How many times have we seen Scientology blatantly make use of copyrighted images in their fundraising materials, co-opting movies like Top Gun and Braveheart and the superhero stuff?
We always hear from readers who ask us, why don’t the owners of those images cause a stink over stuff like this…
Nothing ever seems to come of it.
Well, then Scientology messed with the Smurfs.
A couple of weeks ago, the Swiss protesters who run “Anti Scientology Blog” pointed out that a day care center in Zurich is run by Scientologists.
This was picked up by Blick, the country’s biggest newspaper, which on Sunday reported that the day care has about 12 kids, and that it has a city permit, but the business itself denied that it received any city subsidies.
About the most interesting thing about it, Blick pointed out, was its cutesy name: Kita Schlümpfli.
“Schlümpfli” is what the Smurfs are called in Switzerland, so the facility’s name translates essentially to “Smurfs Childcare.”
Yesterday, multiple Swiss news outlets reported that the Belgian rights holder to the Smurfs was not amused, and will be telling the school to change its name.
"The Smurfs stay out of politics and religion," said Philippe Glorieux, COO of the Belgian licenser IMPS. "We therefore cannot accept any relationship with Scientology."
Oh, snap.
Scientology ‘rabbi’ seeks political office in Colombia
More international news: You know that we like to keep an eye on Scientologists who decide to run for political office, which is rare. So for that reason we’re going to make note of something that came in thanks to our correspondent in Bogotá.
They pointed out that this week Richard Gamboa Ben-Eleazar took to his Facebook account to post a short video with his announcement that he’s suspending all “interfaith” efforts in order to run for Bogotá council.
Over numerous years we’ve kept an eye on Gamboa as he’s shilled for Scientology while enjoying the hospitality of the church’s cruise ship, the Freewinds.
We asked our correspondent, does Gamboa enjoy enough popular support to gain office in what would be a substantial political post?
They told us that in Colombia, there are more important factors than popular support when it comes to getting elected.
Hm. Well, OK. Does Scientology sense an opportunity here? We’ll keep an eye on the situation.
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Smurfs don’t want to go Clear. How very, very sad!
As a composer/songwriter I have been aware of copyright violations for 50 years. Hubbard got around his plagiarism and copyright violations by rewriting ideas and stories so they had different words, meaning the same thing or adding something new to someone else’s ideas. And this lack of respect for creator ownership still permeates Scientology.
What I saw regarding with Golden Era Productions music was whatever music was created for their films or audio, no composers or musicians were ever given credit. I always thought that was not respectful.
And an interesting sidebar; the theme music for the “Introduction To Scientology Film” shown in orgs to new people was written by Chris Many and me. David Miscavige who wanted something special for his new intro film was not happy with anything the Golden Era musicians were writing. So they ripped off our theme music. When I first saw the film l recognized it immediately. It was note for note.
At the time I was still in Scientology so I worked it out so that Golden Era was able to license the theme music. I contacted Ken Holden, legal at the time and he had no idea that a license was needed. That theme music is still in use in their updated intro film.
Now, Scientology Media Productions is aware of copyright laws but they still don’t give their music creators any credit. IMO scientologists still tend to follow Hubbard’s plagiaristic playbook. And no creators get credit for anything, except David Miscavige.