Jason Gastrich has
repeatedly invoked abusive use of the Digital Millennium Copyright
Act (DMCA) against me and others to silence criticism of his many
ignorant assertions. On July 19, 2004 Mr. Gastrich launched another of
these attacks by sending the following E-mail to me.
From: "Dr. Jason Gastrich"
<Jason@occm.org>
To: <lisabill@mydurango.net>
Subject: Cease and Desist
Date: Monday, July 19, 2004 2:35 AM
To Whom it May Concern,
Cease and desist using OCCM's copyrighted logo on your web page
(http://durangobill.com/JasonGastrich.html -
http/www.durangobill.com/JasonG5.jpg).
Sincerely,
OCCM
--------
Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
http://www.jcsm.org
Over 60,000 web pages!
John 8:36 reads, "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be
free indeed."
Galatians 5:1 reads, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which
Christ has made
us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage."
ICQ#: 20731140
AIM: MrJasonGastrich
YIM: Jesus_Saved_Jason
This started a long and expensive (for me) process to prove
myself innocent.
The above “Cease and Desist” E-mail is not
legally valid as lacks additional information that should have been
included. It appears he also simultaneously sent an equivalent E-mail
to my web host, Yahoo. On July 21, 2004 Yahoo sent a “Notice of
Infringement” E-mail to me which indicated I had to remove my
entire “Jason Gastrich” page or they would shut down my
entire website. My “Jason Gastrich” page was composed by
me, not Jason Gastrich, and thus was my material. Over the next two
days I repeatedly called the Copyright at Yahoo office to clarify what
parts of the page could be deleted and still comply with the
“Notice of Infringement” order. I was never able to get
past the usual prerecorded messages. I also sent E-mails to Copyright
at Yahoo asking them to call me. These E-mails were ignored. On July
23, 2004 Yahoo shut down my entire website to the point where I had no
access to see or edit any of the pages.
On July 26, 2004 I was finally able to contact a real
person at Yahoo. They allowed me access in order to delete the entire
“Jason Gastrich” web page and replace it with a short note
outlining what had happened. The material on the Jason page was down
from July 26, 2004 until late Jan. 2005.
About July 27, 2004 I sent a DMCA Counter Notification to
Yahoo. (Both an E-mail and Certified letter versions) The DMCA Counter
Notification included the following statements:
“My use of the material is legally protected because it falls
within the "fair use" provision of the copyright regulations, as
defined in 17 USC 107.” (This “Fair Use” section of
the Copyright Law explicitly states
“…the
fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in
copies…for purposes such as criticism… is not an
infringement of copyright.”)
and
“I hereby consent to the jurisdiction of Federal
District Court for the judicial district in which I
reside…” (I reside in Colorado.)
The Counter Notification
that I returned to Yahoo would have let me repost my “Jason
Gastrich” page if Jason did not file a lawsuit against me. Even
though the law states that this should be filed in “the judicial
district in which I reside”, Jason initiated the lawsuit on Aug.
4, 2004 in California. It took several attempts by Jason before the
action was accepted by the court system. (Jason has the glib spiel of a
Snake-oil Salesman that offsets his lack of integrity and scientific
knowledge.)
Jason did not use an attorney to file the action. It is
doubtful that a legitimate attorney would present the case. Also,
California usually charges $150 to file a case, but allows anyone who
is legitimately broke (e.g. someone currently in Jail) to file using
“forma pauperis” instead. Even though Jason can afford
numerous trips abroad (See his pictures at http://www.jcsm.org/Pictures/PhotoAlbums.htm), he managed to convince the court to go
ahead with the action via “forma pauperis”.
The court documents state that Jason was asking for $2,000
damages. Jason may be under the delusion that this was not the amount,
but $2,000 is the amount of record. You can confirm this by clicking here.
I was away for most of September on a trip to visit
friends and family with the result that physical delivery of the
“Complaint” was delayed until Oct. 4, 2004. I was then
forced to hire a lawyer in California to defend myself. My attorney in
turn filled the necessary papers to have the case dismissed.
However, the “Plaintiff alleges” section of
Jason’s Complaint is shown below to illustrate how Jason
willfully misrepresented the truth in this case. There were 6
paragraphs in the section. Each is quoted exactly as shown in Jason's
Complaint followed by the real facts.
Plaintiff alleges
“1.
Plaintiff is, and at all times mentioned in this complaint was, Jason
Alan Gastrich.”
Fact:
No argument
“2. William J. Butler, Jr. was using and has plans to continue
using the Online Christ-Centered Ministries graphic that belongs to
Jason Alan Gastrich. It was taken from
http://occm.org; which is a web site created and maintained by Jason
Alan Gastrich. Specifically, the infringer has taken the first graphic
listed on http://www.occm.org/BannerLogos.htm. The
file name is
http://occm.org/BannerLogos/OCCMBanner.jpg and as it says on the
graphic, it is only for OCCM member web pages. Nobody else is allowed
to use it."
Fact:
The picture was copied from a web page at Shepherd Bible College. The
URL at the top of the picture and several sections of the picture
identify it as part of the text published by Shepherd Bible
College. (The picture in question is the first
“Shepherd Bible College” picture shown on the main Jason
Gastrich page. Jason never presented the picture as part of his
complaint – mostly because this would reveal that it was not
copied from the occm.org website.)
(All references refer to the occm.org website as it appeared in early
Oct. 2004.) The web page at
http://occm.org says nothing about restrictions on
copying or usage. The single graphic shown at
http://occm.org/BannerLogos/OCCMBanner.jpg
(Jason’s reference to the graphic in question) says nothing about
copying or usage. As of Oct. 1, 2004, the page at
http://www.occm.org/BannerLogos.htm had 6 graphics,
and states that anyone can copy some of them. None of the graphics has
any copyright or trademark notice.
The picture that I was using included Mr. Gastrich's name as part of
the graphic. While Mr. Gastrich claims that I copied the graphic from
his BannerLogos page, in truth none of the graphics on this page
contain Mr. Gastrich's name. Thus I could not have copied it from this
page, and Mr. Gastrich's allegation is false.
(If Jason changes any of these graphics as they appeared as of Oct, 10,
2004, and you would like to see the original version, please send me an
E-mail and I will return it with an attachment of the downloaded web
pages.)
“3. William J. Butler Jr. has admitted taking the image. His
admission is attached to this pleading as "Attached Evidence #1." He
believes it is ok because he merely took it by means of a "screen
capture."
Fact:
The text in Exhibit # 1 is not an admission of anything as there is no
indication of the content of the pictures. However, the text in Exhibit
#1 is an accurate copy of a posting I made in Google groups, and does
pertain to the picture in question. It is a generic description on how
to capture any screen image. (My copy of Section 107 of the Copyright
Law at http://www.durangobill.com/JG_DMCA_abuse.html used exactly the
same process.)
The "Fair Use" section of the Copyright Law gives me the right to use
the pictures as evidence in my criticism of Mr. Gastrich.
(Note: Jason did not include a copy of the graphic/picture in question
in any part of his evidence for the complaint – at least in the
copy that was sent to me.)
“4. A cease and desist letter was sent to William J. Butler Jr.
and he did not comply. Instead, he wrote inflammatory things on his web
site about the Plaintiff. His site is http://durangobill.com and the
infringing page is http://durangobill.com/JasonGastrich.html"
Fact:
Mr. Gastrich did not send a letter to me. Mr. Gastrich sent a "cease
and desist" E-mail to me on July 19. (Shown near the beginning of this
web page) It appears he simultaneously sent an E-mail to Yahoo. Yahoo
shut down my entire web site on July 23. The entire content of my Jason
Gastrich page has been disabled since July 23
Mr. Gastrich did not identify the "inflammatory things". Perhaps he is
upset that I had been documenting his behavior in the “Jason
Gastrich and the Farrell Till “Gay” Forgery” case on
my Jason Gastrich web page.
“5. A letter was sent to the Yahoo! Corporation. They were
listing his web site in their search engine and they were hosting the
infringing page on their server. In order to take advantage of the safe
harbor clause by the DMCA, they removed the infringing page.”
Fact:
True although I cannot vouch for Mr. Gastrich’s method of
contacting Yahoo.
“6. William J. Butler, Jr. submitted a counter-claim to them and
made a statement under penalty of perjury that he was not committing
copyright infringement. The letter I received from Yahoo! Regarding his
counter-claim is included with this pleading as “Attached
Evidence #2.” The defendant’s counter-claim caused Yahoo!
To notify me and give me 14 business days to file this pleading or else
they would reinstate the infringing graphic and web page.”
Fact:
Mr. Gastrich's Exhibit # 2 (2a and 2b) is not a complete copy of the
Counter Notification letter that I sent to Yahoo. He selected out of
context portions of it that tend to present a false conclusion -
particularly in regard to why I believe I have a right to use the
picture(s). Specifically he failed to include portions of the Counter
Notification that included details that the graphic had no Copyright
notice, that section 107 of the Copyright Law (“Fair Use”)
allows me to use a copy of the material as evidence for criticism, and
the statement “The complaint does not follow the prescribed form
for notification”. In summary, he willfully falsified evidence
presented in the case.
In early December 2004 United States District Court, Southern District
of California finally dismissed the case.
Is Mr. Gastrich Capable of Recognizing Reality?
This lawsuit against me was filed by a person who may not
be able to distinguish between the real world (the actual truth) and
his own fantasies. The “Print Screen” image below shows a
portion of the “Jason’s court case” discussion within
Google Groups. The relevant portion is a conversation between David
Sienkiewicz and Jason Gastrich. It was posted on Jan. 1, 2005. I have
replaced the “>’s” with actual names to facilitate
identification of the individuals involved.
David
Sienkiewicz: Does the court document contain the phrase
“Demand: $2000” anywhere?
Jason Gastrich: No.
David Sienkiewicz: Well, Jason,
perhaps you have some other explanation for this:
http://www.geocities.com/hdsienkiewicz/JG_DOC_A.jpg
I’m sure we’ll be glad to
hear it.
You may click on the above
link to see Mr. Sienkiewicz’s photocopy of the court document. He
has deleted Mr. Gastrich’s telephone number and address as a
courtesy to preserve Mr. Gastrich’s privacy. Otherwise the
original photo has not been altered.
I took the original
photograph of the court document and sent a copy to Mr. Sienkiewicz.
Please click here if you would like to see my original photo.
The copy on Mr. Sienkiewicz’s
website has not been altered except for Mr. Gastrich’s telephone
number and address.
My original copy has not been altered in
any way.
In particular:
The “Filed: 08/04/04” date
has not been altered. (Jason has submitted several filings regarding
this case.)
The “August 31, 2004 7:40
pm” date and time showing the Docket status has not been altered.
The “Demand: $2,000” has not
been altered.
The above “Demand: $2,000”
was the amount of record from August 31, 2004 until the case was
dismissed about Dec, 9, 2004 notwithstanding any claim to the contrary
by Jason Gastrich.
(Not shown in either photo (off the
bottom of the picture) but present on my original document from the
court. My “hardcopy” piece of paper has a print date of
“09/08/2004 8:32 AM”)
As shown in the Print Screen image, on
Jan. 1, 2005 Jason Gastrich answered the question: “Does
the court document contain the phrase “Demand: $2000”
anywhere?”
with a “No.”
Notice to Mr. Jason Gastrich
Now that your case has been dismissed, I have a legal
record that you have filed a frivolous/malicious lawsuit. This gives me
legal grounds to file a countersuit regarding any future action that
you might file. If you try this again in the future, I will exercise
this
right and ask for damages against you. Should I prevail in any such
future action, and you are unable to pay the damages, I will seize your
websites as collateral. As to what would happen next here is a
hint: Think - Black Hole.
Also see: Jason Gastrich’s “
Résumé ”
Return to the main Jason Gastrich page
Web page generated via
KompoZer