Scientology cease and desist

[DomainBuyerBroker]

I just got a C&D from someone (claiming) to represent the Scientology trademark. The email came into my spam folder and that sender used an AOL email address. The sender used a law firm like company name (Lawyer and Lawyer) but did not say she was a lawyer.

It goes like this:

"Our office represents Religious Technology Center ("RTC"), the owner of the trademark and service mark "SCIENTOLOGY," which is registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office under registration numbers 1,775,441; 1,540,928; 1,342,353; 1,329,474; 1,318,717; 1,306,997; and 898018. It is also registered in hundreds of countries throughout the world. We also represent the Church of Scientology International ("CSI"), the licensee of this mark. "

"It is registered in hundreds of countries throughout the world" Are there even "hundreds" of countries?

Scam or real? Smells funny to me...but then again, I am not a Scientologist (TM

 

[oliciv]

Ignore it, it's only an email - they can't even prove you recieved it.

Real lawyers would have sent it through recorded delivery mail, and probably not use an AOL email address.

 

[Flaresolutions]

"It is registered in hundreds of countries throughout the world" Are there even "hundreds" of countries?

Yes there are. But no, I dont believe this is a valid email because as the person above stated, they cannot prove you actually received this email - and any lawyer worth their salt usually has a nice company email address not an AOL one.

 

[Dave_Z]

I won't be surprised if it's indeed real. Just remember the Scientology people
can use UDRP or even go to Court, and they have the resources to go either
way.

I once wrote on my blog they're going after the owner of scientomogy.info.
They probably went after the other ones, just that nothing's reported about
them.

 

[RogueWriter]

A quick google, interesting results, lots of similar comments out there......


click here

 

[Virgil]

The email is probably legit. Scientology™ related domains, whatever their nature is, don't last long out there...

 

[DomainBuyerBroker]

Thanks for all the help. I did reply telling them to put it in writing. I also said that I think the email is a scam and that a real attorney would not use an AOL email address. She replied and said that she is a "real attorney", her words.

Maybe a real attorney's assistant.

So, I still don't know what to make of this but I will post again with any new info.

 

[DNQuest.com]

What makes you think you cannot track emails??? I do it just about every single day. I know the exact time and location where the email is opened. Additionally, I know how long they read the email and if they forwarded the email (I also trace all the same info from the person the email was forwarded to). If I was a lawyer, I would track every email I send.... and I 'm sure some do.

As stated before, there is no set way to do a C+D, it may come in email or snail mail and it may be nice or it may be nasty. If you are unsure if the person sending the email legit, do a search....

Are you infringing on the TM? (This means, does the domain have their TM in it (or something confusingly similar)?). If so (and I suspect it does), then ask for a certified letter be sent to you explaining your options.

 

[oliciv]

What makes you think you cannot track emails??? I do it just about every single day. I know the exact time and location where the email is opened.

Send me an email, then tell me when/where I open it.

[email protected]

Hint: There is no way to prove whether someone has read an email or not

 

[seeker]

What makes you think you cannot track emails??? I do it just about every single day. I know the exact time and location where the email is opened. Additionally, I know how long they read the email and if they forwarded the email (I also trace all the same info from the person the email was forwarded to).

is this today's joke du jour???
unless the end user of the email is very unexperienced, it is impossible to do what you are saying.

Now, as far as the email, I doubt it is legit. However, there is no way to prove that either.
Definately ask to see it in a letter, or, to have ot certified that the person does in fact represent who they say they are representing.

 

[Ixix]

isn't scientology a religon? how can you trademark a religon?

 

[DNQuest.com]

The young and naive.....

I did say I was doing it... it's not an assumption and it's not an opinion.

I'm waiting for oliciv to reply to me email I sent him...

 

[diddie]

The problem is : Is scientology a religion ? , in france it has been classified as a sect and is forbidden

For the domain if you have any issue with that transfer the domain to a friend that live outside Usa.

 

[Smith]

a couple years back I was trying to track someone down who ripped me off.

I had my programmer make a little script for me that served a 1 pixel x 1 pixel transparent gif in the email with a unique tracking code.

If the person opened the email via a email client that showed remote images I got confirmation they received and opened the email, along with the ip address they used at the time to access the email etc.

Spammers use this too, thats why you should have remote images disabled in your email, all you have to do is open the email with remote image viewing enabled for them to know your address is good these days.

I have also been contacted by the main Scientology group in la about a name that infringed on their mark. The person I dealt with was actually very nice, would be a pleasure if more tm people were like the one I dealt with on that domain. I even got a thank you email when I pushed the name to them.

 

[labrocca]

What makes you think you cannot track emails??? I do it just about every single day. I know the exact time and location where the email is opened. Additionally, I know how long they read the email and if they forwarded the email (I also trace all the same info from the person the email was forwarded to). If I was a lawyer, I would track every email I send.... and I 'm sure some do.

As stated before, there is no set way to do a C+D, it may come in email or snail mail and it may be nice or it may be nasty. If you are unsure if the person sending the email legit, do a search....

Are you infringing on the TM? (This means, does the domain have their TM in it (or something confusingly similar)?). If so (and I suspect it does), then ask for a certified letter be sent to you explaining your options.

I also don't believe you can ALWAYS do this. Of course I had already thought of the image pixel but that's super easy to kill. I already don't allow ANY images or attachments in my mailbox. Your message could be read in PINE or many mail clients that would clean any tracker you placed...unless of course you are not sending the message via text but PDF or some other file format but that might get tagged as a virus.

 

[DNQuest.com]

Did you guys ever think that maybe you don't know everything? Do you think maybe there are things you just don't understand? Anyone else want to get on the bandwagon?????

I think I now have a supporter, right oliciv?? And this have nothing to do with with images..... So people, live and learn and respect, and I hope in the future, instead of trying to diffuse what I (or others who have earned the respect) say, maybe think of what I'm saying.. And yes, I do track all important emails I send out (why would you even question this?).. PM if you want more information.

Anyway oliciv... how did I do???? (I did X out the service so I don't violate advertising restrictions on the forum)



To [email protected]
From [email protected]
Subject NP reply
Sent on 11-Jan-06 at 14:36:16pm 'US/Michigan' time
1st Open
12-Jan-06 at 03:44:36am -5:00 (81%) Norton Saint Philip, Somerset, United Kingdom

Tracking Details
Opened
Opened 12-Jan-06 at 03:44:36am (UTC -5:00) - 13hours8mins20secs after sending
Location Norton Saint Philip, Somerset, United Kingdom (81% likelihood)
Opened on 82-33-83-7.cable.ubr03.trow.blueyonder.co.uk (82.33.83.7:2067)
Language of recipient's PC: en-gb (English/United Kingdom)
Browser used by recipient: Moz/4.0 (MSIE 6.0; WinNT 5.1; SV1)
Last log No more activity after 12-Jan-06 at 03:44:47am (UTC -5:00) - Log data indicates email was read for at least 11secs (approx.)

Summary - as at 12-Jan-06 at 03:44:58am (UTC -5:00) - 13hours8mins42secs after sending
Total Opened 1 time by 1 reader

Click here for up-to-date (live) tracking information. This confirmation was produced and sent at: 12-Jan-06 at 03:44:58am (UTC -5:00) (12-Jan-06 08:44:58 GMT) courtesy of http://www.xxxxxx.com with times converted to 'US/Michigan' time; and refers to an original email of sender reference ID <[email protected]> and xxxxx.com reference a18d8e93cc98598bbe74e7207bcdc222 and only acknowledges that the message was displayed (ie: not necessarily read or understood) on the recipient's machine. You can change your settings (including turning off these email read notifications, or getting them instead by ICQ, SMS, or Pager) from the xxxxx web site.

This message is digitally signed. Certificate Information: This digital signature is intended for the following purposes: * Protect contents of this notification against forgery * Record date and time of creation and transmission * Identify the purpose of the certificate, which is to record details of the opening of the referenced tracked email * Serve as a permanent published record of the above xxxxx.com E-mail Proof-of-Opening-Time Digital Certificate. On Thu, 12 Jan 2006 08:45:01 GMT the tracked e-mail referenced above was recorded as opened. This certificate, sequence number #3377283, irrevocably links the above tracking references with the date and time they were recorded. The following signature is now published online; to view it, verify it, or for more information, please visit www.xxxxx.com.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.0.6 (xxxxx.com TimeStamp Server v2.2)
Comment: Certificate #3377283, created Thu, 12 Jan 2006 08:45:01 GMT

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Click here to verify this certificate





Reporting-UA: www.xxxxx.com; Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 Netscape/7.1 (ax)
Final-Recipient: rfc822;[email protected]
Original-Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Disposition: automatic-action/MDN-sent-automaticly; displayed



Return-Path: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: NP reply
Date: 11-Jan-06 at 19:36:16pm GMT
References: <[email protected]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

 

[oliciv]

Not bad, opened it a few different times though in different ways (your report says once). Wonder which one did it...

Did it track both emails you sent? Or just one?

 

[Dave_Z]

RE: DNQuest's post about tracking emails: goes to show things are becoming
more possible every day.

diddie, it doesn't matter if Scientology's a religion or not. As long as someone
can prove trademark rights to the term (and the Scientology people can), it's
another thing for domainers around here to take precautions for.

 

[Joseph]

Its probably Tom Cruise being a jackass :p

 

[diddie]

RE: DNQuest's post about tracking emails: goes to show things are becoming
more possible every day.

diddie, it doesn't matter if Scientology's a religion or not. As long as someone
can prove trademark rights to the term (and the Scientology people can), it's
another thing for domainers around here to take precautions for.

you re right about TM but being forbidden on some countries doesn't give them credit