BKWSO lose legal action against BrahmaKumaris.Info

for ex-BKs to discuss matters related to experiences in BKWSU & after leaving.
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eromain

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Post11 Sep 2007

Well, whoever has done this has presented the BKs with a PR disaster of monumental proportions. To be seen attacking the very existence of this site would start to mobilise every sneaking doubt, every unexplored suspicion, every hesitant and faltering question the vast silent majority of BKs have about their leadership but have not yet voiced.

It makes that leadership appear dangerous - both in their aspirations and in their methods. To appear to be trying to suppress any and all dissenting and questioning voices will be a step too far for most Western BKs. Contrary to the way we frequently characterise them here these are after all genuinely thoughtful people who have frequently given up a lot to live a life of principle. They well know that any attack on us is not God's way, and it is not consistent with a life of dharna or with the Law of Karma. To kill this site would be an act of violence that would shame all BKs. It would be an insult to the very notion of the Confluence Age. It would be an act that the perpetrators would not be forgiven for, because it would be a stain upon the yugya's history.

This attack, if not immediately reversed will come to embody and breathe life into the worst fears BKs have in their weak moments about the organisation - that it does try to wipe you out of history once you leave, that it really only loves you when you are useful -which of course is the opposite of love, that when you leave you really are supposed to crawl under a rock and die, that it will use its power to push you down so that others may win, and that those lunatics on the info site are not actually making it all up.

Trying to destroy this site - whether by the ongoing technical sabotage attempts that happen or by this latest attempt to kill the site once and for all - is the worst way to diminish or belittle us. This latest attempt will be viewed by the silent watching BKs as proof that our allegations are probably true.

And those BKs will be scouring this site like never before to find out what it was in particular that so provoked the leadership into such unspiritual and unethical behaviour.

bansy

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Post12 Sep 2007

This filing of trademark by BKWSU TEXAS appears to be under the jurisdication of BK Texas in San Antonio

From USA?

If there is any part of the world which is insecure, it is the US. The US are the "world bullies" during this Confluence Age, and maybe the BKs there have to the same spiritual sanskars.

But I hope not, and they see the light in this unjust action.

PS: I have some good American folk friends who share the same view, and thus am able to afford to make this comment. Its all tongue-in-cheek really.
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admin

site admin

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Post12 Sep 2007

We have been supplied with the contact details for the attorneys acting on behalf of the yet unnamed complainant.

Howrey LLP, a global law firm, provides clients with innovative legal and business solutions to their high-stakes challenges by focusing on complex litigation, antitrust and intellectual property. Ranked among the top law firms by clients in its three areas of focus, Howrey leverages its strategic affiliates, CapAnalysis and Maxiam, to offer a powerful advantage to clients.

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ex-l

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Post12 Sep 2007

So, it looks like Colonel BK Hansa Raval then. The attorneys are in Texas, the trademarks are registered in Texas ... and look, Howry LLP, "a top 20 for the past two years on The American Lawyer's". Are the some BKs willing to try and use financial violence to silence theological dissent and human rights issues?

Can someone do a search and find out who the directors of the BKWSO in Texas are, there must be more than one director.

I think it is very morally wrong to trademark the words Brahma Kumari. I also think that legally it is unsupportable. "Brahma Kumaris" is not a brand, it is a religion. It has a prior global track record and whose intellectual property is it? I would have thought had the first call Lekhraj Kirpalani's and his family. Did he sign over the rights? Could you trademark "Buddhist" or "Christian" !?!

This is exactly the sort of stuff the Scientologists got/get up to. The attorneys wont know or care, they will just try it on. Fair enough, trademark BKWSU but is it legal for them to call tjemselves a University in the US? No. Unless then plan on doing so in the future ...

Then comes the next layer. Is the "owner (APPLICANT) Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organization CORPORATION TEXAS" - a private company - acting on behalf of the World Renewal Trust in India, the BKWSU worldwide .. or even BKWS in New York which is a separate company. Have they licensed or licensed out the words to each other?
Amadeus wrote:Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organisation
Address: 866 United Nations Plz New York NY 10017+1822
Telephone: (212) 688-1335.

SICC 7999 - Private ownership
Employees - 4
income - $500,000 (2/1/2007)

Registered as
    "an establishment primarily engaged in the operation of sports, amusement, and recreational services, not elsewhere classified such as bathing beaches, swimming pools, riding academies, and schools, carnival operations, exposition operations, horse shows, picnic grounds operations, rental of rowbots and canoes and shooting galleries"

Unfortunately, as fas as I understand, the way the trademark world is set up, it is set up for corporations who retain trademark attorneys full-time to look out for opportunities and offences.

Generally, one only has 30 days or so after a trademark is filed to put in a challenge. And someone has to be bothered enough, or financially self interested enough, to do so.
    Or be morally inspired enough. Someone has to be wise enough to step forward to stop all this.
I think that there is someting crazy going on here. I can hear the skeletons in the cupboard rattling already ...
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ex-l

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Post12 Sep 2007

I think the thing for forum members to do now is to contact BKs and BK centers worldwide to tell them what is going on and let them know.

Firstly about the legal action but within the context of the firm evidence of serious historical revision.

This is a "Family Affair" ... I think it is also highlighting the divisions between the Indians who seem to think they own "God" and the Westerners who seem to be about spiritual values. I know both sides are coloring each other but would this definition be far out of place?
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abrahma kumar

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BKWSU students learn to be leaders rather than followers

Post12 Sep 2007

Not quite the assistance the ex-l requested but as a starter I found Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual organisation Texas Locations.

Amongst other things we encounter the strapline that: Raja Yoga is the most ancient Yoga of India. It is the king of all yogas. We also find the assertion that: BKWSU is the largest spiritual university in the world. And can also find that the BKWSU is a NGO in general consultative/ consultative status with ECOSOC, UNICEF blah blah blah.

And finally: BKWSU students learn to be leaders rather than followers.
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ex-l

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Re: BKWSU students learn to be leaders rather than followers

Post12 Sep 2007

abrahma Kumar wrote:And finally: BKWSU students learn to be leaders rather than followers.

Too many chiefs ... not enough Indians. It is a pyramidical numbers game ... a nice salespitch but how many followers to lead can there be?
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john

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Post12 Sep 2007

What about contacting the Indian newspaper that contacted this site?

Even if BKs are contacted, I think only a few with a discerning ability will look any further. I heard a rumour that BKs were told even if they clicked on a PBK website the inheritance would be lost, so ...

I am gathering that they are trying to stop anyone using the name 'Brahma Kumaris', in a bid to stop anyone finding any sites like this one. They want to silence all voices except their own. The idea that not one of the people involved is prepared to come onto the forum and discuss anything is so ignorant.

I think they have been poisoned by the sheer arrogance of the PR team, who have got into some spats with ex-BK members and gone running home to tell. This has got the defensiveness of the BK organisation up and they are passing that attitude back onto other BKs.
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ex-l

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Post12 Sep 2007

tinydot wrote:So, there you go guys, this appears to be under the jurisdiction of Hansa Raval.

OK, I found the supporting evidence.

    ATTORNEY/CORRESPONDENT INFORMATION

    Correspondent : COLONEL HANSA RAVAL, Morning Class, US ARMY (RET)

    Brahma Kumaris WORLD SPIRITUAL ORGANIZATION
    710 MARQUIS ST
    SAN ANTONIO, TX 78216-5220
    Phone Number: 210-344-8343
    Fax Number: 210-344-8343 (by request)
For those of you who were not here at the time or do not remember, it might be worth perusing mikepeace's input to the BK Hansa Raval; cancer cure claims & tax free future where they dumped really hard on that Chinese ethnic journalist in Malaysia stitching him up to the US Department of Defense.
mikepeace wrote:If you do not adhere to the above notifications the following legal actions to be pursued through United States legal channels to prevent your use of US resources to propagate misinformation:

    1. Calvin Chin to be banned from all United States based domain registration or site hosting.
    2. Calvin Chin to be banned from submitting articles to any United States based online site.
    3. Class Action Suit against Calvin Chin for damages caused to all cancer patients misdirected by the article.
The following have already been contacted regarding this issue:

    1. United States Department of Defense
    2. Embassy of the United States, Kuala Lumpur
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arjun

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Post12 Sep 2007

ex-l wrote:I think the thing for forum members to do now is to contact BKs and BK centers worldwide to tell them what is going on and let them know.
John wrote:What about contacting the Indian newspaper that contacted this site?

I agree with John. Why not all media instead of just one Indian newspaper? They could be contacted through emails. I know that as soon as the BKs from their meia wing read this, they would alert most media houses, but even then I hope there would some section of mediapersons who would not get swayed by the false information campaign by the BKs.

A brief description of the case could be prepared and posted here which the members could copy and send to the email ids of newspapers/news channels. But before doing that it may kindly be made sure once again whether the official complaint has been lodged by the BKWSO, Texas with the National Arbitration Council in the light of the denial of any such case by the BKWSU through email.

I am giving this suggestion as a freedom-loving individual and not as a PBK.

Regards,
OGS,
Arjun
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tinydot

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Post12 Sep 2007

mikepeace wrote:If you do not adhere to the above notifications the following legal actions to be pursued through United States legal channels to prevent your use of US resources to propagate misinformation:

    1. Calvin Chin to be banned from all United States based domain registration or site hosting.
    2. Calvin Chin to be banned from submitting articles to any United States based online site.
    3. Class Action Suit against Calvin Chin for damages caused to all cancer patients misdirected by the article.
The following have already been contacted regarding this issue:

    1. United States Department of Defense
    2. Embassy of the United States, Kuala Lumpur

Without scanning the actual official letter (with header) and posting the letter here on this forum, I am sorry to tell that mikepeace is just telling a folklore.

I mean do we know if correspondence was received by the Malaysian Government through the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur? The US DOD and US Embassy are both US Government Agencies. Without acknowledgment from the Malaysian Government, I am sorry to tell that mikepeace is just making this up.

Show me the letter from the Malaysian Government, please? Should I say PLEEEASE?
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ex-l

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Post12 Sep 2007

tinydot wrote:I mean, do we know if Calvin Chin exists?

Calvin was just a blogger basically. He meant well. Whether the letters and mails went out ... who knows. mikepeace blanked the name of the attorney so we cannot check it up.

May be this is what Neville Hodgkinson was talking about when he wrote about "poison pen" letters. :wink:
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howiemac

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Post12 Sep 2007

I have just read this whole thread, and I am not surprised at the latest evidence of BKWSU skullduggery. Once again the scaly underbelly of the beast is revealed.

I do think it is quite likely that London knows little or nothing of what Texas is up to - it was my impression, when an inmate a few years back, that the US is renegade and doesn't fully recognise the authority of London, but instead (with their usual spiritual humility) feel that they should be top dog and act accordingly. I would not be surprised if Texas is renegade within the US also! If we just let them all be, they will consume each other!
abrama Kumar wrote:BKWSU students learn to be leaders rather than followers.

This is the funniest thing I have heard in ages :lol:
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sparkal

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Post12 Sep 2007

Can we expect many re counts from down south before the " RIGHT " verdict is reached? If the judge is going to start louping around the court room shape shifting like a jack in the box flashing his pinkie ring I think I may just give it a miss.

The law looks back the way and judges, very negative. It is not surprising that current BKWSU policy is to use such an antiquated system. We need to start looking forward do we not?

PREVENTION IS THE CURE BKs.

Ruling by fear works no more. Understand this.
Peace
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arjun

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Post12 Sep 2007

tinydot wrote:This filing of trademark by BKWSU TEXAS appears to be under the jurisdiction of BK Texas in San Antonio. For everyone's information, there is a division of BK responsiblity and power in USA.

    East Coast: Mohini Panjabi
    West Coast: Chandrika Desai
    Part of Central USA including State of Texas: Hansa Raval
Overall, Mohini is the president of the BKWSO in North America (including USA), South America and the Caribbean.

So, there you go guys, this appears to be under the jurisdiction of Hansa Raval.

Omshanti.

Today I was going through the latest edition of Gyanamrit magazine published by the BKs. In the last pages of the magazine, there is an article by BK Hansa Raval of Texas, US, where she recounts her experience of becoming a BK by the grace of Dadi Prakashmani's first visit to US in 1970s and how she became instrumental in starting the Godly services in US. In the end she says she is instrumental for 3 centers in US.

Regards,
OGS,
Arjun
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