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Those who spend their life accusing the Church are the devil's friend, says Pope

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Jersey City councilman files charges against man accusing him of harassment

HOBOKEN — A municipal court hearing on a harassment charge filed against Jersey City Council President Rolando Lavarro was postponed Wednesday because Lavarro has filed competing charges against the complainant.

The hearing was moved to April. Judge Michael Mongello said Lavarro’s allegations, expected to be heard in March in Jersey City municipal court, should be merged with the existing case, which was moved to Hoboken to avoid a conflict of interest.

The new charges have Lavarro, 48, accusing local political operative Rampual Guyadeen of violating two state laws against electioneering near a polling place. The councilman filed the charges on Feb. 8, three weeks after the two men appeared in court on a harassment charge Guyadeen filed against Lavarro. Lavarro has pleaded not guilty.

Both allegations stem from the same incident. Guyadeen, 58, says Lavarro accosted him outside School 23 on Election Day. Lavarro alleges Guyadeen was "wearing campaign apparel and campaigning for candidates within 100 feet of the polling place.”

Pictures posted to Facebook that day show Guyadeen outside the school wearing a shirt bearing the names of the three Jersey City school board candidates he was supporting. Lavarro was campaigning for a competing set of candidates.

Lavarro declined to comment after Thursday’s hearing. Guyadeen told The Jersey Journal he has been a volunteer election worker for years.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.

Taylor Swift Sues Computer Store Owner, Accusing Him of Fraud Over ‘Swiftlife’

Taylor Swift is not just defending herself in a lawsuit over the name “Swiftlife,” she’s now slapped a small business owner with a federal lawsuit accusing them of fraud.

According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Swift has filed a counter-suit against a computer store named Swiftlife, which is located in New York. The owner of the company, Patrick Lloyd Yves Bénot, originally sued Swift accusing her of infringing on his trademarks with her app named “Swiftlife.”

In her counter-suit, Swift claims Bénot obtained his trademarks by making deceptive statements to the Trademark Office. Swift says the company claimed in their registration docs to be using the name “Swiftlife,” when she claims they were actually using the name “S.L. Swiftlife Computer Services.”

Swift claims the company never used or intended to use the name “Swiftlife” alone, despite them now suing her over it.

The singer is demanding the court cancel the computer store’s trademark due to their alleged fraud. She wants them to pay her legal bills too.

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As The Blast previously reported, the singer was sued by Patrick Lloyd Yves Bénot, owner (and sole employee) of a company named SwiftLife, which does computer consulting services in New York.

Bénot said SwiftLife Computer Services was launched in 2007 and claims he trademarked the name SwiftLife in 2008.

But in December 2017, Bénot claims Swift launched her app, “The Swift Life,” which he claims infringes on his business. He says his company used to show up at the top of Google when you searched for “SwiftLife,” but now he shows up much further down.

He claims he has been flooded by emails from Swift fans who have confused his company with her app. The man sued seeking damages for Swift’s alleged trademark infringement.

Taylor Swift filed docs demanding the lawsuit be dismissed. The singer argued, “Plaintiff, a one-man computer repair company in Wantaugh L.I., has brought the wrong claims in the wrong venue, many of them against the wrong Defendants.”

Swift claimed the man failed to reach out to her people to inform them of their alleged infringement before suing her, which is required by law. She also claims his trademark does not cover phone apps but is only for computer repair services.

The singer says nobody is confusing the computer shop and her phone app, saying they both work in different fields and market to entirely different consumers. She says the stuff she puts on her app in no way relates to computer services.

The judge in the case recently ruled against Swift and allowed the case to move forward, despite the fact she recently shut the app down.

The post Taylor Swift Sues Computer Store Owner, Accusing Him of Fraud Over ‘Swiftlife’ appeared first on The Blast.