Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.Copyright Lawsuit: Defenses Glorifying the Aga Khan filed in federal Court - 2010-04-29
In a surprisingly rapid twist of events, both Mr Tajdin and Mr Jiwa have filed their respective statements of Defense this 29th of April 2010. They affirm to being devoted followers who will unconditionally abide by the wishes of the Aga Khan, whom they glorify in their defense.
Mr Tajdin declares that:
He has not been served yet but the ethics imposed upon him by his faith demands that he should not keep in ignorance the public by being silent on the issue and should clarify all of the facts, pertaining to this lawsuit, of which he is aware.
He reaffirms his allegiance to the Aga Khan, is willing to submit to any of his wishes, and is ready to surrender himself and all his possessions to the Imam.
He has been printing Farman books since 1992 with approval and instructions from the Imam received on August 15, 1992 in Montreal.
He has not received any communication from the Imam from 1992 to 2009 instructing him to stop publication.
He cannot stop publication without instruction from the Imam as this would be a breach of his oath of allegiance to the Imam.
All Farman publications were financial deficit projects done as a volunteer service and large numbers of books were distributed free of charge.
Farman sharing is a historic Ismaili tradition which still continues today.
The current Ismaili Constitution does not restrict the right to publish Farmans
Mr Tajdin concludes that:
He has no choice but to await further direct instructions from the Imam.
He reaffirms his allegiance to the Aga Khan, is willing to submit to any of His wishes, and is ready to surrender himself and all his possessions to the Imam.
Mr Jiwa states that:
"This action does not appear to have been authorized personally by the Aga Khan .."
"In distributing Farman books obtained from Tajdin to other Ismailis, he has not violated either the Ismaili Constitution or any Farmans"
He has not violated the copyright act as "Tajdin was given express authority by the Imam" and regardless of the fact that "the limitations period provided for by the Copyright Act also bars this action as the books containing the Farmans were commenced publication in the year 1992", he will still do whatever the Imam tells him to do.
Mr Jiwa clarifies finances:
He "obtains these books for C$50.00 and sells them for C$50.00 or gives them free, without any profit.
"All monies received by him from the sale of (other) books after 2005 were delivered to the Jamatkhanas"
Mr Jiwa further states that:
"If the Imam edited the Farman before releasing to the Jamats, in effect he is superceding the Farman he made orally previously."
He "unconditionally reconfirms his oath of allegiance to his Imam" and "if the Imam does not desire his Farman books to be distributed to the Jamats (...) this defendant will submit to the instructions of His Imam without reservation whatsoever"
Replies From the Plaintiff are due within 10 days, and Affidavits of Documents are due 30 days later.
[Update from May 6: Ogilvy Renault, the law firm which launched the case has asked for an extension of 15 days to reply to the Defense. They claim delays due to breakdown of email servers, blackberry communication, travel of senior lawyer, time difference with Paris etc...The more delays in this file, the more damage it creates to the reputation of the Ismaili community, the Imam and the defendants. It is to the advantage of all parties that this case be withdrawn from the courts.]
[Update from June 22: Defendants have filed a Motion for summary Judgement to have the case dismissed.]
[Update from September 5:
Online Book that gathers court materials as well as articles that are currently available for the ongoing 2010 Lawsuit:
Copyright Lawsuit 2010: Online Book of All available Materials
News on cross-examinations:
Copyright Lawsuit: CROSS_EXAMINATIONS Table of Contents - 2010-09-04
Latest Development
Copyright Lawsuit: Imam Appears for Discovery and Ends the Case - 2010-10-15
As users are asking to read the letters from Nagib and Alnaz on the court docket, the latest have been attached on the following link:
A. Various Court Filings
Revised Factums have been posted Here:
2010-11-29 Summary Judgment : Plaintiffs Revised Combined Factums of Reply and of Motion
2010-11-29 Summary Judgment: Defendants' Revised Factums of Motion and of Reply
There has been proven fraud in the recent past in the Aga Khan's domain by the Aga Khan's agents:
Aga Khan Lawsuit: Fraud at Aga Khan Studs - 2000-02-22
2011-05-25: A Jamati Member who has never met the Defendants volunteered as his brotherly duty to pay the $30,000 that was demanded in the Plaintiff''s submissions and that was accordingly ordered by the judge.
Read the full details of the $30,000 payment directly to H.H. The Aga Khan.
2011-06-16: The Appeal Memorandum of Fact and Law against the Summary Judgment has been filed in court by the defendants on June 16th, 2011.
Read the Full Appeal Memorandum of Fact and Law
Link to Court Docket Case T-514-10
Link to Court Docket Appeal A-60-11
Link to Court Docket Appeal A-59-11
Link to Court Docket Appeal A-156-13
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Tajdin Defence Apr 29.10.pdf | 491.02 KB |
| Jiwa AK Defence Apr 29.10.pdf | 543.82 KB |
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Comments
@analysis
Good overview. Some other points to ponder over:
Nagib says that SS during a telephone call threatened him that he (SS) would ruin his reputation. (Nagib's mum was in the same room a few feet away from Nagib during this conversation and if you hear her version of SS's screaming at Nagib, your blood would boil.)
The claim was issued on Tuesday April 6, 2010. Friday April 2 and Monday April 5 were Easter holidays. Once a claim is issued in the court, all court rules provide that a originating document (such as a Claim) has to be served personally. [Service of originating documents: Rule 127. (1) An originating document that has been issued, other than in an appeal from the Federal Court to the Federal Court of Appeal or an ex parte application under rule 327, shall be served personally.]
Nagib says SS issued threats to Nagib on Feb 17. Despite SS's assertions that MHI instructed the was issuing of the Claim with a direction not to talk [11 Apr 10 SS informs the Leadership in London. He instructs Leaders not to discuss this lawsuit, nor the issues in the Lawsuit because he says Hazar Imam has directed Leaders not to]
YET, very unusually and highly improper, the Claim was circulated by MASS EMAILS to the general public and reported in news media EVEN before the service of the Claim was effected on us as per her Rules. In fact, they served the Claim on my mother instead of me (well after the mass emails) and filed an affidavit saying it was served on me personally.
They served Nagib as per the rules well after he filed (to their surprise) his Statement of Defence.
The mass emails (within days of the claim being issued) and reported in newspapers without service as per the rules:
does anyone really believe that MHI is a vindictive person out to exact revenge on two murids who refused to obey his purported letters (ignoring the fact that I was NEVER contacted by anyone nor ANY letters (even forged ones) sent to me.
does anyone really think that MHI would INSTRUCT lawyers to humiliate murids who were DISTRIBUTING the Imam's farmans which to date NO ONE has asserted contained false farmans?
does anyone really believe that MHI would take such drastic steps when Nagib had alleged fraud being committed and had expert's opinion to support that allegation without ensuring that Nagib's allegation were addressed?
has anyone seen or witnessed MHI act like that (even to his enemies): A reporter writes bad stuff about MHI; Mihr Bose; Akbarali Mehrally who has publicly been seeking MHi to give a DNA test to prove that he is Prince Aly Khan's son; and the list goes on and on.
Remember Hazrat Ali ordered that his murderer be given sherbat......
Yet, can those who KNOW and understand Imams really believe that MHI would, to those who not only WITHOUT making any money but in fact LOSING tens of thousands of dollars in DISTRIBUTING his farmans, act like a lose canon to exact revenge, humiliate them publicly, continue to seek PROFITS as alleged by Gray....
And not forgetting that when Gray sent the Affirmation he says MHI told him to mass circulate it if we don't accept it. We gave evidence of expert who said MHi did not sign it. Read their expert's cross-examination when he says that Gray refused to give him sample signatures and the original affirmation for his review. (His cross-examination is very interesting and sheds light to the forged issue.)
Those who believe this are the traits of an Imam, what can I say.
Pir says that: Dhongee to aenee aenee hare vaseem te tu lute shabeji nu dhyaan re.... but since SS says that Ginans are no longer to be followed, this verse will make no sense to them.
However, on Oct 15, MHi said some things that a Imam with above tendencies would NEVER say (or would he?):
1. will give annotated version of farmans to US if we want them. (Imagine, to the people he is vindictive to, out to humiliate them, out to seek revenge and profits (for a book 1500 pages with hard box and MP3 being sold for $50, while councils were selling Constitution for $20.00 which had roughly 5% of the pages or even less), to the people the announcements and forged talika show as enemies: he says, I will give you my annotated version i.e. is his farmans with HIS own explanations on the farmans. I would say worth a LOT more than just farmans, would you knot agree.
2. Tells MM and SS why can't they work with us.
3. Says he KNOWS I am not involved in this.
4. Says, he is not familiar with the web site issues and yet the first forged letter contains reference to the web site issue and months later says he is not familiar with it.
5. Requests us to withdraw allegations of fraud. Why REQUEST. Not tell us that he signed the letters and Affirmation and we need to apologize to the people we alleged as having committed the fraud.
Yet, of course, many will not believe the truth.
Not surprising: over 100,000 people witnessed P. Mohamed (S) at Gadir-e-Khoom declare Hazrat Ali. Yet refused to follow the declaration. History keeps repeating.