"This ruling by the court in Paris is a resounding victory for Paul Watson, Lamya Essemlali and Sea Shepherd France. The agressive and illegitimate tactics employed by the current Sea Shepherd Global board to claim ownership of the Sea Shepherd name, logos and organisation generally has been rubbished by the Judge on all counts. May this ruling be an example to Sea Shepherd chapters around the world - and I hope they reconsider their allegiance to Sea Shepherd Global given the current director's behaviour which has again been exposed."
- Rob Read, COO at Neptunes Pirates UK (formerly known as 'Sea Shepherd UK' founded 2005)
*Translated Media Release from Sea Shepherd France - 19th March 2024
In April 2023 the directors of Sea Shepherd Global (Alex Cornelissen, Peter Hammarstedt, Geert Vons and Jeff Hansen) initiated an injunction against Sea Shepherd France in front of the Paris Judicial Court demanded the French organization ends the use of the Sea Shepherd name and Sea Shepherd logos.
In addition to this requested ban on use of the name and logos - the four Sea Shepherd Global directors demanded a fine of 200 euros per day for the violation, as well as the disclosure of all donations collected by Sea Shepherd France, and all sales made by Sea Shepherd Boutique since December 13, 2022.
Sea Shepherd Global demanded, among other things, that Sea Shepherd France display a statement and apology clearly on the home page of its website for 3 months.
Sea Shepherd France, founded in 2006 in Paris by Lamya Essemlali (7 years before the creation of Sea Shepherd Global) was accused by them of sowing confusion in the minds of their "customers" and embezzling funds that should be returned to Sea Shepherd Global.
The Sea Shepherd Global complaint claimed "commercial parasitism", and "counterfeiting", as well as "denigration" and "violation of copyright" of Mr. Geert Vons who presents himself as the author of the two logos of the Sea Shepherd.
To put this agressive court action into context, it should be recalled that a few months earlier, the four Sea Shepherd Global directors, including the alleged author of the logos, had illegally evicted Captain Paul Watson and Lamya Essemlali from the Board of directors. Indeed, Paul Watson and Lamya Essemlali opposed the deviation of the original movement and the change of brand image orchestrated by the Four directors.
Eager to manage the new big Sea Shepherd Global patrons such as Allianz, or the Dutch Postrcode Lottery, and concerned to maintain good relations with partner African governments.
(including the Namibian Government which sanctions the killing of fur seals as revealed by neptune's pirates UK)
The four directors who had all placed in their positions by Paul Watson himself, began orchestrating his removal from the organisation. This eviction strategy was made possible by the trust that the Founder had placed on them was implemented without warning with Paul Watson's illegal removal from the SSG board in August 2022, followed by a similar action removing Lamya Essemlali in January 2023.
"When Alex Cornelissen, Peter Hammarstedt, Geert Vons and Jeff Hansen illegally removed Lamya Essemlali and myself from the board of Global, they thought we weren't going to fight, and that the original Sea Shepherd would quickly be forgotten." Two years later, we proved them wrong. Based on this court decision, we will continue to work to restore the integrity of the Sea Shepherd movement. "
- Captain Paul Watson
"Sea Shepherd is a rare and precious tool, serving a cause greater than all of us.. A cause bigger than all of us. The original spirit of this rebellious, combative and courageous movement inspires and gives hope to thousands of people. For them and for the ocean, it is inconceivable to let it be held hostage by four men who damage its soul. I am happy that France is a land of resistance for the greatest sea defense movement"
- Lamya Essemlali
What does the decision of the Paris Court say?
The judge rejected Geert Vons' requests based on his claimed copyright.
The judge dismisses the allegations of counterfeit, and states that under no circumstances SSG is able to demonstrate any authority or power allowing it to prohibit Sea Shepherd France and Sea Shepherd Boutique from using the Sea Shepherd brand.
Judge rejects the allegations of deceptive business practices and parasiticism.
Judge rejects defamation charges involving “enemy within", “hostile OPA”, “disgraceful treason”, “pseudo artist”, “pseudo activist”, etc... and believes that these words fall, consequently, under the law of July 29, 1881 on freedom of the press. He also believes that the statements emanating from Lamya Essemlali's personal Facebook account could not be attributed to Sea Shepherd France.
The judge charged Stitching Sea Shepherd Global and Geert Vons to pay the total sum of €25,449.20 to Sea Shepherd France, Sea Shepherd New Caledonia and Sea Shepherd Boutique.
Paul and Lamya in PARIS speaking to some 6,600 Architect fans with a message of protecting life in the sea.
May this ruling be an example to Sea Shepherd chapters around the world.
Rob Read, COO at Neptunes Pirates UK (formerly known as 'Sea Shepherd UK' founded 2005)
Long live France! Their adaptation of the revolution painting with our previous roger has never made more sense!