The 86 year old Artur Fischer is the founder of Fischerwerke. The corporation's turnover last year was 457 million € and the family's private assets are estimated to be around 250 million €. The corporation has been run since 1980 by the founder's son, 55 year old Klaus Fischer.

The family's daughter, the 58 year old Mrs. Margot Fischer-Weber used to work for her father and brother. She was born with a severe hearing disable and was unable to complete her school education. She joined the family enterprise as an employee at the age of 15 in 1963 and served the family for 36 years.

Mrs. Fischer-Weber abandoned her inheritance rights in favor of her brother in 1984. She describes the occasion when the act was signed and sealed by a notary in her web site. She says that she was not in position to understand the true meaning of the document she was presented to. Due to her disability, she was unable to properly hear what was being said and was provided with no legal advice. She says that she signed the document because she trusted her father.

Mrs. Fischer-Weber's web site www.fischerfratze.de also includes a detailed and documented description of the circumstances, under which her employment came to an end. Without going into details I can tell you that it is not a flattering story about this stinking rich family in the hi-tech business. The site is entitled (in my free translation) "Sharks and other Fis(c)h(er)" and the domain name fischerfratze.de stands for fischer grimace.

The family's lawyers sent a letter to Margot Fischer-Weber on Monday 12th June 2006 demanding the site be taken off line by Wednesday 14th June. In opposite case, the family threatens to sue their daughter for slander or libel. The site is on line as I type this on Thursday the 15th June.

The story has been covered by several German blogs: law blog, Mein Parteibuch, Basic Thinking, ElbeBlawg and others). Most of them do not link to Mrs. Fischer-Weber's site because of the absurd German court practices. A hyperlink may make the linking site responsible of the contents in the disputed target site which means that bloggers under German jurisdiction would risk being sued by this family with much more wealth than social conscience.