One opened, more to come! Operation Clambake present:

The cult lawyer snap

Helena K Kobrin is the figurehead of Scientology's legal team. She once tried to illegally cancel the whole newsgroup alt.religion.scientology, only to see the whole net wake up to defend freedom of speech on the Net.

These days she is only a shadow of what she was. Critics even doubt she is actually the person behind the account hkk@netcom.com

What she can't seem to understand is that leagal threats sent as e-mail is worth about the same as the paper it is written on. But she still love to send them out, that's why a site on the Net has been dedicated her a "Helena Kobrin Love Page".

Many documents hosted on Operation Clambake have resultet in threats from Helena, here are some e-mails she sent to David Gerard:



E-mail from cult lawyer HELENA KOBRIN:
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 12:18:16 -0700 (PDT)
From: Helena Kobrin <hkk@netcom.com>
Subject: Unauthorized Use of Copyrighted Materials
To: src@dingo.vut.edu.aua.net
cc: fun@toxic.warehouse.net, fun@thingy.apana.org.au, fun@athene.tertius.net.au, fun@tertius.net.au, fun2@arscc.com, fun@arscc.co, fun@penguin.glasswings.com.au, fun@athene.glasswings.com.au, fun@suburbi
Message-ID: <Pine.3.89.9804101242.A4151-0100000@netcom14>

Dear Mr. Gerard:

     I am writing you again about your continual infringement of the work entitled "Enemy Names". I have been informed that, not only have you engaged in copyright infringement of this work overseas, you have also placed it illegally on a web page here in the United States. With regard to this work here in the United States, I represent Bridge Publications, Inc. ("BPI"), who is the exlusive licensee, in the Western Hemisphere, of the copyright to the work "Enemy Names." As you know, you have placed this work under the following URL:

http://www.prysm.net/~cuthulu/fun/press/enemy-names.txt

     By placing my client's copyrighted work on your web page you are committing copyright infringement in violation of the copyright laws of the United States. Please remove this work from your web page immediately.

Sincerely,
Helena Kobrin

In this one, she complains about 'Enemy Names', which is living on an account on a server David actually don't control. Note the particularly shirty tone of this one.

E-mail from cult lawyer HELENA KOBRIN:

Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 13:55:47 -0700 (PDT)
From: Helena Kobrin <hkk@netcom.com>
Subject: Unauthorized Use of Copyrighted Materials
To: proff@suburbia.net
Message-ID: <Pine.3.89.9804101319.A11418-0100000@netcom11>

Dear Sir/Madam:

     I represent New Era Publications, Int. ("NEPI"), and L. Ron Hubbard Library, exclusive licensees of the copyrights to the published and a number of unpublished works of the Scientology religion.

     I have been informed that your subscriber, David Gerard, has placed certain of NEPI and the L. Ron Hubbard Library's copyrighted works on his home page on your web site without the authorization of my clients. These works can be found under the following URLs:

http://www.thingy.apana.org.au/~fun/scn/press/enemy-names.txt
http://www.thingy.apana.org.au/~fun/scn/press/attacks-on-scn.txt
http://www.thingy.apana.org.au/~fun/scn/press/targets-defence.txt
http://www.thingy.apana.org.au/~fun/scn/press/black-propaganda.txt
http://www.thingy.apana.org.au/~fun/scn/press/hostile-contacts.txt

     By placing my client's copyrighted work on a web page on your computer system, Mr. Gerard is committing copyright infringement in violation of the copyright laws of Australia and the United States. Because this document is on your site, it is a copyright infringement for which you can be held liable. We therefore request that it be removed immediately.

     We are currently involved in litigation over similar materials in several lawsuits.

Preliminary injunctions based on copyright infringement are in place in two of those suits in favor of RTC in the United States District Court in San Jose, California, and a judgment of copyright infringement and a permanent injunction have been entered in another suit in that Court. Additionally, a United States District Court in the state of Virginia has granted judgment for damages, costs, and a permanent injunction in favor of RTC, related to copyright infringement of similar works.

     The Regional Court of the Hague has recognized that similar materials are copyrighted, and the defendants in the Dutch case removed their postings of the copyrighted materials in that case. Moreover, in Sweden, RTC sued an individual for infringement of similar materials which he had placed upon the Internet and in that case, the court issued an injunction prohibiting him from engaging in such illegal activities.

     The courts in California and Holland have both ruled that an access provider that has been put on notice that infringement is occurring through its system, and yet does nothing to stop it, can be liable for contributory infringement.

     We are not seeking to become involved in litigation, but we will take all necessary measures to protect my client's intellectual property rights. We presume that you would agree that we can resolve this amicably.

     Please confirm that you have removed the copyrighted material as requested above. I must urge you that speed in dealing with this situation is critical in light of the fact that unpublished materials are involved.

Sincerely,
Helena Kobrin

This one complains to suburbia.net about documents on thingy.apana.org.au - it's unknown what she thinks this will accomplish. Wonder if world.net got the same letter and just hit delete.

E-mail from cult lawyer HELENA KOBRIN:

Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 13:57:09 -0700 (PDT)
From: Helena Kobrin <hkk@netcom.com>
Subject: Unauthorized Use of Copyrighted Materials
To: fun@thingy.apana.org.au
cc: fun@suburbia.net
Message-ID: <Pine.3.89.9804101300.A11418-0100000@netcom11>

Dear Mr. Gerard:

     As you already know, I represent New Era Publications, Int. ("NEPI"), and L. Ron Hubbard Library, exclusive licensees of the copyrights to the published and a number of unpublished works of the Scientology religion.

 I have been informed that you have placed certain of NEPI and the L. Ron Hubbard Library's copyrighted works on your home page without the authorization of my clients. These works can be found under the following URLs:

http://www.thingy.apana.org.au/~fun/scn/press/enemy-names.txt
http://www.thingy.apana.org.au/~fun/scn/press/attacks-on-scn.txt
http://www.thingy.apana.org.au/~fun/scn/press/targets-defence.txt
http://www.thingy.apana.org.au/~fun/scn/press/black-propaganda.txt
http://www.thingy.apana.org.au/~fun/scn/press/hostile-contacts.txt

 By placing my client's copyrighted works on your web page you are committing copyright infringement in violation of the copyright laws of Australia and the United States. Please remove these works from your web page immediately.

Sincerely,
Helena Kobrin

This is just the usual form letter, and goes through all her favourite ones. Note that the list of documents complained about here is the same as in the letter to suburbia.net.

E-mail from cult lawyer HELENA KOBRIN:

Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 14:06:17 -0700 (PDT)
From: Helena Kobrin <hkk@netcom.com>
Subject: Unauthorized Use of Copyrighted Materials
To: fun@thingy.apana.org.au
cc: fun@suburbia.net
Message-ID: <Pine.3.89.9804101427.A11418-0100000@netcom11>

Dear Mr. Gerard:

     I represent New Era Publications, Int ("NEPI"), the exclusive licensee of the copyright to an unpublished work which you have placed on a web page through the University of Wuerzburg in Germany, without the authorization of my client. This work can be found under the following URL:

http://wpxx02.toxi.uni-wuerzburg.de/~gerard/press/enemy-names.txt

     By placing my client's copyrighted work on a web page through the Universityon your computer system, you are committing copyright infringement in violation of the copyright laws of Germany and the United States. Please remove it immediately.

     We are currently involved in litigation over similar materials in several lawsuits. Preliminary injunctions based on copyright infringement are in place in two of those suits in favor of RTC in the United States District Court in San Jose, California, and a judgment of copyright infringement and a permanent injunction have been entered in another suit in that Court. Additionally, a United States District Court in the state of Virginia has granted judgment for damages, costs, and a permanent injunction in favor of RTC, related to copyright infringement of similar works.

     The Regional Court of the Hague has recognized that similar materials are copyrighted, and the defendants in the Dutch case removed their postings of the copyrighted materials in that case. Moreover, in Sweden, RTC sued an individual for infringement of similar materials which he had placed upon the Internet and in that case, the court issued an injunction prohibiting him from engaging in such illegal activities.

     Please confirm that you have removed the copyrighted material as requested above.

Sincerely,
Helena Kobrin

This one is complaining about a document on Cornelius Krasel's machine, (again) not on any account David actually control. She's still after 'Enemy Names'.



"Somebody some day will say 'this is illegal'.
By then be sure the orgs say what is legal or not."

L. Ron Hubbard, HCOPL 4 January 1966

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