WTS vs Quotes: Requiem for a Research Web Site

In compliance with the terms of a Settlement Agreement, my information and research web site, http://quotes.watchtower.ca, is now “dark”. The domain “Watchtower.ca” has been transferred to WTS (I assume they will have it pointing to Borg.org watchtower.org ASAP). My copies of the site have been destroyed, the files deleted, and my WT Library CD has been destroyed, in accordance with the Settlement Agreement which will afford a “discontinuance” of their suit against me. (Interesting aside: a discontinuance means the suit is merely in “suspended animation”. It will always be there, waiting to thaw out, to haunt me for the rest of my life. It will become part of my estate after I’m gone. That’s just the way it works.)

The complete scan of the settlement (PDF) is available by clicking here.

It has been said that settlement negotiations are two people working toward a mutually disagreeable conclusion. Unfortunately, due to the restrictions of Paragraph 12 of the settlement, I am unable to comment on the negotiations of the settlement. However, by that same paragraph, I am able to comment on the terms of the settlement; hence I provide the details by providing the complete settlement agreement. I have nothing to hide.

Now I can put this behind me, but I am free to talk about it publicly. Of course, that will be challenging, since I agreed, as part of the settlement, to destroy all my copies of the site and also destroy my WT LIBRARY CD. But at least I will be able to tell my story. In fact, I may even write a book, or perhaps (when I dare to dream) a screenplay. I am thinking of a farcical yet fact-based comedy, with Jim Carey playing the lead. Can you imagine the high-jinx?  ALLRIGHTYTHEN!

I extend my sincere and deep THANKS to everyone that offered moral support and offers of financial help.

Frequently Ask Questions

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Q: Surely people here at JWD would help with legal expenses. Why did you give up so easily? I offered you money and you didn’t accept it!

A: I was truly thankful to the many people that offered money (and for the record, I did not accept any money from anyone). However, let me explain the magnitude of the finances involved so you can see how futile this was. Intellectual Property disputes are a specialty under the law. This is another way of saying IP lawyers charge a LOT of money. $500 per hour is the STARTING number, at the bottom of the scale. If my case went to trial, I could easily be up to $50,000 to $100,000 before ever getting in front of a judge, just with all the pre-trial motions, discovery, mandated mediation, legal research, etc. Once finally in court, costs can be $10,000 PER DAY.

If I added up all the wonderful offers of assistance, I would have, perhaps, $2,000 to $3,000. That may be enough for a simple, uncontested divorce or something, but is not nearly enough to cover my costs in this case. Also, I know that many of you, like the parable of the widow with the two coins that gave all she had, (insert groan here) were offering me money you really couldn’t afford to be without. I could not in good conscience accept money from people that are themselves struggling to make ends meet.

I would ask that you instead direct your money to a much more worthy cause: Shunned Father in Calgary is suing WTS. His case is very  promising. I don’t know if he has completed setting up his Defence Fund, but I know that is where I am going to put my money.

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Q: But if/when you win the case, you would be able to get your legal costs back by filing a claim for costs!

A: True, but I would still have to come up with the money up front. Do you have $100,000? I don’t. I suppose I could have 2nd mortgaged my home, or even sold it; sold my car, etc. But frankly, it likely still wouldn’t have been enough. And I fully expect that WTS would have used every trick in the book to drag things out as long as possible, knowing that my funds would run out long, long before theirs. It has taken 3.5 months just to reach a “quick, give it all away” settlement. How long would it have taken if I fought them? How much would it have cost?

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Q: But their case is completely without merit! Their arguments in the Statement of Claim are not even internally consistent! You didn’t break any copyright laws! How can you let them get away with this B.S.??

A:

I must say, I was very naive. I felt, and still feel, that my Watch Tower Quotes web site was fully in compliance with copyright law, and therefore I felt I was safe and would be held harmless. But I was naive to think that just because I was not breaking any laws, WTS would be unable to do anything. Obviously, I overestimated their decency; or perhaps, underestimated their ability to “frame mischief by law”. I felt that only radical groups like Scientology would stoop to the strong-arm tactics of a law suit. Obviously, I was wrong.

They have access to millions of dollars of cash and assets, and also have the convenience of in-house legal counsel (clothed, housed, and paid for through tax-exempt donations). IMO, WTS is 80% printing/publisher, and 20% law firm. Keep in mind, you don’t have to be a very good lawyer to harass someone by launching a suit. BTW, WTS retained a TOP Intellectual Property law firm. I think, amazingly, they actually sincerely expected to litigate this. Obviously they overestimated how deep “Satan’s” pockets are! I wonder if any of the tax-exempt “Katrina Relief” or “Asian Tsunami Relief” money ended up paying for lawyers, thanks to it being labelled only for the “Worldwide Work”? (I’m just speculating here.)

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Q: “Quotes, I am a multi-millionaire, and I want to fund your fight.”

A: Where were you 3 months ago? And do you need a resident nerd to fix your computer?   

OK, seriously now. Even if this offer were made, I would still be reluctant to continue to fight WTS. Just these past 3.5 months have taken a tremendous emotional toll on both me, and (more importantly) my lovely, supportive wife. She was never a JW, and doesn’t deserve to get abused by WTS persecution.

Also, this arrived when I was at a time in my life when I thought the WTS toll was entirely behind me. I was done with being an ex-JW, and was slowly becoming a regular person. I rarely updated my site, (having realized that cataloging interesting and significant WTS quotes is an ENDLESS job) and rarely posted here at JWD. Then, on Sept 8, I got punched in the stomach, when I was served.

You have to pick your battles. And this isn’t a battle I want to fight. If you have access to large amounts of money, and want to make WTS look foolish to the world by having them silence their own words, well, be my guest. More power to you. But realize you are playing in their domain, by their rules.

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Q: I downloaded a copy of your site using one of the two methods you had posted. I now want to put it on my own web space. Will that hurt you? Should I do this?

A: I will not offer an opinion on this. I have destroyed all copies of my site “known to and controlled by” me. If you have a site, I don’t want to know about it, and furthermore, I obviously have no control over it.

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Q: But your site was such a valuable resource! It was unique in that it used primary documents, and refrained from editorializing. It was widely linked to as support for many other JW/WTS Education and Research web sites. What about that? What about the children! Did you ever stop to think about the children?

A: I am truly sorry that I have been forced to remove this resource due to Watch Tower’s persecution. But the world turned before my site came along, and I’m certain that it will continue to rotate now that “Quotes” is dark.

I have long felt that the most damaging, most effective tool against Watch Tower (or any other High Control Group) is to carefully and rationally study the group’s words and works. WTS thrives on information control, including controlling access to their own information — not too much, not too soon. Clearly my site struck a nerve with the old men that control WTS. Their Statement of Claim plainly stated that they feel that a collection of their own words can only have one purpose: to embarrass them. (BTW, I’ve never figured how they felt that, even if such a ridiculous claim were true, how it is relevant to a case of alleged copyright infringement! I didn’t see any “embarrassment” clauses in the Copyright laws.)

Perhaps one day another young Jedi Paduan, or old Jedi Master, will pick up the torch. The funny thing about squishing Cockroaches is they seem to be able to reproduce faster than you can squish them. You don’t have to worry about the one you just squished, you have to worry about the 10,000 offspring hatching under the cupboard.

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Finally, since I am certain that my posts here are monitored to ensure my ongoing compliance with the terms of the Settlement Agreement, I would like to offer the following lyrics, in a gesture of, frankly, legitimate Copyright Violation. You know, if you’re going to do the time, you might as well do the crime.

Of course I’ve heard this song many times before, but when I heard it a couple of days ago, I immediately thought of the following people, and it is to these people I

would like to dedicate this little ditty:

• Ken Little (President of WTS Canada, and signatory to the Settlement Agreement)
• Glen How, O.C., Q.C., L.S.M., (and personal friend of my mother since her first days in Canada)
• John Burns, LL.B.
• David Gnam, CGA, LL.B. (and as the CGA, likely the only person who REALLY knows how much money they have, at least in Canada)
• Shane H. Brady, LL.B. (and CBBE: Cinnamon Bun Baker Extraordinaire!)
• …and all the other (Ken) Little people, the cleaners, the drywallers, the plumbers, the floor refinishers, order desk clerks, and the rest of the Nowhere Men who become pseudo-important — albeit dysfunctional — elders within the confines of The Watch Tower Society… men that fight to protect their little fiefdom with all the sincerity of a September 11th Terrorist.

~Quotes, of the “Once I Had A Web Site, Made it Run On Time… Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?” class

Originally posted on jehovahs-witness.com