Jews for Jesus sues Google over blog

The suit says a Web log hosted through the Internet search leader's Blogspot service infringes its trademark.

The story "Jews for Jesus sues Google over blog" published December 22, 2005 at 6:59 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

Content from Reuters expires after 30 days.

[booboo1243]

Christian ?? I did not know it was Christian-like to sue... :-(

I did not know it was Christian-like to sue... :-(

[TheyCallMeGeorge]

You're right. It's not.

As a practicing evangelical Christian, normally I would take the side of the Christians in an issue like this, but you definitely have a point here. 1 Corinthians 6:1 says:

"If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints?"

I know there's a few other verses in the Bible concerning lawsuits as well...but you get the point. I think that the Christian thing to do in this situation is to keep quiet and leave the judgement up to God. (And our justice system has certainly proven itself to be "ungodly")

[advs89]

Well

I think that if they were only asking for it to be renamed, and maybe the court costs, then it would be fine; but unspecified monetary damages sounds like taking it too far.

[ClevelandGuy]

Suit

This is America where every thing is handled in the courts. Is it un-Christian to sue? Only if you're the one being sued or if you favor the cause of the offended.

[PCCRomeo]

Message has been deleted.

[benbender1]

jfj

I will ask google to wipe JFJ also off their server, since they are the biggest antisemites you will ever find!

[Eskiegirl302]

Sounds to me like--

The blog was doing them a favor. I had never heard of "Jew for Jesus" untill just now. Hmm This did something for their name anyway. Since I still know absolutely nothing about them I will just say, Way to Blog!!

[AnayarThar]

where is our freedom?

I was wondering on which ground they sue google for hosting that blogs. If we also have a group name like them here in my country and we already register in our country then we also can sue them for duplicating our's name? Nah, i don't think so. If people follow their way and sue each other then what will be gonna happen? Think about it?

[exjfj]

JFJ is still dysfunctional

As a former JFJ employee (and member of exjewsforjesus.org), I once knew Susan Perlman and other leaders in JFJ. The place was dysfunctional to the core and apparently still is. Whatever the merits of this ministry, its actions speak louder than its words.

[croupier01]

Who Would Jesus Sue?

Why do folks always think litigation is the best way to settle disputes? Because lawyers told them to, to build up business? It is a sad day when a so called religious group must resort to such a gutter tactic. Why not pray for thy enemies? Seems to me that Jesus might approve. What goes around, comes around! Seems like He said something about reaping what ye sow too. I wonder what these JFJ's will be reaping?

ROFLMFAO

This is the greatest switcharoo I've ever heard on their slogan "What Would Jesus Do?" LMFAO

[anticitizen one]

stupid idiots

**** i hate people like this. if they dont ******* like it. dont read it....ugh

[loobylou911]

Jews for Jesus? How about Turkeys Vote for Christmas?

Forgive me for being obtuse but isn't a Jew who believes in Jesus a...Christian? Now, I'm an atheist so my knowledge of Biblical history is a bit rusty but didn't Saul (then Jewish) become Paul (and become a Christian)? Weren't all Jesus's followers originally Jewish and, by the very act of following Jesus, become Christians?

Given the horrors inflicted upon Jews in the name of Christ over the last 1000 years or so, I find it bizarre that any Jewish person would even think about supporting Jesus (not because there's anything inherently wrong with what Jesus was apparently trying to impart but because of the inhumanity which too many of his followers have imparted in his name).

So, what next? Jews For Nazis? African-Americans For Slavery? Native Americans for Genocide? Turkeys For Christmas? :-)

[pospesgc]

Back to the beginning

Acts 11 - Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus...And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

So, you see, they were all JFJ until nonJews began to follow Jesus. JFJ is nostalgic; JFN, AAFS, NAFG, and TFC are aberrations.

[ClevelandGuy]

Turkeys for Christmas

Christians have done more to help Jews then any other group in the world. Who do you think risked their lives to hide and rescue Jews during WWII or who do you think supported the invasion of Germany in part to stop the holocast? Who help Jews escape the persecution in the former USSR to the tune of 200 million dollars? Who has supported the state of Israel against the attempts by the left in this country to allow it to be destroyed by Islamic hate groups? I think if left to the radical left the nation of Israel would soon cease to exist! Christians and Jews are at war but not against each other but against the haters of the Judeo-Christian values!

[benbender1]

Antisemites for J.

I will ask google to wipe JFJ also off their server, since they are the biggest antisemites you will ever find!

[exjfj]

Not antisemites

If you knew anything about Jews for Jesus, you would know they are not antisemitic. They are an Evangelical group - which means most are Dispensationalists, and therefore mostly Christian Zionists. And to think you can go to Google and have them "wiped off their server" by raising that old "antisemitic" canard shows you know even less about free speech than JFJ does.

[chuchucuhi]

hehehe

Wow, now I've heard everything. I hope this goes nowhere and fast.

[Vetter83]

What reputation??

"Our reputation is at stake,"

Are you talking the reputation of the group that helped elect this corrupt regime? Or the group that takes itself WAY too serious? Or the group that wants to tell other faiths how to believe??
That reputation??

[y2ksm0kes]

Get rich quick again eh?

Why are Jews for Jesus going for a lawsuit anyway? Who are these people, and why are they using God's name to cause trouble for others? Too much time on their hands? Maybe they did not read the Bible enough? And why do they want money, Jesus would'nt want money, or money exchangers.

[gubbord]

JfJ is a cult run by the Christian Religious Right

the organization is funded by evangelical christians in order to recruit jews to christianity which they believe will bring on the end of days and armageddon

the organization uses some jews who had converted to christianity or people who are trained to sound jewish, they try use jewish terminology calling jesus, yeshua and calling baptism a mikvah. They stalk people, they go to nursing homes and try to convince senile elderly Jewish people to accept Jesus. The whole thing is as phony as a three dollar bill

on top of that internally the function as a cult which takes over their members lives, Jews for Jesus has authority over who they can date, money goes to JFJ and people are beaten down and brainwashed into going along which is what this is about, there's been an effort by former cult members to speak out against the organization which JFJ is trying to squash

JFJ has very powerfull evangelical backing, its former legal counsel Jay Sekulow who plundered millions runs Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice and is close to Bush. So they have a major interest in not letting any of this get out

for more see this website http://www.exjewsforjesus.org/

[ClevelandGuy]

JFJ

This is nothing but slanderous lies by people who oppose tier mission! Jews for Jesus is a wonderful organization which is kind and generous to Jews and non Jews alike. Sure their focus is the sharing of Jesus as the promised Messiah to the Jewish people but they are not controlling or dominating by any stretch of the imagination and always share their beliefs in a considerate and loving manner. I am not a member but have contact with them for many years and have found them to be one of the most loving and gracious groups of any religious organization I've dealt with.

As with any group there will always be unhappy ex-members, just ask the Democratic Party, i.e. Zell Miller who seek to elevate themselves at the expense of the group they left. This should never be a true reflection of the group! Please don't spread such slanderous and hurtful lies unless you can prove them; and so far you have not!

[Nathan Lunn]

This just in... Blogger Terms of Service

5. PRIVACY POLICY... Pyra will also not monitor, edit, or disclose the contents of a Member's information unless required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (1) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on Pyra;

6a. CONTENT OWNERSHIP Unless stated otherwise for specific services, Member will retain copyright ownership and all related rights for information he or she publishes through Blogger or otherwise enters into Blogger-related services.

6b. CONTENT RESPONSIBILITY Member acknowledges and agrees that Pyra neither endorses the contents of any Member communications nor assumes responsibility for any threatening, libelous, obscene, harassing or offensive material contained therein, any infringement of third party intellectual property rights arising therefrom or any crime facilitated thereby.

12. MEMBER CONDUCT... Member agrees:... (2) not to use the Service for illegal purposes;

Seems to me JFJ is suing the wrong person. It's the blog owner who is violating the trademark. Unless the lawsuit against Google is to get the name of the blog owner, which could be obtained with a subpoena, this is just an attempt to get publicity.

Read the full BTS here:
http://www.blogger.com/terms.g

[Whistle Blower]

TOS Compliance

I am the owner of the blog. I have reviewed the terms of service in its entirety, and believe I am in full compliance.
From what I know of the leadership at Jews for Jesus, they started this process right after I recommended for them to set up their blog on their own website. They would have already raised the issue of TOS with Google. Google would have reviewed my postings, found them to be within the bounds of the TOS, and refused JfJ's effort to censor free speech.
I also note that the TOS specifically calls for any dispute to be settled in California. Even though JfJ is headquartered in California, they are not a party of the TOS. They think they can get a favorable result from a judge that already ruled in their favor. They are taking a pretty big gamble with their donor's monies.
If JfJ loses in court, Google may be awarded reasonable attornies fees and expenses. I am sure it isn't cheap for Google to pursue a case in NY, and the expenses, while insignificant to Google, could be sufficient enough to stifle Jews for Jesus for years to come.
The Bible says something about settling an issue before going to court because the judge just may not rule the way you would want. If JfJ were to ever read the Bible and see a verse that specifically applies to its action, this might be the very verse for them to meditate upon.

[cyberajnabee]

HEllo

Sure they will win the lwasuit what about matinlutherking.com you just can't do that its the world of internet and the judge will simply say to these guys "wake up"

[sanenazok]

TOS

Terms of service is a contract between blogger and the blogging site. A third party who claims to be wronged by blog content isn't a party to the TOS, so it would be extremey difficult for them to enforce the contract. Google is the right party to sue, but all they'll get is a court order, and that's only if they win.

[10ft2ft.com]

Anyone see where Objectivity went?

I see a lot of negative burns toward Christians, but not a lot of rational discussion of the issue. It's never okay for someone to use any business' name for the purposes of spreading negative things about them. It might still be legal, but it's not right. BUT... the same would go for the tracts (if the blogger's story is true). If everyone's telling the truth, it's a wash. Jews for Jesus should not have used other trademarked images or names for evangelical purposes, but they have every right to be evangelical. By the same token, this blogger has every right to say what he says, but he shouldn't be able to use the name. All he'd have to do is change it to something like "ihatejewsforjesus.blogspot.com" - that way no one will mistake his blog for being associated with Jews for Jesus, which is the real issue. They can't save their reputation, but they should have a right to their name.