Sources to defend oneself with
when sued by Scientology.
(Anyway, I used them, and won.)


Appeal of June 9 1999 ruling (fifth lawsuit), August 1999
Appeal of the full-fledged procedure, yet to be scanned and html'ised. Sorry. But take it from me that there's nothing much new in the appeal.
Ruling of June 9, 1999
On June 9, 1999, The Hague court in full procedure ("bodemprocedure") again ruled that my homepage was fully legal, OT-quotes and all. Read the original Dutch ruling or read the English translation. Scientology has appealed this ruling. It is not yet known when pleas will be held.
Plea Van Manen, March 8 1999
Plea by Van Manen, one of our lawyers, during the court session in "bodemprocedure" on March 8 1999. Van Manen's plea is very detailed on the matter of Scientology's copyrights, the transfer of the Hubbard Estate and on that of the responsibility of ISP's. (Dutch only)
Testimony McShane in RTC vs Panoussis, May 1998
In which McShane declares under oath that the OT materials have been read by 20 to 25 thousand people. Based on this, the Dutch court in The Hague decided that the OT levels should be considered to have been legally published, and that one is thus allowed to quote from them.
Appeal of the March 12 1996 ruling (fourth lawsuit), March 25, 1996
Scientology appealed the March 12 1996 ruling. Here is their new lawsuit. Pay special notice to the "emergency procedure" that they invoke - that is rather funny, because ever after June 1996 (when they suddenly wanted to discuss settlements) they haven't made a move in this case. In other words: it is halted. (Dutch only.)
Ruling of March 12, 1996
On March 12 1996, the The Hague court declared my homepage to be fully legal, OT-quotes and all. Read the original Dutch ruling or read the English translation. Scientology has appealed the ruling but hasn't made a move since the summer of 1996. Probably they are waiting for the outcome of the full-fledged procedure.
Full lawsuit (third lawsuit), February 26 1996
On the day that the summary proceedings served in court, all defendants were served with a new lawsuit. This one if for full fledged proceedings: the kind of case that usually takes two to three years to be ruled upon. The text of the lawsuit was the same as the second one in summary proceedings. Read the Dutch version or the English version. The ruling was pronounced on June 9 1999; we won most of it.
Replacement of OT II and OT III
posting to a.r.s., Februari 22, 1996. On Februari 19, only a week before the court session, we finally received a notary comparison concerning OT II and OT III. A few days later, I thereupon replaced those parts of the Fishman Affidavit with my own summary and comments.
Masked OT documents
February 19, 1996. A notary finally compared the unmasked, original OT documents to my homepage and marked text fragments that were an exact match. These matches were marked on masked copies of the OT documents. Here are two scans of such pages.
Our lawyers ask for postponement
posting to a.r.s., February 13, 1996. When it turned out that the notary statement that RTC had referred to in the subpoena had not yet been made, our lawyers on Februari 6 moved for postponement. (Almost two weeks later, the statement was finally produced.) Lawyers' letters included. Dutch version.
Defense v2.0, February 1996 (215k)
My personal defense against the lawsuit, as presented to the judge. Updated version, reworked after Scientology dropped their first lawsuit in December 1995 and issued a new lawsuit on February 1, 1996. (Dutch only.)
Lawsuit summary proceedings (second lawsuit), February 1 1996
On February 1, 1996 we received the new lawsuit for summary proceedings. Scientology more or less drops their claims to OT IV, OT V, OT VI and OT VII. The list of defendants has been massively expanded and now includes fourteen Internet providers (plus some of their owners) and me. Read the Dutch version or the English version. The case was heard on February 26, 1996. We won on all counts. A very similar subpoena was later used in the full-fledged procedure that Scientology started against us on Feb 26, 1996.
Request for postponement and subsequent dismissal of the lawsuit
fax December 11, 1995 and faxes December 12, 1995. Scientology's lawyers Nauta Dutilh asked for postponement, only three days before the court case would be tried. Our lawyer and Planet Internet's lawyer severely opposed this. In the end, Scientology dropped the case. (Dutch versions.)
Defense 1.0 (html), December 1995 (138k)
The defense I wrote for the judge, concerning the subpoena I was presented with on November 8, 1995. During my research, I did some interesting discoveries: I did not, as plaintiffs had stated, "publish complete OT's or large parts from them"; my homepage contained less than eight percent of the OT's; the fragments that I used were not stolen; the OT parts that I published are for the larger part no longer in use. There were more severe errors in the subpoena, and I gladly pointed them out. The defense also contains an overview of Scientology's activities on Internet. The court case - a summary proceedings, a very short procedure in which verdicts are pronounced within two or three weeks - was set for December 14, 1995, but Scientology suddenly dropped that case and later came up with a new lawsuit (see above) that more or less dropped many of the previous claims. Read the Dutch version (html), the Dutch ascii version, the English version (html) or the English ascii version.
Lawsuit summary proceedings (first lawsuit), November 8 1995
On November 8, 1995 we received the first lawsuit for summary proceedings. Four Internet providers got sued, and me. Read the Dutch version or the English version. Scientology claimed copyright infringement on OT I up to and including OT VIII. The court case was to serve on December 14, 1995. A few days before the court was to convene, Scientology suddenly dropped this lawsuit: they couldn't prove infringement on OT I, OT IV, Ot V, OT VI and OT VII.
Proceedings re RTC vs FactNet over the Fishman Affidavit, September 1995
See especially the cross-examination 2 and cross-examination 2 of RTC's president Warren McShane. During this interrogation, McShane is forced to tell the court how many pages exactly each OT level consists of.



Main evidence presented in my case


  1. Posting Rop Gonggrijp, Sep. 5 1995 (KS-1). Rop Gonggrijp of Dutch ISP XS4all describes Scientology's raid on XS4all while it is happening. (Dutch)
  2. Oproep DB.NL, Sep. 8 1995 (KS-2). The Dutch Digital Civil Rights organisation asks people to protest against the seizure by Scientology. (Dutch)
  3. Posting Karin Spaink, Sep. 18 1995 (KS-3). Announcement of a Fishman homepage at Planet Internet. The Fishman Affidavit precipitated the raid on XS4all. (English)
  4. E-mail Karin Spaink, Sep. 22 1995 (KS-4). E-mail asking many people to consider putting up a Fishman homepage too. (Dutch)
  5. Posting Anonymous, price list Scientology (KS-5). An informed calculation of how much it costs to 'Cross the Bridge', i.e. to reach OT 8, based upon Scientology's own price lists. Estimated amount: somewhere between USD 385,000 and USD 380,000.(English)
  6. Fishman's press release (1994) (KS-6) . Steven Fishman explains what happened to him in jail, why he was sued by Scientology, and why he presented the OT's in his defense. (English)
  7. Ruling CoS vs Time Warner, Nov. 14 1995 (KS-7). Time Magazine and journalist Richard Behar were finally acquitted after almost four years of litigation by Scientology; only one remark from Behar's article will be put before a jury. The rest of the article, that describes Scientology as a criminal organisation and a cult, stands. (English)
  8. E-mail Helena Kobrin to me, Sep. 29 1995 (KS-8). Helena Kobrin, Scientology's lawyer, states in e-mail that I have stolen OT levels on my homepage and refuses to answer my questions regarding her status, her authority, RTC's copyrights and the legality of the Fishman Affidavit. She threatens to sue me. (English)
  9. Memorandum Opinion, Judge Brinkema, Aug. 30 1995 (KS-9). Judge Brinkema on Scientology's case against Lerma and the Washington Post. Lerma posted the Fishman Affidavit to alt.religion.scientology, The Washington post ordered a copy of the Affidavit from the court and quoted 42 words from it. Scientology sued, of course. (English)
  10. Sealing order (KS-10), Judge Hupp, Aug. 15 1995. CV 91-6426 HLH, Church of Scientology International v Steven Fishman et. al. Judge Hupp seals the Fishman Affidavit at the request of Scientology. No link.
  11. Affidavit Hana Whitfield (KS-11). Hana Whitfield, a former Scientology member, explains about the RPF (Rehabilitation Project Force, a kind of internal Scientology prison), her fears while being in Scientology, how guilty she felt when the tech didn't work and how people were unable to speak out. (English)
  12. Plea by Steven Fishman to keep the Affidavit open (KS-12). Here's what Fishman planned to say to the Court of Appeals in Pasadena on November 14, 1995, regarding the sealing of his Affidavit. (English)
  13. Contract for Scientology-members (KS-13). The public contract that members of Scientology have to sign. They need to waive their constitutional rights and need to promise that they will never sue Scientology. Also included: the (in)famous Sea Org contract, where members sign up for a billion years. (English)
  14. Ron Hubbard, 'Fair Game' Policy Letter (KS-14). The policy letter that explains the various stages of Fair Gaming [i.e. how to treat critics of Scientology], plus the later policy letter that cancels the term Fair Game. (English)
  15. Fragment of Scarff's deposition (KS-15) Gerry Scarff, a former Scientology member, explains that he was under orders to steal books critical of Scientology from of public libraries, and how he would razor blade articles from archived magazines etc. (English)
  16. Orders for 'Operation Freakout' (KS-16). The specifics for the operation Scientology carried out against Paulette Cooper, who had written a book critical of the church. The papers pertaining Operation Freakout were found after an FBI-raid on Scientology. (English)
  17. Vicky Aznaran on RTC and 'Fair Game' (1992) (KS-17). Vicky Aznaran, former President of RTC, speaks about Fair Gaming, the ongoing existence of the Guardian Office in the form of OSA, the amount of control Scientology leader David Miscavige has over all the aspects of the organisation, etc. (English)
  18. Article from Skeptic: Scientology v. Internet (KS-18). An extensive and detailed account of the main events between November 1994 and August 1995: the CancelPoodle, the raid on anon.penet.fi, the rmgroup-message, critics being followed and raided. (English)
  19. The rm-group message Helena Kobrin sent out on January 11, 1995 (KS-19). Helena Kobrin, top lawyer for Scientology, tried to kill the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology. (English)
  20. Various system operators intercepted Kobrin's message (KS-20) and newgrouped alt.religion.scientology. Their comments on the behaviour of Scientology's lawyer were none too friendly. (English)
  21. CoS v. FactNet, Judge Kane, Sep. 15 1995 (KS-21). Judge Kane orders that Scientology should return the computers they took from FactNet after a writ of seizure was issued, and says that what Dennis Erlich posted to alt.religion.scientology is probably well within fair use. See also CoS v. Erlich, Klemesrud and Netcom, Judge Whyte (KS-xx, Sep. 9 1995. (English)
  22. President RTC: we claim copyright to newspaper clippings (KS-22). Warren McShane, when cross-examined, declares that files that containing newspaper clippings in which snippets of the OT levels are quoted, are, according to Scientology to be defined as copyright infringements. (English)
  23. President RTC: paraphrasing is a violation of copyrights (KS-23). Warren McShane declares under oath that written paraphrases of CoS material equal copyright infringement. (English)
  24. Interview with Martin Weightman and Julia Rijnvis, Nov. 7 1995 (KS-24). Interview published in the Dutch magazine N@t, December 1995 (English translation). Weightman is a Scientology COE in their Human Rights organisation, Rijnvis the spokeswoman for Scientology in the Netherlands. Weightman declares that Scientology will not suffer any financial loss from the Fishman homepages. Rijnvis maintains that Scientology has between 7000 and 9000 members in The Netherlands. Both claim to not know about the rmgroup-message nor the cancel-messages; they are caught in various lies. (Dutch)
  25. President RTC: OT 4 - OT 7 are no longer in use (KS-25). Warren McShane declares under oath that OT IV up to and including to OT VII are for the most part out of use, and that much of OT I has by now been changed. (English)
  26. President RTC: number of pages of full OT's (KS-26). Warren McShane is forced to recount the number of pages for each of the OT levels, thereby admitting that the Fishman Affidavit make up less than eight percent of the full OT levels. (English)
  27. RTC's appointee Moxon declares OT VIII to be authentic (KS-27). Usually CoS denies the authenticity of OT VIII. But Moxon, a CoS lawyer who was appointed to oversee the search of the seized computers, designated OT VIII to be a copyright infringement. (English)
  28. Testimony RV Young: the OT's have been in the public domain for years (KS-28). Robert Vaughn Young, a former high-ranking CoS-member, explains that the OT levels got out all the time. He recalls a number of occasions where the OT levels where found outside Scientology. "It was the worst kept secret," he says. Hubbard even turned OT III into a film script and had his bureau handing it over to producers. (English)
  29. Comments on subpoena regarding URL's (KS-29). Contrary to what the subpoena states, there is no one-to-one relationship between a URL and a document. A little web-lesson by Abigail. (Dutch)
  30. Nauta Dutilh, Annotated list of participants (KS-30). Nauta Dutilh - CoS's lawyers in this court case - had a very selective way of impounding some homepages and letting others off the hook: only the html-versions of the Fishman Affidavit were marked as infringements. No link.
  31. Kobrin objects only to OT VII (KS-31). Shortly after the subpoena had been served, Helena Kobrin suddenly started e-mailing participants again and told them sternly that they were violating Scientology's copyrights and that this was grounds for suing them. The strangest part was that Kobrin only complained about OT VII, while these three people did in fact have the complete Fishman Affidavit on their homepage... (English)
  32. Authority on hyperlinks (KS-32). In the subpoena, hyperlinks were at issue too: in as far as CoS was concerned, hyperlinks amounted to publishing. Here is some mail from somebody who knows better than that. He was one of the seven people helping to develop the HTTP and HTML specifications at CERN. (English)
  33. The American Jurist (KS-33). The editor of The American Jurist recently printed an editorial in which he warned the profession: Scientology lawyers seem to abuse the laws. (English)
  34. Support mail from Cherribi Oussama (KS-34). Cherribi Oussama, Member of Parliament for the Liberals, assures us of his ongoing support although he has taken down his copy of the Fishman Affidavit. (Dutch)
  35. Commissie Witteveen (KS-35). Report from the Dutch Governmental Committee on cults, 1984. They weren't very pleased with Scientology. (Dutch)
  36. Jon Atack's OT 3 (KS-36). Jon Atack explains Scientology's core beliefs quite eloquently. (English)
  37. Hubbard, Verbal Tech Penalties (KS-37), HCO Bulletin/HCO PL 15 February 1979. Hubbard explains that discussing 'the tech' is punishable. No link provided, for copyright reasons.
  38. Hubbard, The No-Interference Area. Clarified and Re-enforced (KS-38) (edited by staff from HCO Bulletin 23 December 1971 revised, published in 1983 in a CoS-magazine. Hubbard explains that 'clears' should at all cost be pushed up the bridge. No link provided, for copyright reasons.
  39. Hubbard, Advanced Courses Materials - Security of Data (KS-39), August 11 1971. Hubbard explains that reading the OT-material is fatally dangerous for those who are not qualified to read them. No link provided, for copyright reasons.
  40. Margery Wakefield: We are all many (KS-40). In chapter 13 of her book The Road to Xenu, Margery Wakefield describes how her mind breaks down due to studying OT III. (English)
  41. Judge Goff: CoS v Kaufman, 1972 - 1973 (KS-41). Another copyright case. No link.
  42. Questions in Parliament (KS-42) about Scientology. Member of Parliament Bakker asks whether Scientology has shown signs of improvement after the rather harsh report of Commissie Witteveen. (Dutch)
  43. Hubbard, Manual of Justice, 1952 (KS-43). In which Hubbard explains what 'justice' means according to Scientology. (English)
  44. Timeline of harassment of a.r.s. by CoS (KS-44). Jeff Jacobsen compiled a list of harassment by Scientology of critics who post to alt.religion.scientology. (English)
  45. Harassment of Rogue Agent (KS-45). Rogue Agent, a critic on alt.religion.scientology, was harassed repeatedly by Scientology even though he posted anonymously. At one point, Rogue even decided to leave alt.religion.scientology, in order to protect his family and friends. (English)
  46. Andrew Milne, Quoting is out of context (KS-46). Andrew Milne, a spokesman for Scientology on alt.religion.scientology, states that merely a quote out of Scientology's texts will never do: they are invariably quoted out of contexts. [Then again: if you quote more than just a few sentences, you will be sued for copyright infringement.] No link.
  47. Judge Brinkema, RTC v Lerma and Washington Post, Nov. 28 1995 KS-47). Memorandum opinion. Brinkema rules in favour of defendants. Furthermore, she rules that RTC has lost any trademark claim they may have had on the OT levels, and insists upon decent evidence of copyright ownership. (English)
  48. Judge Brinkema, RTC v Lerma and Washington Post, Nov. 29 1995 (KS-48). More about the same case. (English)
  49. Some of my articles about Scientology (KS-49). 'Technique 88', Het Parool, September 18 1995; 'Squeezed', Het Parool, October 9 1995; 'Religious practices', Het Parool, December 11 1995; 'Party coloured laundry', Het Parool, February 5 1996; 'Scientology gets caught in the net', de Groene Amsterdammer, October 4 1995. (KS-49) (all English)
  50. Indices of my homepage: General index, Index on other Scientology (court) cases in The Netherlands; Index on news, articles, legal stuff about Scientology's lawsuit against me, and Index on essays on Scientology by others. (KS-50) To prove that the OT quotes are indeed embedded in a body of work that purports to criticise Scientology. (English)
  51. Marina's A.R.S. Webpage Summary (KS-51), where my page gets a special mention because of its content.
  52. Published versions of Scientology OT materials (KS-52). Jon Atack has compiled a list of books and articles that quote from the OT levels, to disprove Scientology's claim that they are top secret and have never ever been published, not even in parts.
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