© 2001 Urantia Foundation
© 2001 The Urantia Book Fellowship
A monthly News Bulletin from Urantia Foundation to IUA Officers, Foundation Office Managers, Coordinating Committee members, Foundation Representatives, Translators, and other readers for the purpose of disseminating this information to readers in local areas.
Het Urantia Boek, the Dutch translation of The Urantia Book, made its first public appearance last month at a “Living Naturally” show in Antwerp, Belgium. Johan and Karuna Vandewalle-Leys, who assist Urantia Foundation’s Belgian Representative, Francois Dupont, and represented him at the recent Representatives’ meeting in New York, organized the booth on short notice and against many odds. As Karuna and Johan said in their report “When man goes in partnership with God, extraordinary things become ordinary and the ordinary things become extraordinary.” This was their first experience in manning a booth of this Urantia kind and it was the first time the Dutch translation had been made available to the public in this way. It was a faith adventure for them—all the logistics fell into place at the last minute and the book was well received. Following is an extract from their report on their expenences:
Before we begin with important works Johan and I always turn to the Father and ask Him for guidance and help. He never fails us. Also throughout the fair we felt His protection. We had to use our imagination to create a simple but nice booth… My son was willing to help us out and arranged for an illuminated news trailer which he programmed: “Changing the world one book at a time - The Urantia Book” in three languages.
The first remark we heard over and over was “Never heard of…” “Never seen this book before.” Those who got interested would always start with the same question: “Who wrote this?” One thing we both noticed about all those who bought the book was that they had an openness and a warmth about them. About 170 people have taken the Dutch leaflet which we created together with the English “Description” and “Selected Excerpts” brochures, saying they would study it more closely at home.
Moscow:
The St. Petersburg Foundation office manager and volunteers presented the Russian translation of The Urantia Book at the Moscow Book Fair in Russia from September 6-11. The booth received around 250 visitors, most of whom viewed The Urantia Book for the first time. Much interest was shown, many questions were answered, some interesting discussions were held with people adept in the Bible teachings, quite a few books were sold, and valuable contacts were made with booksellers.
New Delhi:
The Foundation displayed The Urantia Book again at the New Delhi Book Fair in India from August 12-20. Once again a tremendous amount of interest was shown in the book. Hundreds of people visited the booth and many books were sold. Lengthy discussions took place throughout the 9 days as Hindus, Moslems, Sikhs, and Christians hungry for new truth and knowledge delved into the book and were amazed by what they found.
Three study groups were held with new readers—some of whom had bought the book at either of the two previous book fairs and were interested in studying with others. Additional contacts were made with booksellers and contacts made with distributors from previous visits were reinforced.
Books continue to be placed in libraries throughout India.
Vancouver:
The Urantia Foundation office in Vancouver, British Columbia, exhibited The Urantia Book at the Canadian Booksellers Association’s annual Convention and Tradeshow in Toronto, Ontario June 16-19, 2000. This is Canada’s largest and most definitive book industry event and the Foundation established a first time presence. The booth at the CBA tradeshow was constructed and staffed with the muchappreciated assistance of the local IUA and readers in Ontario. All volunteers had a great time discussing the revelation with bookstore owners and employees, chain store buyers, distributors, authors and librarians.
From time-to-time there were a few eccentric individuals that stopped by to help make the challenge of it all that much more interesting. The personal contacts established during the tradeshow are helping to create a higher profile for The Urantia Book in Canada. Reed Exhibition Cos. Inc., one of the world’s preeminent owners and operators of book industry trade fairs, will take charge of future events beginning next year. These new world-class tradeshows will create greater exposure of The Urantia Book and future opportunities for the Canadian Urantia Foundation to place the book in libraries and bookstores throughout Canada.
Québec:
Last spring The Urantia Book and Urantia Foundation were visible for the first time at the Quebec Book Fair held from April 12 to 16, 2000. The estimated number of visitors was about 40,000.
Quebec Office Manager Colette Pelletier commented: “The experience was great. Introducing The Urantia Book to people is always fascinating. Some people were curious about the word “Urantia” and others were threatened by another group talking about God and religion. We were surprised to count how many people had heard about or read The Urantia Book in the 1970’s and didn’t know about any organization affiliated with the book. To some, we gave them back the taste to read it again. Even if the sales were small, we’re convinced that we planted seeds for future harvest.”
Fifteen volunteers participated in the book fair. Our thanks to all who helped man the Foundation’s booth and work to bring an awareness of The Urantia Book to the people of Quebec.
Urantia Foundation has appointed Kathleen Swadling to succeed Seppo Kanerva as Foundation Representative Manager. Kathleen, along with her husband, Trevor, has been managing the Foundation’s Australian Office since 1992. She has been a steadfast supporter and worked closely with Urantia Foundation since 1989, recently spending three years in Chicago as Development Coordinator and Community Relations.
Seppo resigned his position as Representative Manager due to his increasingly heavy workload as Translation Manager. He currently oversees a team of more than sixty translators at work on nineteen translation efforts. We are very grateful to Seppo for all the hard work he has invested in managing and coordinating the Foundation Representative activities. He was instrumental in laying the groundwork for the Representative program.
There are now 23 Foundation Representatives assisting with the seeding of the revelation in various countries and regions around the world.
Foundation Representative operations will now be organized under the Reader Service Department of Urantia Foundation. This reflects the fact that the bulk of a Representative’s work is to foster study groups and work with readers on other socialization aspects of the teachings of The Urantia Book.
Kathleen will work closely with James Woodward, Manager of Reader Services, and Bob Solone, Spanish Liaison, in the head office. The three of them will work together to ensure that local readers receive the highest level of support and services that Urantia Foundation can provide. (Note: Kathleen is also back at the helm of this publication and will serve as Community Relations Coordinator as well as Representative Manager.) We are very confident in Kathleen’s ability to direct this expanding international network of dedicated volunteers.
The October 2000 addition of Dutch and Korean language translations of Urantia Foundation’s website means this resource is now available to the peoples of all seven languages in which there are published translations English, French, Finnish, Spanish, Russian, Dutch and Korean. From Urantia Foundation’s home page, a visitor may select which language to view. Each language has information about The Urantia Book, and the full text of the book itself is now available online in all of the published languages except the newest—Korean.
In addition, readers of the Spanish text, El Libro de Urantia, now have advanced search capabilities using the search engine that until now has been available only for the English text.
We have witnessed a three-fold increase in web traffic on the site over the past 16 months since its redesign. Visitors now access approximately 90,000 web pages per month to view information about The Urantia Book.
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma has issued a Scheduling Order in the Michael Foundation, Inc. v. Urantia Foundation lawsuit. The Court has set the case for jury trial in April 2001. The parties are permitted until March 1, 2001, to conduct discovery, a pretrial fact-finding process that includes requests for production of documents, written interrogatories, requests for admissions of facts, and depositions of witnesses. The parties must provide one another with a final list of witnesses and exhibits by February 1, 2001. Any Motions for Summary Judgment must be filed by March 1, 2001.
Michael Foundation has already served Urantia Foundation with requests for production of documents, and Urantia Foundation is compiling its response. Likewise, Urantia Foundation has served Michael Foundation and Harry McMullan III with requests for production of documents and requests for admissions of facts.
In order to conclude discovery within the time frame allotted by the Court, Urantia Foundation has also begun scheduling depositions of some of the witnesses whom Michael Foundation indicates it may rely upon at trial according to its preliminary witness list. Each party may depose ten witnesses during the discovery period which concludes March 1, 2001.
A deposition is an out-of-court statement under oath where the attorneys for both sides are present with the witness and are permitted to ask questions. The entire process is recorded by a court reporter. Depositions are typically conducted in a conference room at a court reporter’s office near the residence of the witness. A subpoena is served on the witness to advise them of the date, time and place where their deposition will be held and may specify that they bring with them documents in their possession related to the case. A deposition or document subpoena is not a lawsuit. It is simply a tool for parties to obtain discovery lawfully from non-parties during the discovery period in a case.
This case arises from the unlicensed publication by Harry McMullan III’s Michael Foundation of most of Part IV of The Urantia Book under the title Jesus—A New Revelation. Michael Foundation filed suit requesting the Court to declare the copyright in The Urantia Book invalid or, alternatively, to rule that their publication does not infringe the copyright. Urantia Foundation is requesting the Court to enter judgment in favor of Urantia Foundation against Harry McMullan III and Michael Foundation for willful violations of copyright law; the anti-cybersquatting consumer protection act (for registering Internet domain names that violate Urantia Foundation’s trademark rights); and the unfair and deceptive trade practices act. Urantia Foundation is requesting an injunction barring Mr. McMullan and Michael Foundation from further violation of the copyright and trademarks as well as monetary damages prescribed by law, punitive damages, and the attorneys’ tees and costs incurred in connection with this case.
As the case progresses, we will issue periodic updates. In the meantime, questions may be directed to the head office in Chicago at +1 773 525 3319.
As promised in the last issue of Newsflash, we reprint below in their entirety the most recent correspondence in the continuing dialogue between Urantia Foundation and the Fellowship regarding the Fellowship’s copyright and trademark infringements.
The Fellowship
Attention: The Fellowship’s Foundation Relations Committee
Avi Dogim, President
Steve Dreier, Secretary
Marvin Gawryn
Marilynn Kulieke
Dan Massey
529 West Wrightwood Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60614
Dear Avi, Steve, Marvin, Marilynn, and Dan:
A smaller, lighter, less expensive book; more translations published; more translations in progress; the book on audio cassette tape; the book on CD-ROM; distribution of the book through large national and international distributors; generous gift book programs for libraries, prisons, and those unable to afford books both here and abroad; cooperation with the Fellowship regarding referral of new readers; liberal permission to quote policies; liberal policies permitting personal use of the marks; meetings with readers; the inclusion of two members of the Fellowship’s Executive Committee on the Foundation’s Board of Trustees—these and other actions on the part of Urantia Foundation, we hoped, would help to unify and stabilize the community of readers of The Urantia Book in general and the Fellowship and Foundation’s relations in particular.
Notwithstanding that we see many IUA and Fellowship groups working together locally, we observe less progress toward unity by the Fellowship’s leaders. Specifically, the Fellowship’s website still contains numerous infringements of the Foundation’s copyright and marks in addition to a considerable and expanding quantity of “anti-Foundation information,” as a former member of the Fellowship’s Executive Committee recently put it. This latter fact is particularly disappointing given that the Trustees and a delegation of Fellowship representatives agreed on January 11, 1997, that the leaders and staffs of the two organizations would not speak disparagingly in public about the other organization and its leaders.
When the Fellowship put the English text of The Urantia Book on its website without the knowledge or consent of Urantia Foundation, we tried to work with you by offering the Fellowship a license. ln response to the Fellowship’s continued infringements of the copyright and trademarks, Urantia Foundation has engaged in discussions with Fellowship officers for over three years in an effort to reach agreements which would render the Fellowship’s website legal and infringement free. Our desire has been to amicably address the copyright and trademark issues so that the Fellowship can continue its work without interfering with the duties entrusted to Urantia Foundation “to perpetually preserve inviolate the text of The Urantia Book” and “to retain the absolute and unconditional control of … the printing and reproduction of The Urantia Book and any translation thereof.” Whether or not you agree with the methods employed by the Trustees in carrying out this part of our trust, we request your respect and cooperation, as we endeavor to respect your efforts and to cooperate with you. After all, the Fellowship and the Foundation share common goals:
2.1. PRINCIPAL OBJECT [of Urantia Foundation]: The object for which this Foundation is created is the promotion, improvement, and expansion among the peoples of the world of the comprehension and understanding of Cosmology and the relation of the planet on which we live to the Universe, of the genesis and destiny of Man and his relation to God, and of the true teachings of Jesus Christ; and for the inculcation and encouragement of the realization and appreciation of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man—in order to increase and enhance the comfort, happiness, and well being of Man, as an individual and as a member of society, through the fostering of a religion, a philosophy, and a cosmology which are commensurate with Man’s intellectual and cultural development. (Declaration of Trust Creating Urantia Foundation, Jan. 11, 1950.)
Of course, these goals were later incorporated into the Constitution of the Fellowship:
The purposes of THE FELLOWSHIP are the study and dissemination of the teachings of THE URANTIA BOOK; the promotion, improvement, and expansion among the peoples of the world of the comprehension and understanding of Cosmology and the relation of the planet on which we live to the Universe, of the genesis and destiny of Man and his relation to God, and of the teachings of Jesus; and the inculcation and encouragement of the realization and appreciation of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man—in order to increase and enhance the comfort, happiness, and well-being of Man, as an individual and as a member of society, by fostering a religion, a philosophy, and a cosmology which are commensurate with Man’s intellectual and cultural development, through the medium of fraternal association, ever obedient and subservient to the laws of this country and of all countries wherein THE FELLOWSHIP may extend.
We respectfully request once again that the leadership of the Fellowship take positive action to correct the legal infringements that have repeatedly been discussed. You have had adequate time to respond to our requests and to those of the team that we appointed to work with you concerning these matters. We have been told that you have recently added some additional infringing material to your website. This is discouraging given the seriousness of this matter, given the delicate and sensitive nature of the relations between the Fellowship and the Foundation, and given the January 11, 1997, and October 3, 1997, Fellowship-Foundation agreements to be respectful and cooperative.
Regarding a meeting between the Board of Trustees and the Fellowship’s Foundation Relations Committee, we encourage such a meeting as a means to discuss matters of mutual interest and especially as a means to effect unification and stabilization of our young movement. As for our willingness to discuss legal issues with your committee, we feel more comfortable leaving that duty to our carefully chosen team comprised of Trustee Georges Michelson-Dupont; Seppo Kanerva, the international head of the IUA and the Manager of Translations; Tonia Baney, the Foundation’s Executive Director; Nancy Shaffer, a member of the Coordinating Committee and the Millennium Initiative Committee; and Steve Hill, an intellectual properties lawyer.
Avi, when you and Marvin met with Tonia, Georges, and Seppo in New York, you said that your negotiating team has been empowered to make decisions binding on the Fellowship. We hope that you choose, by October 1, to have a legal and infringement-free website. You and your team now have the power to make the decision to end trademark and copyright disputes between our organizations. Your decision could lay the groundwork and set the example for peace and cooperation in our young movement.
We reiterate that we would gladly meet with the Fellowship, but we would not want to do so without including our IDA brothers and sisters, whose organization, like yours, is so dedicated to the study and spread of the teachings of the Book. As Trustees, we are more concerned with publishing, translating, and protecting the text. To be productive, any meeting with a membership organization such as the Fellowship must include representatives from the organization that works interdependently with Urantia Foundation toward the goals set forth in the Declaration of Trust. We are sure you understand. For practical as well as political reasons, we must include representatives from IUA. Excluding them would be insensitive on our part, to say the least. If you feel more comfortable, you may want to expand your team to, say, ten persons.
Perhaps one day, there will be a unification of the membership organizations dedicated to the dissemination of the teachings. If this is the will of our Father, may we pray and strive for such a day.
Sincerely,
The Trustees of Urantia Foundation
Kwan Choi, Georges Michelson-Dupont, Gard Jameson, Richard Keeler, Mo Siegel
The Trustees
Urantia Foundation
533 Diversey Parkway
Chicago, IL 60614
Gentlemen:
Our committee has been appointed by the Executive Committee of The Urantia Book Fellowship, as directed by the General Council, and in response to a resolution of the 2000 Triennial Delegate Assembly, with full authority to address and to resolve any and all aspects of Fellowship-Foundation relationships.
We have reviewed the numerous complaints presented to our initial team at their 8 April meeting with Mr. Michelson-Dupont’s team among ourselves, with the General Council, and with counsel. On the basis of these discussions, we are pleased to offer the following concessions to Urantia Foundation in resolution of the issues presented at that time. These offers include both actions our counsel has advised us need to be taken, direction from the General Council, and other actions we feel are in the best interests of harmony and unity within the Urantia movement and the community of Urantian believers.
We offer to maintain current modifications of the Table of Contents to Part IV on our website to address the Michelson-Dupont team’s initially expressed concerns. (We have been advised in Ms. Shaffer’s letter that these changes are satisfactory.)
We offer to make changes in notices of copyright claims on our website and other explanatory material to make clear that, to the extent any copyright exists to the Fellowship in the paper-section-paragraph reference system, or in any of the formatting conventions used, or in any hyperlinked references in any of the files of any translation, printing, or edition of the text of The Urantia Book appearing on our website, we place it in the public domain and do not claim copyright. We intend by this to accord to Urantia Foundation and all others equal rights to use this material.
We offer to assure that all downloadable files of the text of The Urantia Book on our website contain appropriate notice of Urantia Foundation copyright claims.
We offer to expand our website to present all Urantia Foundation’s translations, printings, and editions of The Urantia Book, when available in usable digital form and subject to the availability of our volunteer staff to complete formatting for acceptable web presentation.
We offer to continue our present practice of requiring all individuals accessing portions of our website containing independently translated portions of The Urantia Book to register and obtain a personal ID and password.
We offer to assure that all translations of The Urantia Book on our website carry appropriate notices of Urantia Foundation copyright claims.
We propose that, as part of this settlement, the Foundation will license the Fellowship to present the works of William S. Sadler on its website, in English and in translation to any other language, without restriction. In return, the Fellowship agrees to assert no copyright claim in the presentation of this material. or its original translations, to place any Fellowship copyright interests that may exist in the public domain, and to make the data files supporting the website presentation freely available to Urantia Foundation to use at it sees fit.
We reiterate the apology to Urantia Foundation issued by our initial discussion team for our oversight m failing to include a proper notice of Urantia Foundation copyright claims in certain issues of the Fellowship Herald magazine. It is the policy of The Urantia Book Fellowship to place such a notice of the Foundation’s copyright claims in all its publications. We have clearly communicated this policy to our Publications Committee, and do not anticipate further problems.
We offer to retitle “The Illustrated Urantia Book” on our website as “Illustrations for The Urantia Book” or such other descriptive term as may be mutually acceptable and to maintain a notice of Urantia Foundation’s copyright claims on these pages of our website.
We offer to suspend solicitation of translators of The Urantia Book on our website until the Foundation’s copyright claims lapse under applicable law or treaty.
We offer to retain the current version of our hyperlink to Michael Foundation, which refers only to Mr. McMullan’s Index, so long as the copyright status of Jesus: A New Revelation remains in litigation.
We offer to place a disclaimer on any documents on our website considered anti-Foundation, which may be identified at a future time through discussion with Urantia Foundation Trustees.
We offer to maintain and strengthen our current disclaimers of affiliation with Urantia Foundation, including but not limited to disclaimers related to our Urantianet service, to show the Trustees where these notices appear, and to make reasonable modification in their presentation, if deemed necessary.
We offer to add to the page of our website that offers The Urantia Book for sale, a notice to the effect that the Fellowship is not currently a publisher or distributor of the book and that the book prices shown on our website are from vendors other than The Urantia Book Fellowship.
We offer to delete the metatags “Foundation” and “International Association” from our website. We further offer to limit use of metatags “Urantia Foundation” and “International Urantia Association” to pages on which news or opinion is presented about those organizations.
We offer to direct the RealName “Urantia” to a separate, anonymous website which offers the choice of a direct link to Urantia Foundation or to The Urantia Book Fellowship. We make this offer because it is our understanding that current RealNames policy precludes the transfer or re-registration of a word like “Urantia” as a RealName. We believe it is in the best interests of the Urantia movement as a whole to preserve this functionality and therefore offer to share it with Urantia Foundation.
We offer to continue our current practice of not displaying Urantia Foundation’s translator’s agreement on our website.
We additionally offer to meet with the full Board of Trustees of Urantia Foundation, with or without legal counsel to both parties present, to discuss these and other matters and to arrive at a final, absolute, and conclusive resolution of all issues raised by the Foundation. If this is not acceptable to the Trustees, we suggest selecting a mediator and participating in formal mediation.
We agree with the Trustees that the Fellowship and the Foundation share common goals and look forward to working together, with mutual cooperation and respect, towards these goals.
Sincerely,
The Foundation Negotiating Team of The Urantia Book Fellowship
Avi Dogim
Marvin Gawryn
David Kantor
Marilynn Kulieke
Dan Massey
The Fellowship
529 Wrightwood Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60614
Dear Avi, Marilyn, Marvin, David and Dan,
Thank you for your letter dated September 21, 2000, concerning copyright and trademark infringements on the Fellowship’s website.
We want you to know that we value many of the Fellowship’s efforts to disseminate the teachings of The Urantia Book. We would like to have a cooperative relationship with the Fellowship. We hope that you will take seriously our desire to promote improved relations, and that you will join us in this effort.
We have reviewed the offers made in your letter, and the Trustees and the Foundation’s negotiating team have again reviewed the Fellowship’s website. We cannot see that any meaningful changes have been made on the Fellowship’s website to render it infringement free since the April 8, 2000 meeting between the Foundation’s negotiating team and the Fellowship’s first negotiating team. Our apparent failure to obtain your cooperation saddens us.
During the last few years, we have observed much healing between the Fellowship, the International Urantia Association, and the Urantia Foundation, particularly among individuals. Many of our brothers and sisters in the Fellowship are working cooperatively with the Foundation. We hope for such cooperation at all levels.
We would suggest the following:
We pray that we may find resolution to our differences, and that there be unity in our young movement and cooperation between our organizations.
Sincerely,
The Trustees of Urantia Foundation
The Negotiation Team
Trustees
Urantia Foundation
533 Diversey Parkway
Chicago IL 60614
Dear Richard, Georges, Kwan, Gard and Mo,
Thank you for your letter of November 13.
We find it encouraging that you are willing to meet with representatives of the Fellowship to resolve the remaining website related issues. We regret that you do not find the numerous changes we have made in response to your complaints meaningful. As you lmow, in addition to making those changes, we have also indicated to you our willingness to make additional changes as part of a final negotiated settlement between our two organizations. We hope to reach such a settlement in the near future.
We find your suggestion that Richard, Avi and others observe discussions between Steve Hill and Ross Plourde in Oklahoma City on December 13 puzzling, since it comes on the heels of conversations between Avi and both Richard and Gard on this subject. At the conclusion of these conversations, it was agreed that we allow the attorneys to hold their talks unencumbered by the presence of “observers.” We fully expect, as we know you do, that the attorneys will ably represent their respective clients’ interests during their discussions and will subsequently make recommendations on the basis of which we may be able to move forward toward resolving our differences.
We look forward to meeting with you in order to reach a final settlement. We propose that our meeting be scheduled after the attorneys have had their discussions and have brought forward their recommendations. At that point, we will be in position to jointly draft an agenda and to determine specifically who should participate in the meeting.
Sincerely,
The Fellowship Negotiating Team
Avi Dogim, Chair
Marvin Gawryn
David Kantor
Marilynn Kulieke
Dan Massey
Note: On December 13 legal counsel for The Fellowship and Urantia Foundation met in Oklahoma. Communications are continuing and it is our hope the Fellowship’s Executive Committee will agree to meet with the Trustees and members of the negotiating team and the IUA in order to resolve these issues and move forward cooperatively toward our common goals.