Kiwi man wins legal battle with mormon church over a family affair

An Auckland man has seen off a legal challenge from the giant mormon church over the trademark for his family location internet service, with the Court of Appeal today ruling against the religious organisation.

The Court of Appeal decision brings a close to seven years of legal wrangling between Robert Sintes and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints over the use of the words ‘family search’.

The church operates a website at familysearch.org which offers free family history, family tree and genealogy records and research, but came down hard on Mr Sintes soon after he launched his own family contact service in 2000.

Mr Sintes first ran into trouble with the organisation when he launched the New Zealand Family Tracing Service, and when he filed an application for a trademark incorporating the words ‘family search’ in 2005, mormon company Intellectual Reserve filed an opposition to his claim.

Four years later and after being dismissed in the High Court, the Court of Appeal has also found in favour of Mr Sintes, saying his use of the mark would not indicate a connection in the course of trade with Intellectual Reserve.

Although Intellectual Reserve could still take the case to the Supreme Court, Mr Sintes told NBR that as far as he was concerned, the matter was “by and large” settled.

He originally started his service after finally getting in touch with family members in the late 1990s, after he had lost contact with them, following a move to New Zealand as a child in 1949.

Mr Sintes said he set up his family search service in an attempt to share his own experiences with other people looking for lost family members, but had no inkling of the legal battle that would result.

“I was just looking to offer a social service when I was suddenly attacked by the third largest religious organization in the world. I was just trying to help people, driven by my own separation from my family after the war, and I can’t even begin to describe what it felt to be confronted with agencies that tried to destroy my efforts instead of help.”

While he estimated he has reunited about 200 families since launching his service, Mr Sintes said there was no money to be made in the endeavour, but that had not stopped the mormon organization from spending an estimated half a million dollars fighting his trademark.

“People who have contributed funds to this group have had their money wasted in this case. I just feel sad for the people who have had their money wasted in fruitless exercises like this.”

Mr Sintes said the task of reuniting familles, and finding the time, resources and emotional strength to do so, was hard enough, and seven years of legal hassle did not help.

With the case consuming both time and money, Mr Sintes said Intellectual Reserve were grasping at straws, but using the “weight of their purse” to pursue the issue.

“These words we have been arguing about are among the top 2% of commonly used words in the English language. They just have an endless supply of other people’s money, which they then go and waste in the pursuing and corralling of common words.”

He said New Zealand was not the only territory targeted by the church in this way.

“They have gone around the world, threatening others to give up domain names and forcing them out purely by weight of money. People have given up domain names they are legally and morally entitled to.

“They attempted the same with me, Originally, they tried to take my domain name, and when they abandoned that, they tried to take the trademark. They might have got away with it, but they had pushed me to the point where I would not give in and it feels good to have the court back me up.”

Typical of the Mormon Church: From the article, according to the person the Mormon church sued: “These words we have been arguing about are among the top 2% of commonly used words in the English language. They just have an endless supply of other people’s money, which they then go and waste in the pursuing and corralling of common words.” He said New Zealand was not the only territory targeted by the church in this way. “They have gone around the world, threatening others to give up domain names and forcing them out purely by weight of money. People have given up domain names they are legally and morally entitled to..."

Mr. Sintes of New Zealand starts this service to reunite separated families in 2000. Then johnny-come-lately legal heavyweight, the Mormon church, pounces on him when he applies for a trademark five years later as the church is now attempting usurp exclusive usage of the phrase "family search" as one of their key proselytizing enterprises...(the church often leads with a "Family Search Center" all over the world -- many times before they even open a mission base of operations)

The Lds church is the great usurper: Christians have been called "Christians" going back to the book of Acts era in the first century post-Christ. Joseph Smith comes along, talks smack of Christians...labels them all "corrupt" and apostate and holding to creeds of "abomination" in his very first vision...then as the years go by, later generations of Mormons come and want to usurp the name "Christian" for themselves -- as if it was their exclusive property...19-20 centuries post-facto!

Talking about Kiwis and the Morg...

Mormonism is based in part on Freemasonry...

Some New Zealand masons got themselves arrested

and Joey Smith practiced sorcery

Were they mormons ???
________________________________________________

NZ Mason jailed over sorcery claims

A New Zealand man spent a “wretched” night in a Fiji prison cell after frightened residents and police raided his Freemasons meeting, suspecting witchcraft and sorcery.

The man, who didn’t want to be named, blamed “dopey village people” for the raid in which 14 members of the Freemasons Lodge of Lautoka were herded into police cars and jailed for the night.

Police also seized lodge paraphernalia, including wands, compasses and a skull.

Yesterday, the man told the Herald that Tuesday night’s meeting was “interrupted by a banging on the door and there were these village people and the police demanding to be let in”.

Nothing sinister had been going on but “such is the nature of life in Fiji” they were taken to a nearby police station, he said.

The Masons were told nothing of the allegations against them, but were warned that under Fiji’s emergency decree, they could be jailed for 48 hours without charge.

The lodge secretary showed police a copy of the permit allowing the meeting, but was told the permit was not the problem.

The commanding police officer then disappeared, leaving the 14 men to spend the night in the cells.

“It was hot and wasn’t very comfortable, because there was nowhere to lie down,” the man said. “The officers who were guarding us were pleasant, though, chatting away to us.”

At 8.30am yesterday, an officer let them go, saying the Prime Minister’s office had ordered they be released.

The man said he was outraged that overly suspicious villagers had been able to convince police to “totally abuse their power”.

He said the police should have told the villagers to calm down.

“The stupidity is overwhelming. Virtually unlimited power is placed in the hands of bungling police, who have no judgment or sense of balance, so, at the whim of an uneducated villager, 14 senior members of society had to spend a night locked up.”

A police spokesman said the men were arrested because police had been tipped off that a meeting was being held and there were “some strange goings-on”.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10584756

When I was in NZ in December I kept getting referred to the mormons...

They think they have cornered the market on “family search”

People refer to them as though they are the greatest thing since sliced cheese for genealogical research..

I told all those libraries, archives, museums etc that in the US we do not rely on the mormons because they are not accurate and do not care to be and that their so called “family search” was just to get lists of names to dead dunk...

They were surprised...

I told them to ask for sources from the mormons and to get 2nd and 3rd sources from elsewhere..

When I told them that in all of my research, with my many generational family trees in all directions, none of my great sourced info had come from the mormons, they were astonished that I could have done all I did WITHOUT THE MORMONS...

How was that possible ???

The Lds church is the great usurper: Christians have been called "Christians" going back to the book of Acts era in the first century post-Christ. Joseph Smith comes along, talks smack of Christians...labels them all "corrupt" and apostate and holding to creeds of "abomination" in his very first vision...then as the years go by, later generations of Mormons come and want to usurp the name "Christian" for themselves -- as if it was their exclusive property...19-20 centuries post-facto

On another site: "Marie Osmond heads to the Christian Retailing org to peddle her inspirational CD and receives a lot of heave ho for her being Mormon. Many comment they would not stock inspirational songs like "How Great Thou Art" from a Mormon because Mormonism is not appropriate Christian or not Christian at all to be stocked in a Christian store."

Link

Hey, do you suppose that Christians can sue the mormons for trademark infringement? It's interesting how the mormon church "appropriates" any old thing they want, and in turn sue the sox off someone for daring to use commonly known phrases as though they have exclusive rights to them.

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