Concerning
Nordenholz Home Page and the Domain “scientologie.org”
The domain "scientologie.org" was put on status "hold" by InterNIC in September 1996.
October 1996, we opened the domain "scientologie.de".
In October 1997 we moved the domain from lightlink.com to a German provider. Reason: to protect lightlink.com from further hassles.
In June 1996 the lawyers of the Curch of Scientology first contacted our provider "lightlink.com" (see below). Short after that InterNIC was approached by the Church Lawyers with the result that "scientologie.org" was put on "hold".
Freie Zone e.V., (Free Zone Assoc.)
10 Oct. 1997
Here a link to what Mr. Smith, ISP of "lightlink.com" says about it: http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/lists/rre/Scientology
07/12/96 Friday 2:35pm EST
As of today I have not heard back from Small, Larkin and Kidde on this matter. If you are interested in more reading material on trademark issues and domain names in particular please refer to
What's in a Name?
06/11/96 Tuesday 8:23pm EST
I have received a fax from Mr. Small, of Small, Larkin and Kidde, concerning the scientologie.org domain name and the Free Zone Nordenholz Home page.
They are informing me that both SCIENTOLOGY and SCIENTOLOGIE are registered trademarks and service marks of their client, the Religious Technology Center, and that the use of the scientologie.org and Scientologie Home Page on our system is an infringement of their clients rights.
They further say 'your actions in this respect will lead to litigation unless you act immediately to withdraw the registration of the domain name in question and the "SCIENTOLOGIE" Home Page with which it is associated.'
Mr. Small ends by saying that immediate acknowledgement and compliance from me is necessary to avoid further proceedings.
To show good faith in this matter I have removed the Scientologie home page from its connection to the domain scientologie.org, pending further discussions between the legal owner of the domain, the Freie Zone e.V. (Free Zone Assoc.) in Germany, and Mr. Small.
I can not in good faith submit a request for withdrawal of the scientologie.org domain name to the internic because I am not the legal owner of the domain name, and I believe I would be liable to the legal owner if I were to take such action with out their consent. (6/14/96 I called the internic directly on this matter requesting the proper forms to send to Mr. Small so he could initiate a complaint against the domain name. They told me flat outright that they would not honor a request from me to withdraw the domain name because I was not the legal owner of it, merely the primary name server administrator.) Mr. Small is free to contact the internic at (703) 742-4777 option 3, and request information on how to contend a domain name. The number tends to be busy, but it does answer. The prerequisite policy and forms for contesting a domain name can be found at http://rs.internic.net. He is also directed to the owner of the domain name to discuss the matter further. The adress of the Free Zone Assoc. is:
Freie Zone e.V.
(Free Zone Association)
Germany
I also can not in good faith presently remove access to the home page itself, because I do not believe, and Mr. Small has not claimed, that this page contains any copyright infringements, and I do not believe that the mere use of a trademarked term, particularly in a valid context, is itself an infringement of intellectual property rights.
I am not a lawyer, and I will be discussing these matters more thoroughly with our trademark specialist, Chris Michaels of Barnard, Brown and Michaels, Ithaca, NY (607) 273-1711, bbm@lightlink.com. If he thinks I should remove the home page, pending further proceedings, then of course I will.
is not my desire to enter into litigation with the Religious Technology Center nor to infringe any validly held trademarks, servicemarks, or copyrights held by either the RTC or the Free Zone Association.
Yours in Good Faith,
Homer Wilson Smith
System Administrator/Owner
Art Matrix - Lightlink
http://www.lightlink.com
