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Agreement Reached Between JEM and RebbeDrive, See The Details

by CrownHeights.info

Both sides in the heavily fought dispute between JEM and RebbeDrive have officially filed an agreement in court, forestalling what would have been a terrible chillul Hashem.

The two sides signed onto court paperwork this past Friday detailing the agreement, requesting that the court make the agreement legally binding.

“The parties have agreed to terms to settle their dispute, and it is a condition of their settlement that they would request that this Court enter a Consent Decree containing certain material terms of the parties’ settlement agreement,” the court filings say.

While some terms of the agreement remain confidential, the court filings detail a general outline of what is to be found in the agreement.

The agreement states that defendants Mendel Mintz and Shmully Butler and/or their successors-in-interest will be permanently enjoined from “copying, distributing, handing over, disseminating, publicly performing, publicly displaying, making derivative works of, uploading, editing, restoring, or otherwise
using any Works on any of their platforms or in any other medium, except as authorized or licensed by JEM.”

These platforms include the RebbeDrive Google Drive accounts, website, mobile app, Facebook account, YouTube channels, RebbeDrive, Otzros HaRebbe accounts, RebbeDrive Instagram account and WhatsApp groups.

By no later than March 21, 2022, they will also have to permanently remove from all of their platforms “all Works, and all hyperlinks, web addresses, or uniform resource locators (URLs) directing users to JEM’s webpages or social media channels.”

The agreement further goes on to make legally binding that they must never again question the ownership of JEM’s materials, or assist others in doing the same.

A previous failure to come to an amicable agreement took place in December of last year, beginning what at the time appeared to be an long trip to trial.

See a full list of the Materials included in the agreement below:

List of Works

  1. All Merkos recordings of Farbrengens from the 1970s.
  2. All satellite broadcasts and video and audio recordings authored by JEM, including video
    footage from 1991 and 1992 filmed by JEM for inclusion in the documentary “Windows
    to the Soul.”
  3. All photos, video recordings (whether full-length or edited), or video broadcasts authored
    by the World Learning Communications Center (“WLCC”) or its owners or employees.
    For the avoidance of doubt, the foregoing does not include the Eli Blachman collection.
  4. All audio recorded by or broadcasted by WLCC from Yud Shevat 5730 and on.
  5. Photos by Velvel Schildkraut and his hires owned by JEM, specifically photographs of
    the Lubavitcher Rebbe; the Chabad-Lubavitch organization/movement; and the Crown
    Heights community.
  6. All photos and films by Mordechai Baron of, but not limited to, the Lubavitcher Rebbe of
    righteous memory; the Chabad-Lubavitch organization/movement; community
    happenings; and Jewish life-cycle events.
  7. Photos by Sam Shlagbaum and his hires of the Chabad-Lubavitch
    organization/movement; news events; meetings of the Rebbe with Machne Israel
    Development Fund; community happenings; and Jewish life-cycle events, such as
    weddings and bar mitzvahs – both in Chabad and well beyond.
  8. All films by Yosef Goldstein of the Lubavitcher Rebbe of righteous memory; the
    Chabad-Lubavitch organization/movement; and community happenings.
  9. All film and videos of the Rebbe ever filmed by Sholom Ber Goldstein; all videos ever
    filmed in the Former Soviet Union by SBG; all photos of Chabad activities in the Former
    Soviet Union photographed by SBG; all Lubavitch personalities, organizations and
    related events filmed or videotaped by SBG.
  10. All films and photos of the Rebbe photographed by Yitzchok Goldstein.
  11. Audio, film, video and photographic recordings that were restored and/or upgraded by
    JEM regardless of ownership (such as: audio from Farbrengens prior to 5730 and films
    transferred from their originals by JEM such as Lag B’omer 5743 by Langsam).

According to sources, the renowned collections by the photographers Levi Yitzchak Freidin and Yossi Melamed are also included in the “off-limits” list, and will be added to the order in several weeks.

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