Welcome to F.I.E.L.D.- the First Ismaili Electronic Library and Database.

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 say

Alnaz Jiwa say

From: Alnaz Jiwa [mailto:alnazjiwa@

Hi, the sentence noted below is a lawyer's standard tool when seeking more info.

I had refused to name the person I bought books from, or the names of people whom I either did not charge for the books or who did not pay 9although expected to pay me). I had said (on oath) that I bought for $50.00 and sold some for $50.00 and some gave away for free. I had mailed one book to a lady in Chicago and paid $20.00 in postage, she sent me $70.00, $50.00 for the book and $20.00 for postage.

I gave the lawyer a copy of her email (where she confirms $50.00 plus shipping and handling), my copy of the fedEx invoice showing the charge to justify the shipping charge to her. Mr, Gray despite my showing him the ORIGINAL receipt of the postage, continues to tell the court that some books were sold for $70.00 by me (COMPLETELY IGNORING TO TELL THE COURT THAT $20.00 was for shipping).

Now the Court believes that we might have made substantial profits if we sold the books for $70.00 (as repeatedly told by Gray), and the Court, I think, WIll order all disclosure to be provided.

In fact, when I told Gray that the payments were all made in cash, he expressed disbelief that so much cash (about $2,500 in two batches) were paid by me in cash to my supplier. (I guess I he spoke with his client, our imam, he might discover that our jamats do not accept certified cheques, drafts, or cheques, for paying dasond, and often people carry tens of thousands of dollars in cash to jamatkhanas, on a routine basis.

Gray has been telling the Court that perhaps Nagib had ordered books to be published through another printer. I guess anything goes, whether or not it has an air or reality. (Who in his right mind would order such books to be printed by different printers ordering about 5,000 books from two pr more printers.)

Despite the above, in terms of accounting for profits (Gray is saying to the Court that the Aga Khan WANTS the defendants to account for PROFITS) and he is trying to determine how much profits we have made.

So normally profits would be, price sold less costs of purchase and other expenses. I told the Court and Gray that although I paid $50.00 for each book I bought and I sold for $50.00, I will NOT deduct the 18 books I returned to them, or for the purchase price I paid and for the free books given away, in other words, I AM AGREEABLE TO PAY full selling price as MY SHARE OF PROFITS, that means I would pay a PROFIT of $50.00 for every book I bought.

In other words I am OFFERING full proceeds I received (and MUCH MORE) as notional profits to the Imam. This offer has not been accepted and not to satisfy the court that there is something fishy about my involvement, Gray has started saying that, by the way, Jiwa has sold for $70.00 and not for $50.00 (see my note above), and he wants to again discover me (on oath, despite that he has done so on two occasions already.)

I guess, IF GRAY is to be believed, that our imam is VERY greedy and wants to extract every penny and MORE from us than what we have earned (in reality LOST). What else can I do or say. I have offered to the Imam to pay 1000 times more in profit even though I lost money distributing His farmans.

MHI expressed His view during Golden Jubilee in London about leaders. I cannot add more to the Imam's feelings.

Alnaz
"


Back to top