Thank you for your very comprehensive reply.

I am glad you have cleared up plagiarism, as that was the only thing I could think of without the additional information you have generously provided (information which seems to me to be riddled with ‘assumptions’).

I would suggest you meditate over the following:

Copyright means literally, “Who has the right to copy”

The OIF holds the copyright on Osho’s words (not a ‘claim’ more of a fact.)

Did the OIF give you the right to copy (or translate) Osho?

No.

Therefore you are in breach of copyrights.

It would be impossible, by absolute definition, to translate Osho, from English into Spanish, without access to the original English words. Over which the OIF have the rights.

If they had given you the right to access Osho’s words, then, and only then, is your translated work entitled to a whole new status (Even the translator becoming the new copyright owner, as you say.)

If you cannot grasp this, then I give up.

Once you fell at the first ‘no copyrights’ fence, then all your other diligent efforts at correctness were irrelevant. You mentioned ‘coincidence’ in your original post. I suspect you have just been caught up in a general crackdown on Osho cowboy.

Please don’t feel you have to justify anything to me. It’s the OIF that counts.

I will try to address all of your questions and concerns.

My 2012 Spanish language e-book is the Spanish half of a bilingual print edition published in 1988, before OIF existed, before Osho left the body, when I worked in Spanish translations in Poona 2. I spoke in a meeting with Hasya, who was then Osho’s secretary, about my activities. My assumption in 1988 was everything was OK.

For the last 27 years my assumption has been everything was still OK. No one ever raised any objection until I received notice from Apple of an OIF complaint of copyright infringement (not plagiarism) on July 9, 2015. I understand OIF claimed copyright after Osho left the body.

A translation is not plagiarism. Plagiarism is taking someone’s words or ideas and passing them off as your own. It comes from the Latin “plagiarius” or “kidnapper.” My bilingual print book and the Spanish language e-book both clearly state Osho is the source. I provide credits and acknowledgement of sources in both the 1988 and 2012 publications.

However, a translation is an original work and the translator holds legal copyright to the translation, which is why my 2012 e-book only includes the Spanish translation. I assume OIF now claims copyright for Osho’s English words.

I did not send OIF a link to the e-book because there was no link to send at the time I sent a letter to OIF requesting permission about the photos. I did send the photos to OIF. After not receiving a response from OIF, I went ahead and published the Spanish translation. Only then was a link created.

I did get competent third parties to proof finished work… and I passed the American Translators Association 3-hour exam, which involved doing literary translation, to become certified as an English/Spanish translator. (Overall ATA exam pass rate is below 20%). Translation is not about exact word for word equivalence. It involves conveying the meaning of the original. I am very concerned that translation be done right.

Osho is also concerned about translation quality:

BELOVED OSHO, THE COMMUNE IS NO MORE; OR, EVERY SANNYASIN IS THE COMMUNE. BUT WHAT ABOUT SUCH INSTITUTIONS AS THE ACADEMY, OR FRIENDS, WHICH TAKES CARE OF THE PUBLICATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF YOUR WORDS? DO THEY STILL HAVE A FUNCTION, AND HOW CAN THEY FUNCTION?
“They still have a function — and they will continue to function — but their function is not dictatorial. Their function is to serve the whole world of sannyasins and the people who love me. So their function is not to govern you, their function is to serve you. And they are not organizations, they are simply institutes. And their function has become more important now, because for all the languages that books are being translated into, it has to be seen to it that they are not mistranslated — that the translation is right, that it does not harm the spirit of the message.

So it is a great work to take care of all the languages — we need the publication institute to check all the language publications before they are published.

Now there are many countries…. Just yesterday, a Korean woman was here, and she informed us that more than thirty of my books are translated into Korean, and thousands of copies are available in all the bookstalls all over the country. We have to take care of things. There are countries which are not members of the Bern Convention: they do not believe in copyright. Korea is one of those that do not believe in copyright, so they can translate any book, publish any book.
But we can at least keep an eye that the translation is done rightly, that the person who is doing the translation understands me. It is not only a question of copyright, it is a question that I should not be presented in a wrong way — which is possible. Because if they are just earning money, who cares whether the translation is right or wrong?”

–Osho, “Light on the Path” (2 February 1986, ch. 28)
Chapter title: Act according to your insight

I do not consider myself a vocal critic of OIF or remember “defaming” OIF. I assume OIF knows what it is doing… just as I know what I am doing, acting according to my insight.

27 years is a good run and I have no problem with OIF’s current complaint to Apple. It is not a problem if my work of translation disappears after having been available for 27 years. The silence between the words is what most matters, and silence cannot be copyrighted by OIF. Osho’s words and silence are both more available now, in 2015, than ever before… much to my delight and surprise.

As a refrain in a popular 1978 salsa song says:

“La Vida Te Da Sorpresas… Sorpresas Te Da La Vida”

Composed and Performed by Ruben Blades
Song Title: “Pedro Navaja”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT05OcLI1OY

A few points in your post I hope you will think carefully about. And then consider whether the criticism you, and many others, have for the OIF is really justified.

We can assume that you accept that the OIF do have the copyrights on Osho, as you did the correct thing by contacting them about the photo.

You provide a link here to iTunes. But did you send this link to the OIF to show them the context in which Osho’s image was to be used?

I suspect the answer is ‘No’. Else they would have stopped your whole project there and then.

Photos come under image rights, which would be very amiss of them not to possess. But I doubt if Osho’s image is much of a problem and would only be enforced on someone trying to sell Osho T-shirts or posters.

The problem is not the photo, it’s in you translating Osho’s words.

What you did sounded innocent, but by changing something from a copyrighted source you have committed: ‘Plagiarism’. Making the work ‘free’ is irrelevant.

I have just typed into Google: ‘is plagiarism illegal’ and the reply is:

“Although plagiarism is not a criminal or civil offense, plagiarism is illegal if it infringes an author’s intellectual property rights, including copyright or trademark.”

You clearly have a desire to help spread Osho, and maybe by providing a textbook example of somebody defaming the OIF – when themselves are the fault. Is to be your greatest contribution.

Others may now realise, that maybe, it’s best to back off the OIF as they seem to be the only ones who know what they are doing. And let their energy be used to forward Osho instead of dealing with constant distractions.

Your e-book has had three years in the wild, so have they really – gone after you?

Your translation also raises other issues:

Did you get a third party to proof read your finished work?

Maybe some ‘have a go hero’ in the past has also attempted a DIY translation of religious words?

Perhaps they erroneously translated: ‘give them a nice foot massage’ into ‘cut their heads off’.

I have noticed that the dates you originally posted have now been amended to the correct ones.

So I wonder about the other errors you may have made in your translation?