Legal Question in Intellectual Property in

Re: Can he take legal action?

Eulalia, here is an answer you probably do not expect from a lawyer.

If your church is a Christian church, and the person your message refers to claims to be a Christian, then scripture requires you to work through the process of conciliation set out in Matthew 18, before you take him to court. A good explanation of this, and how that process works as well as its imerative for Christians (and setting out the passages from the Epistles which also forbid Christians from taking one another to court), is at the Peacemaker Ministries site, http://www.peacemakerministries.org.

Under the discipline of Matthew 18, you may only take the person to court after he rejects the full Matthew 18 process. The reason for the process is first, because Christ hates discord among believers, and second, to bring the person back into fellowship. It is also important, as you are working through the process, to pray for the person and for reconciliation.

We also do work in the area of trademark and trade names, and particular domain name rights. If you have worked through the Matthew 18 process unsuccessfully with the person, and committed it to prayer, we would be glad to talk with you and our church about our rates for handling the problem. If so please give us a call; our toll free number is 800-537-6930.