Matthew Hale
In May 2000, Judge Lefkow presided over the enforcement of a high-profile trademark infringement case against the World Church of the Creator, an organization run by white supremacist leader Matthew F. Hale. The TE-TA-MA Truth Foundation sued Hale's church for using the name Church of the Creator. Some argued against the validity of the suit because Hale's church had been using the name since 1973, but the Foundation had trademarked it in 1987, and no contest was filed against the trademark within a five-year period, making their ownership legally incontestable. In January 2002, Lefkow ruled in favor of Hale, but her decision was overturned on appeal. On July 25, Lefkow ruled against Hale, saying that his church infringed the Church of the Creator's trademark. (Hale's organization has since been renamed the Creativity Movement.)
An injunction was issued on November 19 forbidding Hale's church from using the term "Church of the Creator." Hale's World Church of the Creator was ordered to stop using the name on the Internet and to remove or cover up the phrase "Church of the Creator" on all of Hale's publications and products. In response to this decision, Hale sued Lefkow on December 24, falsely claiming that her order violated the Constitution in requiring the destruction of the group's bibles. Around this time, threats were made against Lefkow on the internet and her home address and family photographs of her husband and children were posted on the Stormfront.org website.
Meanwhile, an undercover FBI informant taped a conversation with Hale where he asked about Lefkow's home address and discussed her impending "extermination". On January 8, 2003, Hale was arrested on charges of plotting to murder Lefkow. The FBI informant in that trial received several death threats, and Lefkow initially was protected by a detail of the United States Marshals Service.
On April 24, Judge Lefkow ruled that the Creativity Movement had failed to stop using the name "World Church of the Creator" and should be fined $1,000 a day until it complied.
On April 6, 2005, Hale was sentenced to a 40-year prison term for soliciting an undercover FBI informant to kill Judge Lefkow.
Read more about this topic: Joan Lefkow
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