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In Reply to: Copyrights & Creator's Rights posted by Texas Ray (reposted from NDN) on April 15, 2002 at 12:07:25:
Think about this: David Berg died and was buried under an assumed name. Therefore no death certificate was ever issued in his legal name. therefore, even if he had written a will assigning ownership of his letters to someone else, such as Maria, it would not be valid as technically, there is no proof that he is dead. As there is no legal entity such as The Family, or The Children of God, or World Services, I think that the ownership of these letters is in legal limbo. No one can claim ownership to them. Perhaps there is some sort of default to where his legal family could, such as Mother Eve or Deborah, but again, there is no death certificate to prove that he is dead. The question has to be asked, "Has Elvis left the building?":)
I would be very surprised if "The Family" ever produced any proof of legal ownership of Berg's writings. And if they do, look for evidences of forgery. Taht is their M.O.
As you mentioned, there is a big difference between the core literature of the group, and their commercial material, such as Activated mags, videos, posters, audio tapes, etc. All the commercial material has been systematically and legally acquired by Aurora Productions. They own everything that the group sells. Aurora is the goose that lays the golden eggs for Family leaders.
But the older lit, the MO and Maria Letters, the FSMs, stuff like that, are de facto public domain. No one owns it and given the controversial nature of the material, no one in the group is going to seriously mount a bluff to claim ownership. The line-up of people born in the group wishing to file law-suits would stretch for miles.
Even Aurora is an enigma. It exists behind a veil of secrecy. Who even knows where it is located in Switzerland, which town? My feeling is that the Family leaders such as Queen Peter and Maria wish to protect Aurora. So I doubt that they would be aggressive in challenging someone who posted some of their copyrighted material. However, if that person was trying to make money off it, that would be different. But as long as their is no money involved, they might just let it slide.
I think that in any discussions concerning legal interaction with the Family, it must be remembered that they all have huge numbers of skeletons in their closets. whether it is the Family, or FCF, or Aurora, or Activated, none of it can stand much scrutiny. They hate the light, they love darkness, as their deeds are, and have been for decades, dark. They loathe and hate court cases, and will not voluntarily enter them.
Look at the British court case. The evidence was devastating. Maria nad Peter refused to admit any wrongdoing for three years and then finally were forced to admit Berg's and their responsibility. And then most of the Family members who were involved in the case got so disgusted that they left the Family! My gut feeling is that they will never voluntarily initiate legal proceedings.
So my take on all this is that people should not be overly concerned about Family copyrights. The Family, if it even exists as a legal entity, probably does not even own much of what they claim to. And the other organisations that, IN MY OPINION, act as fronts for Family leadership and advance the interests of the Family, such as FCF, Aurora, Activated, etc. are going to be hesitant to legally challenge alleged copyright violations of a non-commercial nature.
I think it is important for readers to grasp that there is no need to fear The Family. They are incredibly untogether and cowardly. They pose little legal threat to anyone. Because of their groupthink mentality, they are their own worst enemey. The Family has backed down on a lot of issues recently, and as ex-members, especially those raised in the group become more emboldened and empowered to stand up and challenge them even more, the weakness of the Family will be increasingly exposed.
IN MY OPINION, it is important to keep in mind that almost all of the Family leaders are de facto criminals. They just haven't been
caught yet. But almost all of them have been involved in criminal activity. As an organisation, I THINK that the Family is inherently
criminal. Just think of what Maria and Peter are criminally responsible for. Maybe they will never be apprehended and tried for their
crimes, but that does not make them any less criminal. They are just criminals that did not get caught.
And think of what people who have been top Family officers for many years have been party to. Think of what anyone involved in
Family finances has been party to in the way of criminal activities. Most of them have been involved in criminal activity. It's the
nature of the beast.
Then ask yourself: "Do these people really want to get involved in legal proceedings?" I think not.
