Gawker v Tom Cruise and Scientology copyright fight
There are all kinds of Tom Cruise and Scientology videos linked at Church of Scientology Claims Copyright Infringement
The site got my attention because:
1) Tom Cruise got a criminal investigation because someone tried to extort money in exchange for not publishing stolen wedding photos.
I don’t even understand what the big deal is about publishing wedding photos. It’s a LOT more damaging when consumers are threatened with the destruction of their credit reports by disputed and unvalidated collections unless they pay debts they do NOT owe.
The damages to someone as filthy rich as Cruise are negligible, but consumers living from pay check to pay check have their lives destroyed by these criminals at Focus—UNLESS they pay up. The Cruise extortionist was facing 2 years in prison and then committed suicide.
The executives at Focus ought to get A LOT MORE than 2 years in prison.
I’ll definitely do whatever I can to get a criminal investigation.
2) It’s going to be very interesting to see how long Gawker can stand up to the Scientologists.
The Scientologists have UNLIMITED funds for litigation.
I really don’t understand why ANY tax exempt church can have COPYRIGHTED materials. It makes no sense. Only for profit organizations should be allowed to copyright their materials. A real church ought to be happy to have their materials widely distributed.
If you have SECRET materials, your tax exemption should immediately be revoked.
Gawker’s response to the Scientology lawyer:
We are using this video in the context of news reporting and critical commentary, which are uses that may not be authorized by your client, but which serve the public interest. For this, and other reasons, we believe our use is fair.
We further do not accept that we have broken any criminal laws in publishing it, and in any event, several of the statutes you cite are inapplicable in this case.
We therefore believe that we are entirely within our rights to publish this video and as such we can not comply with your request.
I wish Gawker lots of luck fighting one of the most powerful and wealthy organizations on the planet.
Posted by Christine on 01/16/2008 at 05:14 PM
2006 Collection Suit (in discovery) • Focus extortion criminal complaint • Legal • Legal questions • (0) Comments • Permalink
