Yelm NV News: JZK and McCarthy Settle New Zealand Lawsuit
Posted: Sat May 24, 2014 2:24 pm
JZK, Inc. and McCarthy Settle New Zealand Lawsuit NV News
Posted: Friday, May 23, 2014 4:24 pm
By Nisqually Valley News YelmOnline.com
JZK, Inc. and McCarthy Settle New Zealand Lawsuit
A trial in New Zealand set for next Monday has been canceled after David McCarthy agreed to a permanent restraining order to stop releasing video recordings of information and techniques taught at Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment, including controversial videos.
“We have never disputed David’s right to lawfully criticize,” said Mike Wright, legal affairs manager for JZK, Inc. “We recognize that not everyone agrees with our philosophical model or our training. It is not meant to be for everyone.”
JZ Knight purports to channel a 35,000-year-old Lemurian warrior named Ramtha, and has tens of thousands of “students.” Her school is located just west of Yelm city limits.
McCarthy, a former Yelm resident, has been critical of RSE, including posting parts of several videos of Ramtha on YouTube and other Internet sites.
JZK, Inc., had filed a complaint on copyright and contract violations in New Zealand, where McCarthy now resides.
“I want to be clear that we offered David a settlement because in his Amended Statement of Defence in mid-March he admitted to editing our original videos, uploading them to the Internet, and he admitted that he had threatened to disseminate more,” Wright said. “Since these were the very points we would have had to prove at trial, his admissions proved our case for us. So we offered a settlement in which David agreed to a permanent injunction and he agreed to delete and destroy his copies of our videos.”
JZK, Inc., alleged in court documents filed in New Zealand that McCarthy violated a Conditions of Participation agreement he signed in 1993 when he released videos of JZ Knight, while purportedly channeling 35,000-year-old warrior Ramtha, making disparaging remarks about Catholics, Mexicans, gays and Jewish people.
The videos were recorded from a live video stream at the school intended for paying students. The school states the comments in the YouTube video were taken out of context.
The agreement students follow when joining RSE states, in part, “You are not authorized to teach what you learn here to others. It shall be a condition on your admission to the School that you shall not, directly or indirectly, teach others the information and/or techniques that you learn here; nor shall you assist or facilitate other persons in their teachings of these matters to others.”
The school recently won a lawsuit in Thurston County Superior Court against another former student, Virginia Coverdale, for allegedly violating a similar agreement. Coverdale also released a video of Knight on YouTube.
McCarthy runs a website, http://www.enlightenmefree.com, that alleges RSE is a cult.
JZK, Inc., claims in court documents McCarthy began posting videos, which included footage from RSE’s website or from VHS tapes, to YouTube as early as Sept. 10, 2012, under the username “enlightenmefree.”
JZK, Inc. contends it never gave McCarthy, or any other RSE student, permission to use its videos and claims McCarthy intends to further disseminate RSE materials.
The company also claims McCarthy violated its copyright, stating, “Mr. McCarthy has committed the acts of infringement … in flagrant disregard of the plaintiffs’ copyright to deliberately cause damage to the plaintiffs.”
McCarthy claimed the video segments were permitted under the fair use doctrine, an exception to copyright law that allows the limited use of copyrighted material without permission for certain uses.
JZK, Inc. and McCarthy Settle New Zealand Lawsuit - Nisqually Valley News: Local News
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