JW USA: Jehovah’s Witnesses and legal warfare: What it looks like in the trenches

[Guest Indiana]

Yesterday we listened in on Lloyd Evans, Mark O’Donnell and the Electronic Frontier Foundation talking about Watch Tower’s attempt to “dox” Darkspilver, who has posted critical information about the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization at Reddit.

We’ve seen Witnesses say in our comments that Watch Tower should have the right to defend its copyrights, and that ex-JWs who violate those copyrights deserve to be taken to court.

But taking a look at the actual documents filed in Darkspilver’s case reveals how much Watch Tower is on a mission to intimidate critics rather than defend its proprietary material.

We’re going to show you the full page from that motion which shows what Darkspilver is accused by Watch Tower of posting at Reddit. (Please note, Watch Tower lawyers, this is a full page, in context, of a privileged court document.)

As you can see, Darkspilver is accused of posting a short amount of text under the headline “What Gift Can We Give to Jehovah?” on the back of one of Watch Tower’s publications eliciting donations. He believed it represented a sudden shift in the way JW.org asked for money, and, as EFF explained, it generated considerable debate online.

Now, if Watch Tower believed their copyright on this small amount of text was being violated, they could make a takedown request with Reddit. Instead, the organization believes that this is such a violation of its rights, it has subpoenaed Darkspilver and Reddit in order to get his identifying information.

“This case is not about suppressing Darkspilver’s public criticism. He can say whatever he desires. However, he cannot infringe Watch Tower’s intellectual property in the process,” the Watch Tower’s attorneys wrote in a response to the EFF’s motion to quash.

Really? Watch Tower is going to this effort and expense because it’s so damaged by that small amount of text on the back of a magazine being put online, or is it what the text said that really matters, that Watch Tower was stung by the revelation that it was more openly soliciting donations online.

Both documents, EFF’s motion to quash, and Watch Tower’s response, are really interesting documents. Give them a look yourself and let us know what you think about the arguments in each of them.

https://tonyortega.org/2019/04/14/jehovahs-witnesses-and-legal-warfare-what-it-looks-like-in-the-trenches/

406231385-Darkspilver-Watchtower-Quash-Response.pdf