February 7, 2001
Richard Keeler, President
Urantia
Foundation
533 Diversey Parkway
Chicago IL 60614
Dear Richard:
It was good to speak with you this evening, just as I was getting ready to write this response to the Urantia Foundation Trustees’ letter of January 20.
As our Negotiating Team had previously indicated to the Trustees and as I have reaffirmed to you during our conversation tonight, we are eager to meet with you in order to settle our disagreements. As you know, our negotiating team has been authorized by the Fellowship’s General Council to make binding agreements with the Foundation to resolve all matters under discussion. According to you, only the Trustees are empowered to make such binding agreements for the Foundation, so that discussions with any other group cannot be conclusive. Furthermore, we view the inclusion of our various constituencies in a meeting, at this point, as likely to generate more heat than light, which we would certainly want to avoid.
We are concerned that the trustees’ recent letter claims that discussions to date have borne no “tangible fruits” and that you will “take decisive action against the Fellowship’s trademark and copyright infringement.” We have made numerous changes in our website in direct response to your requests (see attached) and have offered to make additional changes in the context of an overall settlement of our legal differences. We remind you that each organization has agreed, through counsel, to take no legal action against the other party during this period of discussion.
As I mentioned to you, Richard, we have been gratified by the progress Steve Hill and Ross Plourde have made in clarifying the issues and exploring alternatives to help arrive at a settlement. There is much benefit in having dispassionate observers assisting in the process. We hope this process can continue; however, if you feel negotiations have reached a standstill, we suggest that an independent mediator agreeable to both sides be appointed, as we suggested in our September 21 letter and as you had suggested in your letter of November 13.
We stand ready to assist in the selection of a mediator and the planning of a meeting with the trustees. We are looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely,
Avi Dogim
For the Fellowship Negotiating Team
Marvin Gawryn
David Kantor
Marilynn Kulieke
Dan Massey
1. Removed the Bible study aids created by Dr. Sadler.
2. Removed the Theology of The Urantia Book study aids created by Dr. Sadler
3. Removed the Life of Jesus study aids created by Dr. Sadler.
4. Removed the animated word "Urantia" created by Italian reader-artist Eduardo Guelfenbein.
5. Changed "Urantia Book Study Groups" to "Study groups for readers of The Urantia Book".
6. Changed "Get involved in Urantian activities" to "Get involved in activities with other readers".
7. Provided notice on each page containing information about our Urantianet services indicating that we are unaffiliated with Urantia Foundation.
8. Added disclaimers to all index pages indicating that we are unaffiliated with Urantia Foundation.
9. Changed "On-line Study Edition" to "On-line Study Reference Text".
10. Removed Fellowship notice of copyright in formatting of the text of The Urantia Book.
11. Modified index listings for the biography of Jesus.
12. Replaced original Spanish translation with a copy of the Spanish translation derived from that which appears on the Foundation's website.
13. Replaced original French translation with a copy of the French translation derived from that which appears on the Foundation's Folios CD.
14. Edited footnotes denoting Urantia Foundation changes in the text to exclude commentary and opinion regarding the nature of the changes.
15. Changed "Urantian website" to "website for Urantians".
16. Edited and re-compiled all downloadable copies of the text of The Urantia Book to contain copyright notices.
17. Retitled "The Illustrated Urantia Book" to be "Illustrations for The Urantia Book".
18. Removed a copy of the Foundation's Translator's Contract from the website.
19. Removed announcement of solicitation of translation services.
20. Removed information page related to the Michael Foundation publication of "Jesus--A New Revelation".
21. Added disclaimer to the website related to the publication of materials which the Foundation might consider to be "anti-Foundation".
22. Edited our pages which promote purchases of The Urantia Book to remove any implications that the Fellowship might be a publisher or distributor of the book.
23. Reviewed all pages to be sure that only those pages which contained information about Urantia Foundation or the International Urantia Association contained metatags with these words.