From: Weerd, Thomas de [mailto:t.de.weerd@houthoff.com] Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2004 3:39 AM To: abuse@theplanet.com Cc: legal@theplanet.com Subject: URGENT LEGAL NOTICE - mlcastle.net (IP 64.5.53.76) Dear Sirs, My clients, Covance Inc., USA, Covance Laboratories Ltd., UK, and Covance Laboratories GmbH, Germany ("Covance"), have instructed me to contact you with respect to the mlcastle.net domain. A DNS-search and traceroute search conducted for the mlcastle.net domain shows that this domain is hosted by ThePlanet.com Internet Services, Inc. ("ThePlanet") on the following IP-address: 64.5.53.76. The website http://www.mlcastle.net/, more specifically http://www.mlcastle.net/covance/, which is hosted by ThePlanet, contains personal data of Covance's employees, unfounded accusations against Covance as well as and video images and photos of which the publication and distribution is unlawful towards Covance. Furthermore, the contents of this website infringe Covance's trademark rights. a. Personal data The abovementioned website publishes personal data of Covance's employees without permission of Covance or the respective employees. The personal data is published at http://www.mlcastle.net/covance/english/adress.html and http://www.mlcastle.net/covance/german/taeter.html and includes the names, photos, home addresses and phone numbers of various Covance employees. The publication of these personal data is in breach of applicable EU and US data protection legislation. Furthermore, given the violent nature of various animal rights activists groups, the publication of these personal data poses a serious personal security risk for the employees concerned. The publication of these personal data, without permission, is therefore unlawful against Covance and its employees. b. Unlawful publication of video images and photos The http://www.mlcastle.net/ website publishes various video images and photos, which were obtained without permission and illegally at Covance's research laboratories in MŸnster, Germany, by Mr. Friedrich MŸlln, an activist working undercover at Covance. Mr MŸlln entered into an employment agreement with Covance under false pretences, in order to be able to film the unlawful video images. By these actions, Mr MŸlln is clearly in breach of his employment agreement with Covance, which strictly forbids filming and photography at Covance's premises. The photos and video images are unlawfully published throughout the http://www.mlcastle.net/ website, including at the following links: http://www.mlcastle.net/covance/english/engl_video.html; http://www.mlcastle.net/covance/english/engl_photos.html; http://www.mlcastle.net/covance/german/photos.html; http://www.mlcastle.net/covance/german/video.html. The publication and distribution of the illegally obtained video images, as well as photos taken from these images, by Mr MŸlln and by third parties which obtained copies from Mr MŸlln, has been ruled unlawful by the Regional State Court in MŸnster, Germany in several recent rulings dated 23 December 2003, 2 January 2004, 7 January 2004 (upheld by a ruling of 10 February 2004), 9 January 2004, 20 January 2004, 3 March 2004 and 30 March 2004 against various parties. The publication was further deemed unlawful by the Court in MŸnchwilen, Switzerland in a ruling dated 7 April 2004. I can provide you with copies of the aforementioned rulings upon request. In the ruling of the Regional State Court in MŸnster dated 7 January 2004 (upheld by a ruling of 10 February 2004), Mr MŸlln, the undercover activist, has been prohibited to publish the abovementioned video images and photos. Furthermore, Mr MŸlln has been prohibited to provide the video images and photos to any third party. In the rulings, the Regional State Court considered that the publication of the video images and photos is an unlawful intrusion into the business operations of Covance, which can not be justified from a viewpoint of freedom of speech. The images and photos constitute a biased and negative representation, as well as misrepresentations and alienations/estrangements, of reality. The Regional State Court further ruled that in a weighing up of interests, the interests of Covance to prevent damage to its business operations weighed above the interest of Mr MŸlln to contribute to the raising of public opinion by publishing and distributing the video images and photos. In a ruling of 3 March 2004, the Regional State Court MŸnster ruled that the mere offering of links to unlawful materials available on other websites is unlawful against Covance as well. The ruling of the MŸnchwilen, Switzerland, court also prohibited two Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to host the unlawful materials. Taken into account that both a German and a Swiss court have repeatedly deemed the publication and distribution of the video images and photos, including links to such materials, as well as the hosting of such materials, unlawful, the publication and distribution of these video images and photos and/or links to such materials on the http://www.mlcastle.net/ website or any other website, and the hosting of such materials by ThePlanet, shall be deemed unlawful as well. The hosting, publication and distribution of the abovementioned materials infringes Covance's rights and is unlawful against Covance. c. Unlawful accusations On the website, unlawful accusations are made with respect to Covance's facilities in MŸnster, Germany. Covance is unlawfully and wrongfully accused of "breaking the law" and "routinely" breaching of applicable legislation (http://www.mlcastle.net/covance/english/breaking_law.html). Please note that the German public prosecutor's office has investigated such allegations made against Covance in January and February 2004, and concluded that it had not been able to "determine that the responsible persons and animal caretakers at Covance resp. third parties have rendered themselves liable to prosecution acc. to par. 17 of the animal protection law". I can provide you with a copy of the press release of the German public prosecutor's office dated 20 February 2004 upon request. The publication of these unfounded and untrue accusations cause damage to Covance and are unlawful against Covance. d. Trademark infringement Covance is the owner of various registered trademarks, including the word mark COVANCE, including US trademark registration no. 2,188,319 and European Community trademark registration no. 381863. Covance also has rights in the trade name COVANCE in various jurisdictions, including the United States of America, Germany and the United Kingdom. The prominent use of the sign COVANCE on the http://www.mlcastle.net/ website, without permission, infringes Covance's trademark rights and trade name rights, and is unlawful against Covance. e. Abuse The publication of the personal data without permission, the publication of unlawful accusations, the publication and distribution of unlawfully obtained video images and photos and the infringement of trademark rights on the http://www.mlcastle.net/ website, which is hosted by ThePlanet, is unlawful and clearly constitutes abuse and violation of ThePlanet's Acceptable Use Policy, more specifically the following clause: "Customer shall not post, transmit, re-transmit or store material on or through any of Services or Products which, in the sole judgment of the Company (i) is in violation of any local, state, federal or non-United States law or regulation, (ii) threatening, obscene, indecent, defamatory or that otherwise could adversely affect any individual, group or entity (collectively, "Persons") or (iii) violates the rights of any person [..]" f. Formal notice and removal request This letter should be considered a formal notice that a website hosted by ThePlanet (a) contains personal data of Covance's employees published without permission, (b) contains unlawful accusations against Covance, (c) contains video images and photos of which the publication and distribution is unlawful and (d) infringes Covance's trademark rights. On behalf of Covance I hereby request you to remove the abovementioned materials from the http://www.mlcastle.net/ website hosted by ThePlanet immediately, but in any event before Wednesday 28 April 5pm CET, failing which I will advise Covance to initiate all legal action necessary to have the unlawful materials removed. Should you have any questions or remarks, or if you wish to receive copies of the documents referred to above, please let me know. Yours sincerely, Thomas de Weerd, Esq. Thomas de Weerd (T.J.M.) 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