> > Reply from Mike Scozzari to magazine publisher > > 12/7/05 > > > > Natural Awakenings Magazine > > Palm Beach Edition > > Editor and Publisher > > > > Dear Leah, > > > > Thank you for forwarding me the letter sent to you by Mr. Goldtein. > > The letter is an unfortunate and clumsy attempt to intimidate and > > embarrass you and your magazine. There is in fact no substance to > > the absurd allegations made by Mr. Goldtein. I am a fully trained > > and qualified and bona fide teacher of Transcendental Meditation and > > have been operating as such for the last 33 years. I have thousands > > of my students and clients in the South Florida area. I am well known > > to TM teachers in South Florida and to fellow TM teachers both Nation- > > ally and abroad. My advertisements have been placed in the Palm beach > > media since 1990. > > > > You may forward this letter to Mr Goldstein'. Kindly tell him that his > > assertions that I am in infringement of the service marks in question > > does not necessarily make it so. If Mr Goldstein feels that there has > > been some infringement, his remedy surely lies in bringing the matter > > before a court of law -- not in "complaining" to you. If such an action > > were brought by him I along with many other TM teachers with whom I am > > in contact would be strenuously and vigorously contesting his allega- > > tions in a class action suit. As a self styled copyright attorney Mr. > > Goldstein ought to know that copyright matters are often complex and > > can only be decided by a court oflaw after carefully hearing both > > sides. > > > > Mr Goldstein should be told that a magazine such as yourself cannot > > be expected to get involved in complaints of this nature and that you > > have no intention of getting involved simply on the basis of his alle- > > gations. They are at best his point of view on the matter. If and when > > the matter has been decided by a court of law in his client's favor > > then and only then should he approach your magazine in the manner that > > he has. Until then, you can take no action on his unsubstantiated > > allegations. That is the end of the matter so far as your magazine is > > concerned. > > > > Indeed, this is the only position you can fairly take in the circum- > > stances. Were you to take action on Mr Goldstein's allegations you > > would be doing a great injustice to legitimate clients like myself who > > have been doing business with you for a considerable period of time. > > I am looking forward to my advertisement being placed in your magazine > > and my continuing association with you. > > > > I close with Season's Greetings to you and the staff of Natural Awa- > > kenings Magazine,
> > Sincerely, > > Mike Scozzari > > > > cc/legal council Dear Fairfield Lifers, There's a lot of misinformation being bandied about in the discussion of this situation here on FFLife. I live a mile from this teacher, Mike Scozzari, in Boca Raton Florida. I've met him and talked with him. I'm on his e-mail list for announcements about his TM activities. I see his ads in the local new age magazine that I pick up when I shop at Whole Foods. I've also met the local recertified TM teachers and heard them discuss their interactions with Mike since they arrived here. Without making any judgments about either side, here are the facts and impressions I've gathered locally: People tell me that Mike Scozzari was one of the founding TM teachers decades ago in the southeast Florida area (Miami). He did his teacher training course in 1972, and did a lot of TM teaching here in the "good old days". Apparently he became a Governor (took the TM-Sidhis program) somewhere along the line. When Maharishi's focus changed away from ini- tiations, and the local center(s) here closed up, Mike continued to try and teach TM and had trouble adjusting to all the new stuff. When the price of TM increased in the 90s, he balked, and set his own pricing. When I first moved here a couple of years ago from Fairfield, I saw his TM ad. So I went to his advertised location for the introductory lecture, to introduce myself to him, to check him out, and to see what kind of local meditating community there might be. He told me that he'd been renting this conference room in a local Kinko's on Federal Hwy. in Boca Raton every week for quite a while. He'd advertise an intro lecture, and show up - but he admitted to me that hardly anyone had ever attended. The night I came to meet him, it was just he and I, and we talked and got to know each other for over an hour. He told me that he's married, and he's a traveling sporting goods sales- man by day. He said that he had some interest from a couple of companies to do an in-house TM presentation, and maybe a course, for them. I men- tioned that I'd helped design the old TM business program (AFSCI), and taught it in Chicago in some big companies, and I'd be happy to be of ser- vice (even go with him to give the presentations without any compensation). He politely thanked me (but never called to pursue my help), and he seemed wary of letting anyone into his private TM "operation". My intuition tells me that those business leads never really panned out; I've never heard any more about them. Whether they were real, or wishful thinking, or exaggera- tion - I don't know. He also told me that he put out an e-mail TM news- letter, and had TM events at his apartment (group flying on the 1st and 3rd Sunday evening of each month). During the next two years I got only a couple of e-mail announcements - nothing like a regular newsletter. I met a few other local TMers, and discovered that the group program atten- dance averaged about 6 people, including Mike and his wife, Maria. Basically, he seems like a guy stuck in the past, holding on to his old glory days when he ran an old-time TM Center, and living a bit of a self- delusion. He's still going through the motions of how we did things in the 70s or 80s when we taught TM courses (old-style newspaper ads, intro lectures) - but he seems to have lost connection with today's TM Movement, and isn't really producing much real TM activity or TM teaching. For ex- ample, his claim in his reply letter that "I have thousands of my students and clients in the South Florida area" seems way out of touch with reality. He may have taught many people (even thousands?) decades ago, but today he gets almost no one at intro lectures; he gets 4 people at group program; he has never advertised an advanced lecture, residence course, seasonal celebration, etc. in the two years that I've been here... Even before the recent recertification program, when Movement people came here over the years to offer ayurvedic consultations or other Movement programs, Mike was not in contact with them, wasn't involved, didn't coordinate or pro- mote their visits. Obviously he's been on his own, and with very little real TM activity, for years. His claim in his letter that "If such an action [Movement lawsuit for injunctive relief preventing him from using the TM service marks, etc.] were brought by him [the Movement lawyer], I along with many other TM teach- ers with whom I am in contact would be strenuously and vigorously contest- ing his allegations in a class-action suit" - seems far-fetched. From my contacts with him, Mike seems to be a loner; he could hardly get 4 other people to flying sessions (and most weren't teachers) - where are all these other teachers coming from who are going to sign on to an expensive legal battle? I believe he's deluding himself. And where are his "thousands of students"? He gets 4 to his rare events. Even the new recertified couples in Palm Beach County (Dr. Stuart and Joan Rothenberg), and Broward County/Ft. Lauderdale (Richard and Debbie Thomp- son), have hardly been able to round up 100 e-mail addresses of TMers in the area, and they get maybe 25 people to group program on special occa- sions. On the plus side, in the six months that they've been here, the recertified teachers have set up group program three nights a week, have done celebra- tions, video conferences, offered advanced lectures, a refresher course, medical intros in multiple cities, regular intro lectures, have instructed some people (a small number I'd guess, but more than previously under Mike's program), had some fun social events/potlucks, and sent out printed and e- mailed newsletters (something every week or two). So I'd have to say that in terms of simple activity level and services offered, the area "belongs" to them. Speaking of the recertified couples - they've privately told me that they approached Mike a number of times to invite him to participate with them, to cooperate, to help them locate old TMers. They invited him to their events. He rejected all overtures. Then they quietly talked to him and asked him to stop "teaching", stop advertising TM. Again, he refused. Since the new teachers have been giving regular intro talks - some with good attendance (e.g. the special series on TM & recent health research) - they explained to Mike that his ads and website could cause confusion (different pricing, different out-of-date descriptive language, different phone/e-mail/location...). I've been told that people higher up the "chain of command" in the Movement have been requesting Mike to stop for months. He's ignored them too. So the letter from a Movement attorney to the local new-age magazine was NOT a surprise to Mike - he would have to be in massive denial not to see it coming. It was the logical next step of escalation in a drama that has been going on for a long time - perhaps years. Myself, as a businessman who's had to learn the laws about copyright, ser- vice marks, trade secrets, etc. - I'd tell Mike that his resistance is quixotic - if they choose to legally press the issue he'll lose. There comes a point where he has to be proud of his past TM accomplishments, but let go, flow with the reality of today, and move on. He seems pretty stuck. If he tried to argue that he had some kind of contractual arrangement allow- ing him the use of the TM name/logo/etc., and the Movement was arbitrarily reneging, he'd first have to show that he himself had not materially violat- ed the contract. His lack of offering the full range of TM support programs, his decision to negate the official fee structure, and his lack of contact with the Movement administrative structure, would likely undermine that claim. And even if he could make some contractual claim, he'd have a hard time showing that the Movement's withdrawal of their permission is causing him any material harm - such as harming his livelihood, costing him money, etc. (a) It's not depriving him of any significant income (since he admits that he teaches very part-time, and initiates so rarely), (b) It's not leaving him hanging with any significant financial obligations (he has no lease on any center, no recent investment in teaching supplies or equipment, and holds his few TM events in his own apartment). The holder of a trademark/service mark/etc. can arbitrarily withdraw per- mission to use these (as long as their doing so doesn't violate any con- tract/agreement, nor cause any financial or other damage). His original agreement that he signed on becoming a TM teacher, and possibly at sub- sequent courses, would hardly support his cause, being so strongly weight- ed in favor of the Movement. Again, from my business background, his belief that the magazine (Natural Awakenings) should and will continue to accept his ads until a court de- cides the issue seems naive and delusional. If I was advertising Apple computers, using their Apple logo, in a local newspaper - and if Apple's legal department wrote the paper to say I didn't have permission to use their name and logo - does he really think that the paper would remain "neu- tral" and continue accepting my ads? Of course not - they'd want to avoid a trademark-infringement lawsuit by Apple, and they'd demand I get a letter of approval from Apple's legal department before they'd run my ads again. In fact, this very thing has been going on with Apple - and even big guys like e-Bay have bowed to Apple's demands about how their name and trademarks can be used, and have pulled certain ads off their system. Mike needs a reality check. In my opinion, what he teaches, how much he charges for it, who he hangs out with in doing so - these are all his business. These things are between him, his conscience, the cosmic karma computer, and Maharishi. Each of us has to face that decision on a very private, personal level. What isn't his business is what he calls what he teaches (name, logo, pic- tures, etc.). There are laws about that. We all know that there are teach- ers out there who've broken away from the Movement and teach as they please; few get hassled by the Movement to this extent. Mike made a choice to make a very strong public statement about his teaching activities - through his ads and website - to maintain a fantasy of being an old-time TM Center. Com- mon sense says that if he'd do what he's been doing - but just stop the pub- lic ads - he'd probably not be noticed and not have any legal trouble. But then he'd have to let go of his fantasy that south Florida "belongs" to him, that he's still an active TM teacher, and that his phantom TM intro lectures (and the ads that point to them) are a worthwhile investment of his time and money. It's his choice. But his ego got stuck, time has left him behind, and he's just reaping what he's sowed. I hope this gives FFLife readers some perspective on the local situation here in south Florida. It's caused much more heat on the FFLife list than it has here locally! Locally, other than his ads, Mike's TM activities are so limited that they have very little effect and get no attention. The few times that my schedule has allowed me to go to a TM event hosted by the new teachers, I've never heard Mike mentioned. Namaste, Michael PARA - THE CENTER FOR REALIZATION and THE RELATIONSHIP INSTITUTE Michael Dean Goodman Ph.D., D.D., Director Boca Raton (Palm Beach County) FL * 561-350-3930 * [EMAIL PROTECTED] Counseling * Tantra Workshops * Relationship Tune-ups * Satsang Clients and programs throughout the United States, Europe, and India ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Ever feel sad or cry for no reason at all? Depression. Narrated by Kate Hudson. http://us.click.yahoo.com/CQDrNC/ubOLAA/d1hLAA/0NYolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
