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See original German document
find more background here and here
find the request for monthly payments here and here
find the request for severe penalties here and here and here and here
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Preliminary translation of AAWS lawyer's letter re: German AA lawsuits -- by Randy Summary: Give us your soul, deliver your peer members for slaughter and we'll stop trying to destroy you for now, however we assert the right to start the witch hunt all over again any time in the future should WE decide you were not submissive enough.
DR. ROTH & KOLLEGEN RECHTSANWÄLTE frieder.roth@copyroth.de RAe DR. ROTH & KOLLEGEN GEWORZMOHLSTRASSE 5 D-80538 MÜNCHEN
To: Herrn Rechtsanwalt Dr. Christian Russ An der Ringkirche 6 - 8 3. Feb. 2004 Received by Fuhrmann Wallenfels Binder Feb 3, 2004
1.February 2004
AAWS, Inc. versus M____
December 4th last year in the name of defendant you asked if AAWS would agree to monthly rates of Euro 1,000.00 beginning April 1st, 2004 for AAWS attorney’s cost according to KfB of Nov 17, 2003. I replied on Dec11 and asked for information until end of the year if defendant has paid all court cost. My letter was not answered. Nonetheless our clients decided to make an offer to Mr. M____. It determines that all attorney’s cost and punitive damages are put on hold/deferred [i.e. not waived] as long and as far as Mr. M____ adheres to his obligations as set down in the enforced court sentences and in addition refrains from manufacturing or distributing AA literature again. Court cost are not put on hold/deferred, because they have been prepaid by our clients and are therefore exempt. hint: convert Euro into any other currency here
friendly
regards 2 This
offer is established in the form of an attorney’s agreement. A draft is
attached. This draft was thoroughly discussed in detail with and agreed by both
AAeV and AAWS. I think the text is self explaining and is up
to you to reveal the meaning of certain paragraphs to your client. Should something be unclear please contact me.
You can also give me a call. My clients want to have the matter closed once and for all. In the name
of our clients we request until: February 15th, 2004 To inform us whether or not he is ready to
enter into this attorney’s settlement. Should Mr. M____ have wishes for
changes please work it out with him and send us your final text version by this
date so that our clients can decide if they accept it without once more
contacting Mr. M____. We announce that any delay is impossible.
[draft] Attorney’s settlement according to German Law § 796 a ZPO between 1.
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., legally represented by its President
(General Manager?) Greg Muth, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10115, USA -
hereafter called "AAWS,Inc." - 2. Anonyme Alkoholiker Interessengemeinschaft e. V., legally represented
by the leading Board Members Günther Habedank, Rolf Schreiter and Dieter
Strehlow, Lotte-Branz-Straße 14, 80939 Munich -
hereafter called "AAeV" - both
represented by attorney Frieder Roth, Gewürzmühlstraße 5, 80538 Munich and Mr. M____,
[address] - represented
by attorney Dr. Christian Russ, An der Ringkirche 6-8, 65197 Wiesbaden 2 Preamble AAWS,
Inc. and AAeV have brought lawsuits against Mr. M____ before public courts in
order to forbid him to engage in manufacturing and/or distributing of literary
works which are copyrighted by AAWS, Inc. or revised free editions thereof.
These lawsuits resulted in court orders that are now valid and in force: - Sentence
of county court Frankfurt of May 14th, 1999, AAeV versus
M____, Az.: 2/3 0 478/97, - Partial
sentence of superior court Frankfurt of August 22nd, 2000, AAeV versus M____, Az.: 11 U 53/99 - Partial
and final sentence of superior court Frankfurt of October 7th,
2003 including amendment of October
28th, 2003, AAeV versus M____, Az.: 11 U 53/99, - Sentence
of county court Frankfurt of March 2nd, 2000, AAWS, Inc. versus M____, Az.: 2/3 0 319/99, as well as - final
sentence of superior court Frankfurt of October
7th, 2003, AAWS, Inc. versus
M____, Az.: 11 U 22/00. It
is referred to these court sentences, they are substantial part of this
agreement. They entirely confirmed the legal opinion of AAWS, Inc. and AAeV and
ordered Mr. M____ to pay all related cost. It is the expressed intention of both parties to bring their confrontation to an end once and for all by means of this agreement. It shall be avoided that new confrontations between them arise. This intention is also backed up by their common will to ward off damage to AA. 3 Having mentioned this at the outset the parties enter into the following agreement
1. Each party can for itself and independently take legal steps in order to enforce any rights resulting from this agreement or from the mentioned court sentences. This can be done by lawsuits in court or by other means outside court. Accordingly each party can declare this settlement is put in force and can start compulsory execution (see 13).
2. Mr. M____ declares, that he has not yet filed appeal against above mentioned court sentences and that he will refrain to do so in the future, including extraordinary measures as a constitutional complaint or the like.
AAWS, Inc. and AAeV accept this waiver.
3. This settlement leaves all rights for injunction of AAWS, Inc. and AAeV resulting from above mentioned enforced court sentences untouched. 4. Mr. M____ puts himself under an obligation to AAWS, Inc. as well as to AAeV, exceeding/extending the above mentioned court sentences, to pay a penalty of EURO 10,000.00 for each single case of disobedience world wide, to abstain from the following: hint: convert Euro into any other currency here - Now and for all future, to manufacture, copy, distribute or make publicly available AA literature or revised editions of such literature, which is marketed by AAWS, Inc., The AA Grapevine, Inc. and/or by national Service Offices of AA including AAeV (Literature offers by AAWS, Inc. are available in the current literature catalog of AAWS, Inc., literature offers by AAeV are available in the literature list in the internet under URL www.anonyme-alkoholiker.de), to do this by himself or through others, especially in the internet or other networks. This commitment/obligation is valid/enforced regardless whether a particular piece of literature has copyright protection or not. 4 5.
Mr. M____ puts himself under an obligation, to reveal information to AAeV until
March 31, 2004 about the following printed items: ·
Das Blaue Buch, published by Big Books Study Group (Anlage K 1 in
lawsuit AAeV versus M____, Az. des LG Frankfurt 2/3 0 478/97), ·
A-A-aktuell newsletter, issue 11/95 (Anlage K 2 in same
lawsuit), as
well as ·
A-A-aktuell, issue 7/96 (Anlage K 3 in same
lawsuit) Information
is required in written form for each item separately. a)
number of copies printed, time of production for each printing separately b)
number of copies given away, listed separately containing entries for each
period of three months. c)
Complete names, company names, type of manufacturing companies regardless of
their legal construction, last name and first name of owner or responsible
manager or legal representative, including postal address that can be used to
submit legal papers or court orders (P.O. Box address is insufficient). d)
Manufacturing cost including a copy of invoices or similar documents. e) Commercial recipients of the
books/newsletters and other persons who
work in a commercial business and were involved in giving away [i.e. other AA
members]. Required is
information as under c) above. A
list of all monies/financial income resulting from these books/newsletters, both
in total and divided in periods of three months each. g)
Existing stock of above books/newsletters at the time of signing this settlement,
including postal address of the warehouse where the stock resides, persons who
work in a commercial business and were involved in putting the items into the
warehouse [i.e. other AA members] including complete names and addresses that can be used to submit
legal papers or court orders, same as under c) above.
5 6. Mr. M____ places himself under an
obligation to hand over still existing copies of books/newsletters according to
(5.) within 14 days as soon as AAeV has requested this in writing, he will give
the remaining stock to the court marshal. Should
Mr. M____ infringe on his obligation to hand over the books according to this
agreement he is obliged to pay a penalty of EURO
500.00 for each single day of
delay. 7.
Mr. M____ puts himself under an obligation to reveal information to AAWS, Inc.
until March 31, 2004 about the following printed items: ·
The Little Big Book, ISBN 0-9663282-1-3 ·
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, Hebrew Edition 1993 ·
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, Russian Edition ·
Anonymar Alcolister, Swedish Edition, ISBN 91-970935-0-5 ·
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, Finish Edition ·
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, Spanish Edition ·
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, ISBN 0-963766-0-0 ·
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, Study Edition, ISBN 0-963766-1-9 ·
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, Reprint of 1st printing of 1939 Information
is required in written form for each item separately: a)
number of copies printed, time of production for each printing separately b)
number of copies given away, listed separately containing entries for each
period of three months. c) Complete names, company names, type of manufacturing companies regardless of their legal construction, last name and first name of owner or responsible manager or legal representative, including postal address that can be used to submit legal papers or court orders (P.O. Box address is insufficient). 6 d)
Manufacturing cost including a copy of invoices or similar documents. e) Commercial recipients of the
books/newsletters and other persons who
work in a commercial business and were involved in giving away [i.e. other AA
members]. Required is
information as under c) above. A
list of all monies/financial income resulting from these books/newsletters, both
in total and divided in periods of three months each. g)
Existing stock of above books/newsletters at the time of signing this settlement,
including postal address of the warehouse where the stock resides, persons who
work in a commercial business and were involved in putting the items into the
warehouse [i.e. other AA members] including complete names and addresses that can be used to submit
legal papers or court orders, same as under c) above.
8.
Mr. M____ puts himself under an obligation to
hand over still existing copies of books/newsletters according to (5.) within 14
days as soon as AAWS, Inc. has requested this in writing, he will give the
remaining stock to the court marshal. Should
Mr. M____ infringe on his obligation to hand over the books according to this
agreement he is obliged to pay a contractual penalty of EURO 500.00 for each
single day of delay. hint: convert Euro into any other currency here 9.
Mr. M____ admits his liability for the damage done to AAWS, Inc. and AAeV
through his actions which have now become forbidden for him according to the
court sentences listed in the preamble. 10.
How much money Mr. M____ has to pay according to the court orders listed in the
preamble is determined according to the court rulings about cost (KFB) which at
the time of entering into this agreement are not yet known in full but partially
only. The exact amount will be determined after the final court ruling about
cost becomes available. All
and any court cost for the lawsuits must be paid by Mr. M____ according to rules
outlined later, while non-court cost of AAWS, Inc. and AAeV Will be put on hold/deferred for Mr. M____, 7 but under certain conditions only, as
outlined later. In detail the following is agreed
upon: a) According to court order KFB of
Nov 17, 2003 (AAWS, Inc. versus M____, I. Instanz) Mr. M____ owes AAWS,
Inc. for court cost DM 8.865,00 equal to Euro 4.532,60 plus interest since March
9th, 2002. Mr. M____ pays this amount in monthly rates of Euro 1,000.00, payable
each first day of the month, for the fist time he pays March 1st, 2004 to AAWS,
Inc. using the attorney’s account Dr. Roth & Kollegen, Munich,
HypoVereinsbank Munich, Account-Nr.: 6870032909, Bank code: 70020270. hint: convert Euro into any other currency here b) In the same manner Mr. M____ pays the cost
of AAeV in the lawsuit AAeV
versus M____,
which however have not been determined yet. It is estimated to be an amount of
DM 5,265 equal to Euro 2,691.95 plus interest since October 2001. The
rates for this amount will be paid to the same account immediately after AAWS
Inc. is satisfied according to (11 a). c)
All out-of-court cost of AAWS, Inc. and AAeV, both, the already determined cost
and the still to be determined cost will be put on hold/deferred as long as he
makes his monthly payments according to (10 a) and (10b) in a timely manner.
Should he delay more than 10 days to pay the due rate not only the whole
amount according to (10 a) and
(10b) will be requested at once, but on top of that all other determined cost
plus interest. Should Mr. M____ succeed to accomplish his rate payments according to (10 a) and (10b), then, after these payments are completed, the out-of-court cost will be put on hold/deferred according to regulations in (11). 8 11.
As far and as long as Mr. M____ adheres to his obligations to provide
information, hand out printings and pay cost according to (5-11) of this
settlement and shows no disobedience to the court ordered obligations or
disobedience to obligations agreed upon in this settlement, then both
AAWS, Inc. and AAeV as well will not enforce their right in punitive damages and
in the deferred cost-payments according to (10c). However, should Mr. M____ fail
to fulfill his obligation in time and in full (for example, if he provides the
information and makes his payments, but violates his obligation for injunction [editor’s
note: not to manufacture or distribute or give away AA literature] according to
the court sentences and according to this settlement) then all punitive damages
and all requests for payments of cost of AAWS, Inc. and/or AAeV become due and
must be paid at once without any further lawsuits. AAWS,
Inc. and AAeV accept this waiver. 13. This settlement is executed in form of an attorney’s agreement
according to § 796 a ZPO German
law. This settlement shall be made executable by a notary residing in the court
district of Munich according to § 796 c ZPO German law. The application shall
be filed however after it became time for it [on arrears]. 14.
Final regulations a)
Regardless of regulations in (10 - 12) of this agreement each party pays its own
attorneys cost, especially the cost for this settlement. b) Should certain regulations of this agreement be against the law or be or become insufficient all other regulations remain untouched. The invalid regulation shall be replaced by such a valid regulation that is closest to the one which was legally 9 and commercially (!) desired. c)
There are no additional oral agreements. d)
Changes and extensions must be entered in written form to become valid, even
when the written form is not required or waived by existing law. e)
Quarrels about this settlement must be clarified before a Munich court. f) For this
settlement, for its interpretation and for any quarrels
resulting from it German law is applicable only. If lawsuits arise from this and
should German law allow this it is agreed to make use of a Munich court. .............................................. ............................................. Munich,
date ....................... New
York, date ............... ................................................ Rechtsanwalt
Frieder Roth
AAWS, Inc., Greg Muth Munich,
date ......................
Munich, date .. Attorney Frieder Roth
AAeV, G. Habedank, R. Schreiter, D. Strehlow Wiesbaden, date
.......... Wiesbaden, date ..........
..............................................
.......... .......... Attorney
Dr. Christian Russ
M____ D6\D64
Kanzleiverz. Anwaltsvergleich
AA
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