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fake HEAL THE WORLD charity run by Melissa Johnson closed down by judge, victory for Jacksons

moonstreet

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http://www.pr-inside.com/federal-judge-orders-heal-the-world-r1857056.htm

Federal Judge Orders ‘Heal the World’ Group to Stop Exploiting Michael Jackson’s Name
© Business Wire 2010
2010-04-27 19:12:10 -

The Estate of Michael Jackson today announced that United States District Court Judge Dolly M. Gee granted its request for a preliminary injunction enjoining the “Heal the World Foundation” from further exploiting the use of Michael Jackson’s name, image and likeness and also from using any Michael Jackson-related trademarks.

The injunction stems from a lawsuit filed on September 29, 2009 in

United States District Court in Los Angeles against two related entities operated by Melissa Johnson in the California desert communities of Indio and Palm Desert that have been using the “Heal the World” name.

While Michael had a Heal the World Foundation, it had been inactive for many years prior to his death last June 25. The plaintiffs in the action are Jackson Estate Executors John Branca and John McClain, along with Triumph International Inc., a Michael Jackson company now owned by his Estate.

In her written order, Judge Gee wrote that the websites of Ms. Johnson’s entities “convey to consumers a false affiliation with Michael Jackson and have, in fact, misled consumers into believing that Defendants are associated with Michael Jackson or Jackson’s foundations.” She added that the decision by Ms. Johnson’s entities to use Michael Jackson-related trademarks in its websites and on products it sells “is clearly related to Michael Jackson’s commercial success.”

Judge Gee also found that Ms. Johnson’s entities violated “anti-cybersquatting” laws through its attempts to register the “mjaid.com” and “mjquotes.com” domain names, noting that using “mj” in the two domain names would likely confuse consumers into believing that the websites were associated with Michael Jackson. Judge Gee concluded that the Estate will likely succeed on the merits in trademark infringement, unfair competition and related claims. She also concluded that an injunction is in the public interest, and that the Estate would otherwise lose substantial revenue and goodwill.

“Michael had no ties to this Heal the World Foundation,” said Vincent Chieffo, attorney with Greenberg Traurig LLP, representing the plaintiffs. “We believe the court made the correct decision to protect Michael’s fans from being misled into believing they are contributing to either an official Michael Jackson charity or one of his causes.”



For the Estate of Michael JacksonSitrick and CompanyJim

Bates, 310-788-2850 James_bates@sitrick.com : mailto:James_bates@sitrick.com
 
Thank you for posting this Moonstreet...its about time they shut her down.
 
Really glad to hear this. They've been soliciting donations under false pretences so I'm glad that this has been stopped.
 
I feel sorry for all the fans who sent money to this fake HEAL THE WORLD back in July and August, thinking they were donating to "Michaels " charity. At a time when everyone was trying to make sense out of what happened, vunerable fans were tricked into thinking they were doing something for Michael
 
moonstreet said:
I feel sorry for all the fans who sent money to this fake HEAL THE WORLD back in July and August, thinking they were donating to "Michaels " charity. At a time when everyone was trying to make sense out of what happened, vunerable fans were tricked into thinking they were doing something for Michael
Click to expand...

you are right.that was very messy.
 
moonstreet said:
I feel sorry for all the fans who sent money to this fake HEAL THE WORLD back in July and August, thinking they were donating to "Michaels " charity. At a time when everyone was trying to make sense out of what happened, vunerable fans were tricked into thinking they were doing something for Michael
Click to expand...

well yeah I just checked my fricken e-mail because I kNEW i saved it and YES...I DID contribute to them idiots...On August 22 2009...I donated $20.00......jeez I feel like an ass now..:mad:
 
xthunderx2 said:
well yeah I just checked my fricken e-mail because I kNEW i saved it and YES...I DID contribute to them idiots...On August 22 2009...I donated $20.00......jeez I feel like an ass now..:mad:
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You're not the ass, they are. :hug:
 
xthunderx2 said:
thanks.....I thought this was my way of helping to continue Michael's LOVE for the children...grrr.....I am really angry.
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awwww :better: but Im sure your not the only one, I remember at the time, many of us were warning fans , cos we knew that the real HTW had been disbanded years ago, but no one wanted to listen, as they, like you, out of the goodness of their heart, wanted to do something positive to help ease the pain
 
Glad, I'm effing tired of people exploiting Michael Jackson's name, brand and likeness. Someone's gotta make the move. Down with all these exploiters/leeches etc Down with them!
 
I knew they were fake long before Michael passed but apparantly a lot of fans didnt know and while i warned some people it was hard to warn everyone i knew (especially since some didnt believe it was fake).
 
It's sad to see that many people gave those people money, if any consolation all of your donations can help with the estate's case as it is proof that this foundation solicited funds by tricking people into believing that they are related to Michael Jackson.

Furthermore this is a preliminary injunction, which means that the court is ordering them to stop use of Michael Jackson name and likeliness etc until the case is decided. The judge believes that if they let that website to be operational with Michael's name and likeliness there would be a good amount people tricked into believing that it's Michael's charity so this preliminary injunction is to protect the public's best interest. It also means that the judge believes that the estate has substantial likelihood of winning their case.

marc_vivien said:
here the order :
http://www.radaronline.com/sites/default/files/healtheworld.pdf
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wow that was interesting. It tells all the story between this foundation (the woman behind it) and Michael.

- At 2001 she starts to try to contact Michael through his representatives and directly as she believes that she can see the events that's going to happen in the future (after an incident) and Michael would be working with her /partnering with her for Heal the World foundation.
- She appears unannounced and uninvited at Neverland.
- MJ's people warn her about her harassing and threatening behavior towards MJ.
- In 2002-2003 she registers 900 domain names related to MJ and the charity as she thinks that the management was letting go of this critical names.
- In 2003 MJJ productions come to an agreement with her to transfer those domain names to them and they would pay for the associated costs.
- She files for several trademarks including Heal the world, MJ, King of pop, Michael Jackson heal the world foundation etc etc without consent from Michael or his representatives. Majority of them got rejected.

- In her defense against the estate's lawsuit she says they waited too long for this lawsuit and therefore the lawsuit is unreasonable and prejudiced about them. It also says that they were aware of her actions and encouraged and supported that actions.
- However the 2003 agreement between MJJ productions and her say that MJJ productions and Michael did not ask her to do anything - that was her initiative. Therefore it doesn't support the claims that Michael and his representatives were aware or supported her actions.
- Furthermore the charity website and trademarks are all done 2008 and after. Estate filed the lawsuit in 2009. California has a 4 year statue of limitations in regards to trademarks.
- They did not respond to the estate's claim that they are soliciting funds using Michael's name.

By the way it looks like she can still use the name "Heal the World" as the original trademarks for those has expired 2001-2002.
 
I warned so much members on facebook .. they all have not signed off :doh:


Since an hour their main website is not longer available :clapping:

Dear HTWF members, due to the current lawsuit
with The Estate of Michael Jackson, we must modify
the contents of our website.
The site will be under maintancence for a short time, while we bring the site under compliance to the requests of court.
Please be patient with us as this process will take a few days.
With Care,
HTWF Staff
Click to expand...
The circus will certainly continue :puke:
 
Good, it wasn't fair what she was doing.

Thanks for posting.

xthunderx2 said:
thanks.....I thought this was my way of helping to continue Michael's LOVE for the children...grrr.....I am really angry.
Click to expand...

Matt_MJ said:
I gave money to these bastards on June 26th :(
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Oh no :huggy:

Well, was the problem that they were using Michael's name etc. or ALSO that they weren't really a charity at all? I'm still not clear on that point.

ivy said:
It's sad to see that many people gave those people money, if any consolation all of your donations can help with the estate's case as it is proof that this foundation solicited funds by tricking people into believing that they are related to Michael Jackson.

Furthermore this is a preliminary injunction, which means that the court is ordering them to stop use of Michael Jackson name and likeliness etc until the case is decided. The judge believes that if they let that website to be operational with Michael's name and likeliness there would be a good amount people tricked into believing that it's Michael's charity so this preliminary injunction is to protect the public's best interest. It also means that the judge believes that the estate has substantial likelihood of winning their case.



wow that was interesting. It tells all the story between this foundation (the woman behind it) and Michael.

- At 2001 she starts to try to contact Michael through his representatives and directly as she believes that she can see the events that's going to happen in the future (after an incident) and Michael would be working with her /partnering with her for Heal the World foundation.
- She appears unannounced and uninvited at Neverland.
- MJ's people warn her about her harassing and threatening behavior towards MJ.
- In 2002-2003 she registers 900 domain names related to MJ and the charity as she thinks that the management was letting go of this critical names.
- In 2003 MJJ productions come to an agreement with her to transfer those domain names to them and they would pay for the associated costs.
- She files for several trademarks including Heal the world, MJ, King of pop, Michael Jackson heal the world foundation etc etc without consent from Michael or his representatives. Majority of them got rejected.

- In her defense against the estate's lawsuit she says they waited too long for this lawsuit and therefore the lawsuit is unreasonable and prejudiced about them. It also says that they were aware of her actions and encouraged and supported that actions.
- However the 2003 agreement between MJJ productions and her say that MJJ productions and Michael did not ask her to do anything - that was her initiative. Therefore it doesn't support the claims that Michael and his representatives were aware or supported her actions.
- Furthermore the charity website and trademarks are all done 2008 and after. Estate filed the lawsuit in 2009. California has a 4 year statue of limitations in regards to trademarks.
- They did not respond to the estate's claim that they are soliciting funds using Michael's name.

By the way it looks like she can still use the name "Heal the World" as the original trademarks for those has expired 2001-2002.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. She sounds a little bit.. crazy.
 
mj_smile said:
Dear HTWF members, due to the current lawsuit
with The Estate of Michael Jackson, we must modify the contents of our website. The site will be under maintancence for a short time, while we bring the site under compliance to the requests of court. Please be patient with us as this process will take a few days. With Care, HTWF Staff

The circus will certainly continue :puke:
Click to expand...

as far as I can understand from the documents until the court case is concluded they can continue with the organization and heal the world name as long as they remove Michael's name, picture , likeliness and trademarks.
 
Wow, this is interesting. I remember back in July/Aug. going to the HTW website because I believe she appealed to fans in another forum about how the estate has been ignoring her and how she believes they actually had something to do with Michael's tragedy. I went to the site, and wrote her a comment about how unprofessional she was handling this. I really thought this was the same HTW charity by Michael and that this woman had been running it alongside Michael (that's how she was presenting it), but now that he was not with us, she needed the help from the estate, etc, etc.

There was something not right about her unprofessionalism and conduct, and I couldn't believe that a head of a well regarded charity would behave in such a manner. If you need help, you certainly don't go around accusing those same ppl you are seeking help from of murder. WOW, this is just amazing! I am really sorry for the fans that were tricked in this manner. I certainly was tricked, thinking that it WAS Michael's charity. I would have never known otherwise.

I hope this woman pays for all this. Shame on her!
 
:clapping:

Judge Orders Palm Desert Woman to Change Jackson Site Reported by: KPSP Local 2 News Services
Email: news@kpsplocal2.com
Created: 2:45 pm
Last Update: 2:51 pm


A federal judge Tuesday ordered a Palm Desert woman to stop inferring that her charity was endorsed by the late Michael Jackson.

U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee granted a request from Jackson's estate for a preliminary injunction enjoining the "Heal the World Foundation'' from using Jackson's name, image and likeness.

Melissa Johnson is accused by the Jackson estate of "website swooping'' and picking up the name of a charity that the superstar had used in the past.



Johnson and the Palm Desert-based foundation have no listed phone number. But in a statement issued last year, she said her foundation was no adversary to Jackson.

"This is a terrible position we find ourselves in, but we cannot allow the estate attorneys to destroy our charity, nor will we just hand over the responsibility for actualizing our work, to people we cannot be certain have the character to develop and preserve it,'' she said in a statement last September.

A statement issued by the Jackson estate, through a public relations firm, said the estate filed suit against two related entities operated by Johnson in the California desert communities of Indio and Palm Desert that have been using the "Heal the World'' name. While Jackson had a Heal the World Foundation, it had been inactive for many years prior to his death last June 25 at age 50.

According to the estate, the federal order found that the websites of Johnson's entities "convey to consumers a false affiliation with Michael Jackson and have, in fact, misled consumers into believing that defendants are associated with Michael Jackson or Jackson's foundations.''

Gee also ruled that Johnson's entities violated "anti-cybersquatting'' laws through attempts to register the "mjaid.com'' and "mjquotes.com'' domain names, finding that use of "mj'' in the two domain names would likely confuse consumers into believing that the websites were associated with the singer.

"Michael had no ties to this Heal the World Foundation,'' said Vincent Chieffo, the attorney representing the plaintiffs. "We believe the court made the correct decision to protect Michael's fans from being misled into believing they are contributing to either an official Michael Jackson charity or one of his causes.''

http://www.kpsplocal2.com/Content/H...to-Change-Jackson/_q5BkCr1L0OCG62W9-UcwA.cspx

Jackson estate wins injunction against website
(AP) – 6 hours ago

LOS ANGELES — Michael Jackson's estate has won a preliminary injunction against a group using the name of the superstar's former charitable group.

U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee on Monday ordered the current Heal the World Foundation to stop using Jackson's likeness and any trademarks that belong to his estate.

Jackson's estate sued the owners of the foundation last year, claiming copyright infringement. They also claimed the site was improperly using Jackson's name and likeness to solicit donations.

Jackson created a charity based on his hit song "Heal the World" in 1992. It was later dissolved.

Gee's ruling said the new website, which has its references to Jackson, misled consumers.

An e-mail seeking comment from foundation president Melissa Johnson was not immediately returned.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g_YAUFK6t0xzwxrARzcGqIDS0DMQD9FBHQD80
 
Rockin. said:
So was it really a charity or a COMPLETE con?
Click to expand...

it looks like it is a registered charity according to guiding star. see below link.

http://www2.guidestar.org/organizations/95-4329575/heal-world-foundation.aspx#

Edit: Okay I registered to an account to see more about HTWF. There's absolutely no info about them no telephone number, no name for the executives and no income files coming from IRS.

I checked some other local charities and all of them at least had contact info and their executives officers listed.
 
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mj_smile said:
The circus will certainly continue :puke:
Click to expand...

ivy said:
as far as I can understand from the documents until the court case is concluded they can continue with the organization and heal the world name as long as they remove Michael's name, picture , likeliness and trademarks.
Click to expand...
Yepp, we both understand the court documents correctly ... but, when I read such BS as below .. I guess the woman will not give up so lightly
(therefore my comment above)

Quote: MJ Fanclubs Interview with Melissa Johnson

QUESTION: Ok, so some asked why does the charity not have www.healtheworld.org? instead it has www.healtheworld.us

ANSWER: Good question, first, because Rabbi Boteach was more concerned about his 'book deals' in 2001,
than taking care of the one single initiative he was given by Mr. Jackson at the time.
He was also entrusted with control of the three precious domain names of the charity. www.healtheworld.com,
net and org.
He let all three expire and although I tried to save the names, they were squatted and bought by another
charity trying to exploit Mr. Jackson's brand.
However, tell the fans that HTWF owns nearly every other HTWF extension there is, nearly two thousand
charity names, for all the initiatives that we have been collecting and preserving since 2001.
Names like htwf.org, healtheworldfoundation.org, michaelsarmy.com, mjfilms.com, mjmusical.com, etc.
The collection was worth nearly 20 million dollars before Mr. Jackson's death, and if our intentions were to
exploit Mr. Jackson, we would have sold the collection long ago, when his own attorneys and inner circle
allowed the entire collection to expire and be available to the public for acquisition. Instead, many of us, took
our life savings and put our own money up to recover and preserve the property. It has cost us 20 thousand a
year to preserve and we have done it with very little help from the Jackson camp, as they are ever changing and unpredictable.
Click to expand...
http://www.mjaid.com/ - now: 403 forbidden
http://michaelsarmy.org/ - activ!
and so on and and and on - all for the money $$$

Edit: Melissa JohnsonBizOP Chamber of Commerce LLC106xxxxxxxxxxx at hotmail.com[SIZE=-1]adamneve.us, a-e.us, aeww.us, animalsafe.us, celebritylife.us, character.us, ehtw.us, ehtwf.us, e-htwf.us, elizabethtaylor.us, e-mj.us, e-mjs.us, esnp.us, ewap.us, game-of-life.us, heal-the-world-foundation.us, hempworld.us, htw.us, igameoflife.us, ihtwf.us, i-htwf.us, i-mj.us, iwap.us, jacksons.us, johnlennon.us, justagoodcause.us, kidplay.us, loveearth.us, michaeljacksontelethon.us, michael-jackson-telethon.us, michaelsarmy.us, michaels-army.us, michaelsgame.us, michaels-game.us, michaeltv.us, michael-tv.us, miraclenetwork.us, miracle-network.us, m-j.us, mjbook.us, mj-book.us, mjcard.us, mj-card.us, mjcards.us, mjezine.us, mjfan.us, mj-fanclub.us, mjfanclubs.us, mjfilms.us, mj-films.us, mjgame.us, mj-game.us, mjgames.us, mj-games.us, mjh.us, mjhtwf.us, mjkidcare.us, mj-kidcare.us, mjkids.us, mjmag.us, mjmagazine.us, mj-magazine.us, mj-magazines.us, mjmags.us, mjmedia.us, mj-media.us, mj-movies.us, mj-net.us, mjnetworks.us, mj-networks.us, mjnewspaper.us, mj-newspaper.us, mj-online.us, mjpaper.us, mjpapers.us, mj-printing.us, mjpromotions.us, mj-records.us, mjsarmy.us, mjs-book.us, mjsbooks.us, mjsfan.us, mjsgame.us, mjs-game.us, mjsgames.us, mjsgol.us, mjshtwf.us, mjs-kids.us, mjsmusic.us, mjs-music.us, mjstelethon.us, mjs-telethon.us, mjstelethons.us, mjstoys.us, mjs-toys.us, mjstudio.us, mj-studio.us, mjstudios.us, mjtelethons.us, mjtickets.us, mwap.us, rememberedu.us, thebookoflifeonline.us, the-game-of-life.us, xeus.us, youthday.us[/SIZE]
 
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Read her initial letter to Evvy Tavasci below :

In a July 2001 letter to Jackson’s executive assistant, Evvy Tavasci, Johnson explained her motivations:

I would not be bothering Michael, nor did I, for Eight years because I just couldn’t fully believe it all myself. But I have seen, in a 1993 near death-type experience, the future of many things and after eight years of watching them come about, the exact things I was told would occur, I have finally been convinced that these things will happen. That is why I am trying to reach Michael, and Today, I have zero doubt. Somehow, someday, Michael will find me, and we will go to work for the Children of our Father.

Michael will not go forward with Heal the World Foundation, without me. When he begins to get stirred up in his heart about it, and want [sic] to do things with it, he will be frustrated and confused. I hope you will remember that there was this crazy lady out there who claimed she was to behis partner in this work and held with her the other half of the HTWF
equation.

Evvy, Heal the World Foundation is not a mere charity, it is a living thing, and it is apart [sic] of me.
 
Great news for the Jackson camp this week. Thank you for the news.
 
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