Том Круз және ғылыми фантастика: Пародия сайтының тарихы

New Zealand organization

ScienTOMogy was a New Zealand based parody site lampooning actor Tom Cruise's involvement with Scientology. Initially hosted at the domain name scientomogy. info, the site was created in 2005 in response to the extensive media publicity surrounding Cruise's appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Today Show. ScienTOMogy gained press attention after the site proprietor was contacted by the Church of Scientology with a cease and desist letter, alleging copyright infringement by claiming the word "Scientomogy" was too close to the word "Scientology." The proprietor initially agreed to relent to the Church's demands, but then decided to keep the site after consulting with attorneys. Internet traffic to the site later increased dramatically as a result of the media attention surrounding the Church of Scientology's allegations of copyright infringement.

New Zealand webmaster Glen Stollery created scientomogy. info in July 2005, after Tom Cruise appeared on The Today Show in an interview speaking about "the dangers of prescription drugs," and following the incident where he jumped the couch over his love for Katie Holmes during an interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show. The site was mainly used to store parody and satire material, including depictions of Cruise and Holmes in straitjackets, as well as a video showing Cruise shooting lightning at Oprah Winfrey. To clarify its position as a parody site, ScienTOMogy contained a disclaimer, which it requested that the reader "understand and agree to before continuing." The parody version of Cruise states "It's kind of like the word gummy bears. Bears by themselves are scary, but if you just add the word gummy to it, it now becomes a fun, enjoyable treat." In September 2005, the Church of Scientology issued a cease and desist order to Stollery demanding he shut down the site and transfer ownership to the Church, threatening him with a $100,000 lawsuit. The Church of Scientology's letter stated: "You are hereby on notice that the registration and use of this domain name in this fashion has caused your name to be falsely associated with our client’s registered mark, SCIENTOLOGY The fact that you have changed one letter does not protect you from trademark infringement." Stollery originally relented and agreed to change the domain name to "passionofcruise. info" on October 13, 2005, which E! News took to be a parody of the film The Passion of the Christ. After consulting with his lawyers in October 2005, Stollery responded to the Church with a far more aggressive stance. Now believing the accusation to be completely frivolous, Stollery publicly refused, challenging the Church with: "I'm keeping my domain, see you in court." Again in an interview with ONE News, Stollery reiterated that he was going to retain rights to "ScienTOMogy", and not transfer the URL to the Church of Scientology, as they had requested. "The first few I was stupid enough to answer, but now they just call and call and call. When I did speak to 'a church member here in Auckland' he kept insisting over and over that we meet to talk about my 'vendetta' with the church." The Wall Street Journal carried reports commenting on the irony of the situation, noting the site's message that the press exposure due to the threats from the Church of Scientology had increased its traffic over tenfold. Mel Gibson has not raised objections to use of the parody term "PassionofCruise". In addition to hosting the original cease and desist letter, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society also gives legal commentary on various issues pertaining to the "ScienTOMogy" controversy at a page provided by the organization Chilling Effects.