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Copyright Lawsuit: Defenses Glorifying the Aga Khan filed in federal Court - 2010-04-29

Date: 
Thursday, 2010, April 29
Location: 
Source: 
Heritage News
20100429-court-filings.jpg

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

Latest News Comments

AttachmentSize
Tajdin Defence Apr 29.10.pdf491.02 KB
Jiwa AK Defence Apr 29.10.pdf543.82 KB

Comments

Alnaz Jiwa Clarifies

" From: Alnaz Jiwa [mailto:alnazjiwa@hotmail.com]
Sent: 16 October 2014 18:54

Ya Ali Madad,

The below mentioned fact stated by the lawyer's law clerk is not totally correct. The only questions I have not answered are relating to who the distributors were, who I bought my books from.

Gray says that our Imam IS SEEKING accounting of all profits made by Nagib and me, i.e. that Hazar Imam wants us to pay to him all profits we made. Notwithstanding that we not only did not make profits, we actually lost monies in the project.

I picked up 96 books, out of which I returned 18 to ITREB. I paid $50.00 for each book, gave away about 50% for free, and sold the balance for $50.00. All in cash except a few cheques. One book I mailed by Fedex to Chicago to an Ismaili lady for about $20.00. Her email to me specifies that she will send me cheque for $50.00 for the book and for shipping and handling. I gave the copy of her cheque, her email and the Fedex receipt to justify the receipt of $70.00. I initially gave to Gray these documents with name and address blacked out, but afterwards I gave him copies of these with the names and address.

The Fedex receipt (copy) was not very clear and Gray asked me to show him the original. I did and he was satisfied that I paid for shipping.

Yet, last week at court, Gray INSISTED that I sold a book for $70.00 (DID NOT TELL THE TRUTH TO THE COURT that I paid for shipping (I was not in court when the Court asked to see the receipt) but Gray never confirmed to the court that I indeed had paid for shipping and that I had produced a copy AS WELL THE ORIGINAL to him.

He convinced the Court that we did sell books for $70.00 and made a tidy profit, and that he wants to question us again on oath to verify if more were sold for more than $50.00. (As a side note, Shafik Sachedina had sent an email to Nagib inquiring purchasing books and was quoted $50.00 per book (INCLUDING SHIPPING), and he produced that email to the court earlier.

YET now Gray continues to tell the Court that the Aga Khan wants him to verify how many books were sold and at how much. THEY HAVE NO EVIDENCE THAT ANY WAS SOLD for more than $50.00, but because I got $70.00 from one person they are now hammering that I sold for $70.00 for the book.

Profits are: selling price less EXPENSES (shipping and cost of books).

I bought 96, gave back 18 leaving 78 books sold. I have OFFERED them that I would NOT deduct any monies I paid for the books and even not bother deducting the returned books (to ITREB) and NOT deduct all books given away by me for free. Meaning that I would pay to MHI 96*$50.00= $4,800.00 as notional profits made by me.

Gray is refusing to accept and insists that MHI is telling him to SEEK a PROPER ACCOUNTING to ensure that all profits are paid to the Imam.

I would also be prepared to pay $70.00 * 96, or $6,720.00 as profits notionally earned by me.

I think that Gray has probably spent more that 5 to 10 times that amount in seekign accounting for profits from me.

So I think that the Court will be ordering me to attend for more discoveries because we might have sold the books for $70.00, although in the four years NOT ONE SHRED OF EVIDENCE has been produced by Gray that any books were sold for more than $50.00, except that he CONVENIENTLY argues that Jiwa sold one book at $70.00 (ignoring the shipping receipt that I have and showed him).

I think that Ismailis and many non-Ismailis would never believe that MHI would do what is being said as being done on the EXPRESS instructions of the Aga Khan. I know that some people might think that it is POSSIBLE that MHI is asking Gray to do what he is doing. But because we met MHI on October 15, 2010, (four years yesterday, it seems just like yesterday), I KNOW where MHI stands in this matter.

And I do not believe Gray. By submitting to the Court that I sold a book for $70.00 without coming clean that HE WAS SHOWN FEDEX RECEIPT FOR THE SHIPPING) speaks volumes about his ethics.

The fight goes on.

Alnaz

_______________________________________
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 18:48:59 -0700
From: zina.khan@

"..The law clerk says H.H. the Aga Khan experienced extraordinary difficulties in extricating any verifiable or reliable information from Nagib & Alnaz...."


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