Neo-Nazi clothing label Thor Steinar sues satirical copycat

German clothing brand Thor Steinar – a known favourite among neo-Nazis – is suing satirical copycat label “Storch Heinar” for libel and violating trademark laws.
Since December 2008 Storch Heinar, or “Stork Heinar,” has mocked the neo-Nazi scene with t-shirts and other products bearing the image of an awkward cartoon stork with a Hitler-style moustache and hairdo. The label funds the Social Democratic activist organisation Endstation Rechts, which aims to fight right-wing extremism in the state of Mecklenburg Western-Pomerania.

The tongue-in-cheek label has apparently done so well that now Thor Steinar’s parent company MediaTex is taking them to court on June 23 in Nürnberg-Fürth.
Storch Heinar organisers don’t deny the label apes Thor Steinar’s identity.

“We want to highlight that the brand ‘Thor Steinar’ has a high status and symbolic significance in the scene,” said one of the project’s initiators, Mathias Brodkorb, a Social Democrat and Mecklenburg Western-Pomerania state parliamentarian.
Brodkorb says he has frequent run-ins with parliamentarians for the neo-Nazi NPD party, which has had six seats in the state legislature in Schwerin since 2006.

The t-shirts, mugs, and even dog outfits bearing Storch Heinar’s image have sold throughout Europe, Brodkorb said, describing the silly stork as a “poor bastard.”

MediaTex, based in the Brandenburg city of Zeesen, apparently tried to trademark the Storch Heinar name soon after the t-shirts appeared, but was rejected and followed up with a lawsuit against the activist group.

The company, known for being litigious, acknowledged it had initiated the lawsuit but refused to comment on the case.
But Brodkorb said Endstation Rechts won’t bow to the legal pressure, and has instead launched a new t-shirt series to boost funding for legal costs. The shirts indicate that the purchaser is a Weltkriegsverliererbesieger, or “World War loser conqueror.”

“However the trial goes, we’ll figure out how to keep the clothing shop open,” he said.

The Local Germany

Police issue web warning following hate crime attack (UK)

Police have issued a warning about meeting people through internet chat rooms after a man was attacked in Leicestershire
Police have issued a warning about meeting people through internet chat rooms after a man was attacked in Leicestershire.

The 50-year-old victim had arranged to meet a man at a park in Burbage on Sunday evening after initially meeting him via an internet chat room for gay men, the Peterborough Telegraph reported.
But when he got to the park in Colts Close he was approached by four men who demanded he hand over his money.
The victim was then hit a number of times until he told his assailants he did not have any cash, police said.

He had suffered injuries to his face and head and was taken by ambulance to Leicester Royal Infirmary for treatment.
After the attack it was discovered that his car had been damaged and the front driver’s side window smashed.
Leicestershire Police said they believe the man was set up by the suspects via the chat line for gay men that he had been using and that he was targeted because of his sexual preference.

Officers hope to interview the occupants of two cars in the nearby car park after the attack who asked the victim if he was OK before driving off.
Detective Constable Pete Watson said: “It is appalling to think that this man was purposely targeted because of his sexual orientation and we want the suspects to know that it is not something that we will tolerate.”

He added: “We are determined to find the four men responsible and are appealing to members of the public for their help in finding and identifying them.”

Pink Paper

HOLOCAUST-DENYING BISHOP FINED BY GERMAN COURT

A renegade British bishop has been fined 10,000 euros (£8,750) for denying the Holocaust in a case that has acutely embarrassed the Vatican. The case went ahead in a German court without Richard Williamson, whose breakaway Catholic fraternity told him not to testify, his lawyer said. Denying that the Holocaust took place, or questioning key elements, is illegal in Germany. The bishop acknowledged the offending comments in a statement read in court. Williamson, 70, was convicted by the court in the southern German city of Regensburg of inciting racial hatred for stating in a TV interview aired in January 2009 that only "200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps". He also denied the Nazis had used gas chambers. Imposing the fine in the high-profile proceedings on Friday, presiding judge Karin Frahm said: "The statements by the accused represent a denial of the actions taken under the National Socialist regime. "Bishop Williamson must have assumed that his remarks would draw attention. Williamson knowingly accepted that attention." Williamson was fined 12,000 euros (£12,500) earlier this year for giving the interview in Germany to a Swedish broadcaster. The latest trial was ordered after Mr Williamson, who lives in London, refused to pay. He faced a sentence ranging from a fine to up to five years in prison. Williamson's lawyer, Matthias Lossmann told the court: "Bishop Williamson would gladly have come, but the Saint Pius X Society suggested he did not - to be precise, they forbade him from coming."


'Remarks are unacceptable'
The court on Friday heard an excerpt of the interview, in which Williamson is heard telling the interviewer: "Be careful, this is against the law in Germany." The bishop was told the interview would be aired only in Sweden, Mr Lossmann told the court. He said Williamson could not be held criminally responsible for its release in Germany. "That will be the crux of the case here," he said. "We do not even need to discuss the fact that these remarks are unacceptable, that is completely beside the point." Mr Lossmann read a statement by Williamson in which the cleric acknowledged casting doubt on the Holocaust. "I was aware that it is against German law to express such doubts, so I expressed these doubts for exclusive broadcast on Swedish television" where such remarks are legal, he said. The Saint Pius X Society, an ultra-conservative, Swiss-based Catholic fraternity, appointed Williamson a bishop without the pope's blessing after it broke away from Rome over the Vatican II reforms of 1965. Among the reforms rejected by the organisation was a declaration, Nostra Aetate, which ended a Church doctrine by which the Jews were held responsible for killing Jesus Christ. The trial comes at a difficult time for Pope Benedict XVI and the Vatican as a sexual abuse scandal rocks the Catholic church. Hundreds of people have come forward in Germany and other countries around the world, saying they were molested by predatory priests. Bishop Williamson's case prompted a rare comment on religious matters by the German chancellor. Angela Merkel called on Pope Benedict to "clarify unambiguously that there can be no denial" that the Nazis killed six million Jews. Williamson has said he wished to apologise to anyone offended by his comments but has refused to retract his assertions, saying only that he would re-examine the historical evidence.

BBC News

NEO-NAZI CUTS DEAL WITH PROSECUTION (Serbia)

A Member of the neo-Nazi organization Nacionalni Stroj has admitted to attacking participants of an anti-fascist forum in Novi Sad. The man, named as Dolf Pospiš, thus made a deal with the prosecution and will spend 16 months in prison. Pospiš admitted to participating in the attack on the forum in Novi Sad in October 2007. According to the deal, which has been accepted by a Novi Sad court with jurisdiction in the case, he will spend 16 months in prison, Public Prosecution Spokesman Tomo Zoriæ confirmed for B92. Several persons sustained minor injuries and several neo-Nazis, including the organization’s leader Goran Davidoviæ, were arrested during the 2007 incident. Davidoviæ is a fugitive recently arrested in Germany, where he was hiding. Serbia has requested his extradition.

B92