09/13/1998 - 2215

Copyright Terror Still Continues

Austria (VNN) - by Wolfgang Burtscher

One may think that after Harikesa has left ISKCON, himself declaring itto be a dangerous cult, that this would make the "Cintamani Web Cartel"alias "ISKCON BBT" alias "ISKCON BBT Internet Services" alias "BBTI" tostop their bogus copyright claims and desist to threaten the Internetproviders. But no. At least Mr. Van den Berg (alias Varnadi,ex-disciple? of Harikesa) still continues as if nothing has happened:

From: barney@atlantic.net
Subject: Copyright Infringement

violation: ISKCON-BBT Internet Services
A division of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
Copyright and legal matters department

September 10, 1998

Dear Sirs,

On one of your customers' sites copyright protected material is offeredfor downloading. It concerns the following address:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/2319/index.htm

This address is used by a certain Wolfgang Burtscher as a download areawhere this copyrighted material is presented. It is linked to from,among others, the following German and Austrian sites:

http://privat.schlund.de/gaura-nitai/bg.htm
http://www.vlbg.at/privat/gaura-nitai/bg.htm

Mr. Burtscher did not receive our prior permission to utilizethis material, nor to offer it for downloading. His doing soconstitutes a copy right infringement. He has been notified about thison many occasions.

He is persistent, though. Several of his other download sites (onTripod, Xoom, Fortune City and other free Web page providers) were shutdown earlier this year, but it seems that Mr. Burtscher doesn't knowwhere to stop.

On request we can provide you with the necessary documents of proof ofownership. We hope you understand our concern and the seriousness of thematter, as well as the possible consequences this copyright violationmay have for you. We therefore kindly request you to get back to us withsome idea on how we can solve this problem.

Thank you for your kind cooperation.

Sincerely,

William van den Berg
Legal assistant
Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
ISKCON-BBT Internet Services

P.O. Box 13657
Gainesville FL 32604
U.S.A.
Tel/Fax: +1 (904) 418-0750

I told Mr. Van den Berg that each time he tries to remove this verybooks from a server, he triggers an enormous amount of bad karma. But heseems not to realize this. So, what can I do? This books are meant forunlimited distribution and not for moneymaking, power politics andrevision. I'll continue to put them online again and again and again.Maybe someone can help me to store them on a server, where the provideris willing to face "The Cartel"?

Wolfgang Burtscher
w.burtscher@vlbg.at