Commune defends Osho trademark

quot;Osho made it clear that people will try and use his name and work as an umbrella for their own vision, which has nothing to do with his. Accordingly, he asked that his work be protected by copyright and trademark law to ensure the purity of his vision is protected from misuse,quot; stated Satya Vedant.

quot;An example of his foresight is that recently an entire chapter of Osho8217;s Book of Secrets8217; was posted on a website, with someone else claiming to be the author. Equally, without copyright protection, anyone could rewrite Osho as they wish, and claim it was his words.

quot;The reason to register Osho as a trademark, including his meditations for example, is that this prevents someone advertising Osho Dynamic. Meditation to the public, which might have nothing to do with Osho or that Meditation as Osho has created it. This is a protection for Osho8217;s work, and a protection for the public, which will know that when they see Osho Dynamic Meditation offered, then, that is in fact what it is 8211; not something else. quot;In Mexico, people have opened an quot;Osho Resortquot; which has nothing to do with Osho. Without trademark protection there would be no way to safeguard the public, or Osho8217;s work, from this misrepresentation. There have been many attempts over the years to change his meditation techniques, which amply demonstrates the need for this protection.

quot;It has absolutely nothing to do with preventing people from doing these meditations, or charging people for doing them. These are mischievous suggestions with no basis in fact. The whole purpose of Osho8217;s work is to make these meditations available as widely as possible.quot;

As regards the copyright and the collection of royalties, Satya Vedant contended, quot;Statements suggesting that Osho was in some way against royalties are self-serving distortions of facts. Royalties were paid at Osho8217;s direction from the 19708217;s till Osho left the body, with the exception of that short period between l987 to l989.quot;

quot;The problem was that many publishers did not fulfil that original agreement, and now some of these see the 7.5 per cent as being an additional expense to publishing, clearly demonstrating that they did not comply with Osho8217;s original proposal to allocate this sum for additional promotion. quot;All publishers around the world now pay the standard royalty payment as they would with any other author.quot;

And as for the management of Osho8217;s publishing work worldwide, Satya Vedant said that Osho International Foundation OIF, Zurich, was a quot;non-profit, Swiss-based foundation which is the holder of the copyright to Osho8217;s work. The object of the foundation is to make the works of Osho available around the world.

quot;Neither Zurich nor Pune are the best places to make publishing content available 8211; the world media content capital is New York. The New York vehicle, Osho International, was created in accordance with Osho8217;s guidance 8211; to create an international headquarters to support his proposal of making his vision available worldwide 8211; and is wholly owned by the Zurich Foundation.

quot;The practices of the Zurich Foundation are set by the inner circle, and the trustees of this foundation ensure that Osho International, New York, carry out those practices. Osho International, New York, as a subsidiary of the Zurich Foundation, implements those decisions in the marketplace.

quot;The trustees of Osho International Foundation Zurich are Michael O8217;Byrne, John Andrews, Klaus Steeg, Peter Kreutzfeldt, and Mukesh Sarda.quot;

quot;At Osho8217;s direction, the copyrights have been protected by an international foundation for the last 19 years. As the owner of the copyrights to his own work, Osho assigned them to a foundation in the US and later transferred them to a Swiss-based foundation and directed that they remain there.

quot;The legal records of assignment of copyright are well documented and carry Osho8217;s signature. Further, Osho has given sworn testimony in a copyright infringement lawsuit in the United States confirming his assignment.quot;

As regards the surreptitious8217; transfer of paintings by Osho from India, Vedant states: quot;he Osho art is being electronically digitised over time. It is a very expensive procedure and some work has been completed and the originals are already back in India. The rest of the originals are specially packed and stored in UK awaiting digitisation and return to India.quot;