February 28 -- The Urantia Book Fellowship files Brief Amicus Curiae in support of Kristen Maaherra's defense of Urantia Foundation appeal in the copyright matter.¹⁶ [See: Brief Amicus Curiae]

April 7 -- Reader Paul Bond hires two professional PR wire services to issue a "Proclamation Document" to some 1200 media outlets worldwide. [See the "Proclamation Document"]

April 21 -- Michael Million gives Urantial email list to Urantia Foundation¹⁵

July -- The Fellowship publishes 15,000 copies of The Urantia Book through its newly established publishing corporation, Uversa Press.
[See promotional piece developed by Mo Siegel to send to book distributors]
[See second side of promotional piece]

August -- IC96 -- Approximately 1,000 readers from the United States and many other countries attend Fellowship's international conference in Flagstaff, Arizona¹⁹

General Council defeats Society Representation Proposal [See a history of the Society representation issue]

August -- Approximately 70 readers attend Urantia Foundation's third IUA conference in Nashville, Tennessee, USA

August -- Urantia Foundation sues Eric Schaveland and initiates another action against Kristen Maaherra.

August -- Urantia Foundation takes legal action against the Fellowship as well as Jesusonian Foundation (Jesusonian acts as a distribution agent for the Fellowship's published edition of The Urantia Book) for listing 1-888-Urantia as an information phone number on literature distributed at the American Booksellers Association convention in Chicago.¹⁶ [See: Urantia Foundation's complaint]

September 17 -- Urantia Foundation drops legal complaints against the Fellowship and Jesusonian Foundation after discovering there are insufficient grounds for prosecution.¹⁹

October 19 -- Heart of America regional conference; "Leaps of Faith."

Philip Rolnick resigns as Trustee of Urantia Foundation.

Dutch translation completed and ready for publication

January 11 -- Urantia Foundation Trustees and members of the Fellowship Executive Committee meet to discuss matters of mutual concern for the first time since 1990. [See "Chronology of Invitations to Dialog -- 1988-1997"]    [See Urantia Foundation report of this meeting]   [See Fellowship report of this meeting]

March 10 -- First Spanish language email discussion list for readers of The Urantia Book on the Internet started.¹⁷ [fuente]

March 15 -- Urantia Foundation publishes a Russian translation of The Urantia Book.

March -- Urantia Foundation publishes self-promotional video highlighting Foundation doctrines as set forth in Martin Myer's 1973 talk, "Unity, not Uniformity."

Rocky Mountain Spiritual Fellowship passes unanimous resolution formally declaring themselves a religious group whose symbol of religious belief will be the "banner of Michael" -- the concentric circles symbol described in the Urantia Book.

April 11 - Reader in Oklahoma City purchases church, hires Rob Crickett from Australia to be the minister and establishes "The Church of Christ Michael."

April 28 -- Meredith Sprunger announces he is abandoning his 40 year effort to introduce the Urantia Book into mainstream Christianity; shifts his focus to the establishment of religious groups within the readership.

May 4 -- Urantia Foundation announces the first Urantia Association to be formed in South America (as part of Urantia Foundation's IUA), in Bogota, Colombia.

May 12 -- Fellowship representatives promote The Urantia Book at the Seoul International Book Fair.

May 18 -- The Fellowship announces the Affiliation of the first Korean reader group in South Korea. [See photos and news from the Korean Book Fair and the Affiliation ceremony]

May 18 -- Rocky Mountain Spiritual Fellowship holds first confirmation ceremony for children. [See "The Confirmation Ceremony for the Children"]

Weekend of June 1 -- Fellowship presence at American Booksellers Association Conference, Chicago

June 10 -- Court of Appeals reverses decision of District Court, restoring Copyright to Urantia Foundation. Case is remanded to lower court for consideration of damages. [See the 9th District Court of Appeals Opinion]

June 17 -- The Fellowship announces its discontinuation of publication and distribution of the Uversa Press Edition of The Urantia Book.

June 20 -- Rob Crickett announces he is leaving the Church of Christ Michael in Oklahoma City and returning to Australia.  [See Rob's comments regarding his departure]

June 24 -- Petition for Rehearing filed in Copyright case.

July 9-13 -- Triennial Delegate Assembly, General Council Meeting, Summer Study Seminar, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC -- Janet Farrington Graham elected President of the Fellowship

Resolutions calling for religious activism submitted by Rocky Mountain Spiritual Fellowship [See RMSF resolutions]    [See Documents of the 1997 TDA and meeting of the General Council]

July 26 -- Wedding of JoiLin Compton and Eric Johnson -- first marriage resulting from a relationship started on a Urantia E-mail discussion list. [See "A Urantian Wedding Ceremony"]

July 30 -- [Executive Committee Newsletter]

August -- Petition for Rehearing in the Arizona Maaherra case denied by Ninth District Court.

October 3 -- Urantia Foundation Trustees meet with members of the Fellowship Executive Committee to discuss common concerns.

October 10 -- The Fellowship and Urantia Foundation issue joint statement on organizational relationships.[See copy of joint statement]

October 15 -- A New Framework for Cooperation by Dan Massey -- A proposal for a comprehensive licensing agreement.

October 17 -- Urantia Foundation issues subpoenas for financial records of independent readership organizations.

October 28 -- Urantia Foundation trustee Patricia Mundelius informs Fellowship president Janet Farrington that the subpoenas are being withdrawn due to community outrage over the incident.

November -- Urantia Foundation shows completed Dutch translation of The Urantia Book.

December -- Two trustees of Urantia Foundation resign

December -- Two members of Urantia Foundation's office staff resign

December -- Urantia Foundation, Eric Schaveland and Kristen Maahera reach agreement to drop lawsuit in Colorado case.

January -- Urantia Foundation announces new organizational position designed to foster readership unity

February -- Urantia Foundation drafts two Urantia Brotherhood leaders and long-time members of the Fellowship Executive Committee -- Gard Jameson and Mo Siegel -- ostensibly to help reconstruct Urantia Foundation and restore unity to the movement. A public relations tour was put together by the trustees to visit local reader groups, respond to questions, and to present their new "vision" of how the readership ought to support the trustee's program. [See Fellowship statement regarding appointment of Gard and Mo as Trustees]   [See Fellowship President's letter regarding current events]

April 17 -- Joint meeting between IUA Coordinating Committee and Fellowship Executive Committee held in Chicago for purposes of exploring areas in which cooperation between the two organizations might be fostered. [See Fellowship President's Letter regarding this meeting]

June 5 -- Urantia Foundation asks court for permanent injunction against Kristen Maaherra and "those in concert or participation with her."

June 25-29 -- USIUA conference, Glen Ivy California

July 7-12 -- Fellowship Summer Study Session and General Council meeting

August 1-8 -- The Urantia Book represented by Nick Curto at the International Gay Games, Amsterdam

August 7-10 -- First IUA conference outside the USA held in Helsinki, Finland [Read Trustee Georges Dupont's speech]   [Read Trustee Gard Jameson's speech]   [Read an "oldtimer" response to Georges Dupont's speech]

September -- Norman Ingram and Rev. Roger Goffeney depart on journey to distribute books in Africa.

September 8, 1998 -- Foundation Announces New Copyright, Internet and Trademark Usage Policies

October 17 -- VIPS (Vancouver Island People Society) established, Vancouver, B.C., Canada

J. Manning publishes "Source Authors of The Urantia Book," the first description of individuals whose work is known to have been incorporated into the text of The Urantia Book (Papers 99 through 103). [Available from Square Circles Publishing]

Urantia Foundation passes 8 year, 4 million dollars spent milestone in the Maaherra suit with at least three motions still before the court. Total costs of Urantia Foundation litigations since 1955 are estimated to be in the range of 6 million dollars.

January -- Announcement of formation of the Millennium Initiative Committe [See Millennium Initiative announcement]

January 16 -- Urantia Foundation sends website license agreement to the Fellowship for approval

February 9 -- Fellowship sends letter accepting Foundation's website license agreement

February -- Judge Urbom issues declaratory judgment in Maaherra case upholding Urantia Foundation's claim to copyright but declining to assess damages or issue the requested injunction against Kristen Maaherra. [See copy of declaratory judgment]

March 12 -- First meeting of the Millennium Initiative Committee [See report of the first Millennium Initiative Committee meeting]

June 11 -- Second meeting of the Millennium Initiative Committee

June 13 -- Recommendation statement from Millennium Initiative Committee

July -- Publication of Part IV as a separate volume -- "Jesus: A New Revelation" by Harry McMullan

July 6 -- Fellowship President responds to Millennium Initiative recommendation

August 3 -- Letter received from Jacques Dupont -- claims moral right in French translation of The Uranita Book; seeks its removal from the Fellowship website.

August 5 -- Urantia Foundation sends notice of complaint to Harry McMullan regarding the publication of Part IV [Read Urantia Foundation's complaint]   [Read Harry McMullan's response]

August 7-12 -- SpiritQuest 2000; The Fellowship's IC99 triennial conference [Access index of conference talks, photos and recordings]

August 7 -- IC99 Society Conclave [Read IUA administrator Cathy Jones' report]   [Read Society representative Robert Fontana's report]   [Read conclave co-chair Barbara Newsom's report to the General Council]

August 18 -- Janet Farrington Graham reports overwhelming Council support for Millennium Initiative recommendation

August 12-24 -- Readers manage booth at the Delhi, India book fair (12 days!) [See Urantia Foundation representative, Bhagavan S. Buritz's report]

August 20 -- Foundation statement on unauthorized translations -- Tonia Baney attempts to initiate international letter writing campaign against the Fellowship because of Harry McMullan's publication of Part IV.

September 6 -- Fellowship response to Jacques Dupont letter of 8/3/99

September 16 -- Death of Ila Hall, longtime organizer and study group supporter for the "Heart of America Urantia Book Society" in Kansas City.

September 22 -- Brief filed in Maaherra case [See copy of brief]

October -- Urantia Foundation files new brief in Maaherra case [See copy of Urantia Foundation's brief]

October 12 -- Urantia Foundation sends letter of complaint to The Urantia Book Fellowship regarding alleged "infringements" on the Fellowship website. The complaint relates to translations of The Urantia Book as well as to certain study aids written by Dr. Sadler in which the Foundation claims a copyright. [See copy of letter of complaint] The Fellowship responded by requesting a meeting with the Trustees. On December 15, the trustees responded to this letter. [See trustee's response] In early January of 2000 the Fellowship sent another letter regarding the display of materials on its website. [See copy of Fellowship's reply]

October 29-31 -- Lone Star Roundup Regional Conference, Kingsland, Texas, USA

November 3 -- Brief filed in Maaherra case [See copy of brief]

November 5-7 -- The Urantia Retreat Network; inaugural meeting and planning session [See comments by organizer Bruce Porter]

November 20-21 -- Oklahoma Reversion Weekend, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA; Sponsored by the Tulsa OASIS Study Group

November 30 -- Urantia Foundation initiates lawsuit against Michael Foundation, Inc. for publishing "Jesus -- A New Revelation" [Archive of documents related to this controversy]

November -- Urantia Foundation releases 12th printing of The Urantia Book. This printing features a new cover, modified size, a paperback edition and a luxury "Bible" edition.

December 1 -- Personal letter from Dan Massey to Millennium Initiative Committee

December 15 -- Letter from Trustees -- Trustees agree to meeting with the Fellowship but request that the Fellowship remove the French and Spanish translations from the website as a "sign of good faith" prior to any meeting.

December -- Urantia Foundation publishes response to long-standing readership accusations [See Urantia Foundation's public response]

Urantia Foundation and Fellowship representatives participate in World Parliament of Religions, South Africa
[See letter from Les Jamieson regarding activities at the Parliament]
[See Marvin Gawryn's report on the Parliament]

January 1 -- A New Year's Day Message to Urantians Worldwide, -- from Janet Farrington Graham, President, The Urantia Book Fellowship
In English
In French
In Portuguese
In Spanish

January 10 -- Fellowship President, Janet Farrington Graham, responds to Foundation's complaint regarding materials available on the Fellowship's website. [See copy of letter to Urantia Foundation]

January 14 -- Rumors begin circulating that Martin Myers has filed a complaint with the Illinois State Attorney General's office seeking removal of all 5 trustees of Urantia Foundation.

January 21 -- Michael Foundation files brief in response to Urantia Foundation's request for preliminary injunction in the suit related to the publication of "Jesus--A New Revelation" [See brief]

January 26 -- Fellowship receives certified letter from Georges Dupont -- regarding website infringements.

February -- Final ruling handed down in Maaherra case upholding Judge Urbom's granting of Urantia Foundation's Declaratory Judgment.

February 20 through 25 -- Urantia Book reader's conference, Itatiaia, RJ, Brazil

March 18 -- Urantia Foundation celebrates 50th anniversary.

March -- Urantia Foundation begins claiming trademark in the phrase, "The Urantia Book"

April 7 -- Urantia Foundation revokes policy of offering website licenses

April 8, 2000 - Fellowship meeting with Baney-Dupont committee. Members of the Fellowship group were given some 700 pages of material relating to Foundation complaints about perceived trademark, copyright, and license violations in the Fellowship website and publications. The Friday afternoon before this meeting, the Foundation issued a public announcement that it has now begun to claim the phrase "The Urantia Book" (in addition to the word "Urantia") as its trademark. This announcement included a policy statement prohibiting use of the phrase "The Urantia Book" as an identifying element in the names of organizations because of trademark infringement.

May 10 -- Federal court dismisses Urantia Foundation's suit against Michael Foundation for lack of proper venue. [See full text of judge's order]

May 12 -- Michael Foundation files a Motion for Declaratory Judgment against Urantia Foundation in federal court in Oklahoma, which is in the 10th federal judicial circuit. This motion requests the court to determine whether Urantia Foundation has a valid copyright to the Urantia Book in general, and Part IV of the Urantia Book in particular. [See copy of Michael Foundation's complaint]

June 16 -- Urantia Foundation files response to Michael Foundation request for Declaratory Judgment [See copy of Foundations announcement]

June 29 - July 3 -- Fellowship Summer Study Session at Elmhurst college, Illinois, USA

August 3-6 -- Spiritfest 2000 -- Seventh annual gathering of the California Teaching Mission, Watsonville, California, USA.

August 3-October 28 -- Norman Ingram's second dissemination mission to Africa. Includes visits to Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Egypt.

August 4-7 -- IUA Conference, Wagner College, New York, USA

August 18-21 -- Forjadores de Almas del Siglo XXI -- Regional reader conference in Santiago de Chile sponsored by El Grupo AGAPE.

August 22 -- Latin American leadership summit, Santiago de Chile; administrative conference with revelation workers from Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Ecuador, Argentina and Peru.

August 31-September 3 -- The Retreat Network's annual gathering, Seabeck Christian Retreat Center, Seattle, Washington, USA

October -- Urantia Foundation deposes Meredith Sprunger and David Kantor, subpoenas their documents collections.

November 26 -- Conference sponsored by El Grupo Jerusem, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico

February 1 - 4; General Council meeting in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; presentations by special guests from El Grupo Agape, Santiago de Chile

March 16 - 17; Negotiations held in Chicago between representatives of the Fellowship and Urantia Foundation in an attempt to settle problems related to Urantia Foundation's efforts to control content on the Fellowship website. The Fellowship's Executive Committe had been attempting for the past 2 years to arrange a meeting with the trustees of Urantia Foundation to discuss alleged copyright and trademark violations on the Fellowship's website. The trustees continually refused to meet with the Executive Committee resulting in these attorney-mediated "negotiations". See "Memorandum of Agreement" signed by the two parties.

April 10-13; First National Conference for readers in México, sponsored by Grupo Guetza; al Monasterio Benedictino Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles, Ahuatepec, Morelos

May 25 -- Urantia Foundation shuts down French Canadian website containing the revelation in French

May 26 -- Urantia Foundation shuts down Brazilian website containing Portuguese study aids and translations of papers.

June 4 -- Final Michael Foundation filing in Federal copyright infringement case. [See Michael Foundation's final filing]

June 20 -- Oklahoma City Federal Court places the U.S. copyright to The Urantia Book in the public domain. [See background information on this matter]

August 9-12 -- 250 readers attend The Fellowship's Summer Study Session at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

August 13 -- General Council votes to publish The Urantia Book. [See letter sent to the readership announcing publication]

September -- Rob Crickett claims to meet Michael and Machiventa on the top of Mt. Hermon. He claims to witness the transference of the title of Planetary Prince to Machiventa. Michael supposedly instructs Rob to find 300 people who will give him $40 per month to support his ministry.

September 13 -- Urantia Foundation files appeal in the Michael Foundation case.

September 24 -- Urantia Foundation formally complains about Mexican reader's use of the name and symbols in outreach projects. [See Tonya's letter to Agustin Arellano]

October 15 -- Urantia Foundation lays further groundwork for commercial exploitation of their trademarks. Application is for "The Urantia Book" and concentric circles design. New trademark applications published for opposition are:

1. Serial No. 76-008,232: canvas tote bags
2. Serial No. 76-008,234: coffee cups and mugs
3. Serial No. 76-008,235: pens and pencils
4. Serial No. 76-008,233: clothing, namely caps, hats and shirts

October 17 -- Urantia Foundation attorneys send additional complaints to Fellowship
[See copy of complaint]
[See copy of Fellowship response]

November 15 -- "Asociacin Civil Grupo Orvontn" formed in Mexico.

November 20 -- Federal Court denies Urantia Foundation petition to stay the effects of the judgement in the Oklahoma copyright case pending the Foundation's appeal. [See copy of the Court's order]

False and Misleading Advertising by Urantia Foundation -- by Larry Mullins