Re: Helena Kobrin threatens *YET ANOTHER* lawsuit!

I've snipped out lots of lines to keep it brief.

anon2c9e@nyx.cs.du.edu (henry) wrote:

>I have just received in my email yet another of the disturbing
>missives sent out scattershot by one Helena Kobrin, an attorney
>representing the Church of Scientology, a vindictive and
>paranoid organization which has recently declared war on the net.
>>From hkk@netcom.com Wed Jul 19 16:10:21 1995
>First, I note that Helena Kobrin, despite being currently involved
>in litigation against netcom for similarly harassing motives, is
>posting from there.
>>Return-Path:
Indeed, it appears she is.

>>Dear Henry:
>I am not your 'dear,' nor is anyone.
>> I represent Religious Technology Center ("RTC"), the owner
>>of the confidential Advanced Technology of the religion of
>>Scientology, and the holder of the exclusive rights under the
>>copyrights applicable to the Advanced Technology materials.
>>Your action violates my client's legal rights in that it is the
>>unauthorized making of an electronic copy of the copyrighted
>>material and the unauthorized disclosure of trade secrets
>>materials.
Wow, two groovie sentences one of which says talk to plants and the other talk to animals, just like we've all been told to since the 70's, is suddenly a trade secret.

I think not.

If so I hereby declare the following to be my intellectual property:

- Don't go out in the rain without something to keep you dry. - Don't run with a sharp pencil in your hand. - Look both ways before crossing the street. - Brush your teeth. - Punch holes in a potatoes skin before cooking it in the microwave. - Check with the bar association to get a *reputable* lawyer. - Test something one piece at a time instead of all at once. - Multiple patients blood can be tested for malaria quicker by first testing an aggregate for any positives within the group, then only performing individual tests if the group shows up positive. Sometimes testing lots at once is faster. - Fifty years ago the US and the rest of Europe defeated the Nazis. - A coil with an electric current can generate magnetism. - The letter "a" is my trademark, and all the vowels that come after it are my trade secrets.

The above list is copyrighted under the US copyright law, and there are trade-secrets in it too, so you can't write it down, tell it to someone else, or even think it! It's mine, mine, mine. Aren't I so clever? Did I tell you I have a church? Yes, I'm the pinnacle of legitimacy.

<Whew! Enought of that.>

>> These actions constitute violations of applicable copyright
>>laws and trade secret misappropriation entitling our client to
>>damages and an injunction. It is essential that you take
Excuse me but the man quoted two sentences. Most famous quotations are that long. (e.g, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." -JFK) Even a short story is longer than two sentences.

How does this exerpt from an old classic read?

"It was a dark and stormy night. ....The End"

Wow, does that give away the whole story for anybody? Gee, I guess you'll never go out and buy the book now. Some other dead writer is probably rolling around in his grave.

>I will note that Wollersheim vs. Church of Scientology resulted
>in a decision that a religion is not entitled to trade secret
>status, and that this is a groundless and fraudulent claim.
>You know well of this decision, and your use of it contstitutes
>a criminal act of common barratry.
>This material has been widely published, in books, in court
>transcripts, and by photocopies distributed to people who have
>taken this absurd 'course.' Your claims that it has not been
>published amount to nothing less than an outright lie.
Frankly, instead of the ridiculous claims trade secret information which do seem to reflect badly on the lawyers, their cause, and the California Bar Association, it would seem like a much better strategy if they simply denied everything out of court and excused themselves from the suit. That's what the big boys do when they screw up big time and the leaks come out.

Sueing people for "telling on" you makes it clear you are in the wrong, makes it impossible to deny responsibility in the future since you'd have to admit you perjured yourself during their trial if you subsequently try to disown the contestable information, and places them in the role of martyr and you in the role of persecutor. Saying, that's not fair -- other churches got to persecute people 100-500 years ago -- doesn't really work as a justification.

The church should just let go of the unsupportable attacks and stick to reality. It goes farther in the long run.

John Collins