Moxon & Kobrin
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Moxon & Kobrin are a law firm located in Los Angeles, California, consisting of Kendrick Moxon, Helena Kobrin, and Ava Paquette.
The firm is best known for being attorneys for the Church of Scientology, the partners being Church staff members, and as such have come under considerable criticism. The firm was previously Bowles & Moxon, until partner Tim Bowles left to become a solo practitioner in Pasadena. The firm was then known as Moxon & Bartilson, until partner Laurie Bartilson concentrating on the management of the acting career of her daughter Lynsey Bartilson in 1998.[1]
Before becoming Scientology's lead in-house attorney, Kendrick Moxon worked in the Church's Guardian's Office (now known as the Office of Special Affairs) under Mary Sue Hubbard. During Operation Snow White, in which eleven Scientologists pleaded guilty or were convicted in federal court; Moxon was listed as an "unindicted co-conspirator"[2] for providing false handwriting samples to the FBI[3] in response to a Grand Jury subpoena. [4]
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[edit] Notable cases
- In 1994, Helena Kobrin and the lawfirm Bowles & Moxon were ordered to pay sanctions of $17,775 for filing a frivolous complaint in federal court against Frank Gerbode, a former Scientologist.[5]
- In 1995 Helena Kobrin caused controversy when she tried to get the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology shut down.
- In 2001 Ava Paquette, representing the firm, threatened litigation against an internet service provider called Westhost for allowing the domain slatkinfraud.com to display an image of the Scientology cross on their site. The Scientology cross consists of a cross identical to the Christian one, with the addition of four spires or twinkles of light emanating from its center, or an "X" superimposed over it, depending on the rendering, and depending on one's interpretation. Although slatkinfraud's webmaster, David S. Touretzky, maintained that the symbol was covered under "Fair Use" in U.S. copyright law, the ISP gave in to Moxon & Kobrin's cease-and-desist letters.
- In 2002 Moxon & Kobrin served notice to search engine Google, demanding that Operation Clambake (www.xenu.net) be removed from their search listings. They alleged that the site "contains literally hundreds of our clients' copyrighted works and federally registered trademarks." [6] Among the specific Church documents they objected to xenu.net's coverage of were those dealing with Dead Agenting, Fair Game, Security Check Children, Xenu, Helatrobus, and various other Scientology Space Opera doctrines of ancient alien civilizations. [7] Google temporarily complied but eventually restored most of xenu.net's pages back to their results. However, many pages objected to by Scientology are still censored from Google today. The site has restructured much of the content to give as many quotations from the documents as possible while still remaining within Fair Use of the copyrighted material. [8]
- In 2005 the firm contacted Glen Stollery, webmaster of a site called scienTOMogy, which parodies Tom Cruise's involvement with the Church. A letter was sent demanding Stollery shut down the site and transfer ownership to the Church, threatening him with a $100,000 lawsuit. Moxon and Kobrin stated that "ScienTOMogy" would cause a likelihood of confusion with "Scientology," violating the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. 1125(a). Stollery has refused to comply.
- In 2006 Ava Paquette sent a cease-and-desist letter to YTMND asking Max Goldberg, owner of the site to remove allegedly infringing content uploaded by the users of YTMND. Goldberg refused to remove any content related to Scientology, which sparked a fad of anti-Scientology sites on YTMND. [9]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Laurie Bartilson: About myself
- ^ United States of America [ USA ] v. Mary Sue Hubbard, et. al.. 1979a. "Response to Informal Bill of Particulars." United States District Court: Columbia . No. 78-401. January 11. p. 7. As cited in Kent, Stephen A.; Krebs, Theresa (1988). "When Scholars Know Sin: Alternative Religions and Their Academic Supporters". Skeptic 6 (3): 36-44. Retrieved on 2007-03-04.
- ^ Ortega, Tony. "Double Crossed", Phoenix New Times, New Times Media, 1999-12-23. Retrieved on March 4, 2007.
- ^ "Both sides agreed in the 'Stipulation of Evidence' that ... he [Moxon] had stated that ... the nine pages of appended handwriting were those of Mr. Meisner. However ... Mr. Moxon had been directed to supply the government with fake handwriting samples in lieu of Mr. Meisner's true handwriting exemplars." United States of America [ USA ] v. Mary Sue Hubbard, et. al.. 1979b. "Stipulation of Evidence." United States District Court: District of Columbia . Criminal No. 78-401. October 25. p. 212-214. As cited in Kent, Stephen A.; Krebs, Theresa (1988). "When Scholars Know Sin: Alternative Religions and Their Academic Supporters". Skeptic 6 (3): 36-44. Retrieved on 2007-03-04.
- ^ Religious Technology Center, Inc. v. Frank Gerbode, Case number: CV 93-2226 AWT [1]
- ^ Cease and Desist letter, Chilling Effects, Google Asked to Delist Scientology Critics (#1)
- ^ Chart of Xenu claimed infringement, Notice 232, hosted at Chilling Effects
- ^ HCO BULLETINS ETC., Operation Clambake.
- ^ Ava Paquette Cease and Desist letter, to YTMND, from Church of Scientology.
[edit] External links
- Moxon & Kobrin's cease and desist letter to Scientomogy.info
- Correspondence between Ava Paquette and slatkinfraud.com
- Fair Game: Scientology harassing/hijacking Berry? Hamburg good news. (Graham Berry)
