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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

Letter to and from Malik

Letter to and from Malik Talib Predident of Aga Khan Council for Canada

Thanks Mahebub for asking this question on the behalf of myself and all the others on our team who submitted our letter and email to Mr Talib in December 2013 and to which we have had no response or even an acknowledgement like he has given to the volunteers ANONYMOUS email. What does that tell you ?

Regards Fazilet

On Thu, Oct 30, 2014 at 5:40 AM, wrote to Malik Talib
Please confirm emails below. Please advise;

1 You say want to meet them. Why then are you not meeting for example Fasilet, me, and or Nagib/Alnaz (after going to his printers), for example,

a. to discuss and resolve the specific & reasoned requests, including

i. ending of the lawsuit and the offer to end the lawsuit against Alnaz and nagib

ii. giving of Farmans, and of our full constitutions,

iii. not responding to the specific issues.

2 Can you please share what have you done regarding the issues in this letter.

3 What do you want their names for ? Why not just tell them what you have done?

Mahebub

From: cfc@talib.ca
To: tivc@outlook.com
Subject: Re: Breaking the Silence-Volunteers at Opening Ceremonies
Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 03:34:28 +0000

Dear Volunteer
I acknowledge receipt of your email.
Please send me your contacts so we can arrange to meet you to discuss the issues raised.
Best regards
Malik

On Oct 24, 2014, at 11:06 AM, tivc volunteergroup wrote:

Ya ali madad President Talib,

We are a GROUP of volunteers who were given various duties during the opening ceremonies of the Ismaili Centre and the Aga Khan Museum. Our group of seva dharis consists of volunteers given various duties in the Centre and the Museum such as crowd control, ushering, transportation, refreshments, registration and also some of us were given various duties at the Energy Centre., for this barakat, we convey our shukhrana's to our beloved Imam.

After the events were over we have met several times to ponder on the events and all the arrangements, our duties and jamat and donor's reactions. We have also read some of the emails that have been circulating regarding the treatment of the Canadian Donors and also an investigation done by Mr.Dharamsey of UK about the event. After a lot of discussion, we feel that it is appropriate that we take this opportunity and write to you as you are the Captain of our ship.

Mr.Dharamsey's investigation has reported glaring mismanagement and insulting attitude towards our major canadian donors, as volunteers that had duties in various areas we totally agree with what has been reported.


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