of words in a web page is just flat out censorship.. Absolutely ridiculous... It would be one thing if someone used the words to represent a business.. But I would think metatags at the very least would fall under the "Fair Use" clause. Quoted from email ___________________________________________________________ Lastly, you have placed the following federally registered trademarks belonging to RTC as metatags on your web page: "Scientology" which is registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office under registration numbers: 1540928, 1342353,1329474, 1318717, 1036997, 0898018, 1755441; "Dianetics" which is registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office under registration numbers 1347651, 1366410, 1432039; "Hubbard" which is registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office under registration numbers 1318637, 1505349, 1546167, 1734728; and "NOTs" which is registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office under registration numbers 1372473, 1307552, 1305409 (NOTS). ____________________________________________________________________________ End Quote Jon Beets Pacer Communications ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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