Sannyasnews has become aware recently that there is still widespread confusion about trademark and copyright issues around Osho amongst sannyasins. A big legal case in the United States made it clear last year that no-one could claim Osho as their own trademark.
However the copyright issue is still not settled at all, as far as we know. Below is the recent 2010 statement put out by Osho International on copyright.
Copyright© 2010, OSHO International Foundation
First Publication Copyright© 1953, OSHO International Foundation.
Copyright© – all revisions 1953-2010 OSHO International Foundation.
All Rights Reserved.
OSHO International Foundation is the sole and registered owner of all of the copyrights to all the published and unpublished words and works of Osho, as author in all mediums, including audio, video, electronic, multimedia, and written forms, which were the sole original works created by the Author, as well as photographs of the Author, and is the owner of the copyright to various derivative works and other writings, music, art, and other products created or otherwise associated with the Author.
The word “copyright” means the entire copyright and design right, visual rights, sound recording rights, and any and all analogous rights subsisting under international treaties and the laws of each and every jurisdiction throughout the world.
You may not copy, reproduce, sell, distribute, publish, display, perform, modify, create derivative works, transmit, or in any way exploit any material, works or intellectual property owned by the OSHO International Foundation without explicit permission.
OSHO International Foundation is actively publishing and licensing these works throughout the world. If you are interested in any of the material or works, permission for reprint or any other format of use or publishing or licensing:
For reprint information, publishing requests, copyright or trademark questions outside of India please contact:
OSHO International
410 Park Avenue, 15th Floor
New York, NY 10022
U.S.A
www.osho.com/oshointernational
E-mail: oshointernational@oshointernational.com
T. +1.212.231.8437
F. +1.212.658.9508
For reprint information, publishing requests, copyright or trademark questions inside of India please contact:
OSHO International Foundation
17 Koregaon Park
Pune 411001
Maharashtra
India
email: publishing@osho.net
Telephone: +91-20-5601 9999
Fax: +91-20-5601 9990
copyright is big politics played by some inviduals . we should not get involve .there are more serious issues to talk about . copyright is big trap , like WEAPONS OF MASS DISTRUCTION. america played that with iraq and inveded country which never attack america.
america mis guided and exploited its resources and means for their own business………copyright is big business for some inviduals and for some indiduals it is power trip…….BOTH parties do not care about sannyasins who really want to be creative and contribute thier life to osho,s work.
please learn from american war with iraq .also learn from relious leaders who try to seprate one human from other…….. osho .s world will be little bit more beautiful than it is not if we stop worring about copyright .
love and care to all of you
please do not believe what you read and hear about copyright……..my feelings is jayesh , amrito who favour copyright and parties which are against copyright are telling lie and not telling clear how this can help any living sannyasins who are counting on these power hungery people …….may be they are trying to take us into the future problems , which is not right………with osho there is only here and now ….
Well they’ll never get to make the film of the book of the movie of the tape of the plot of the meditation of the guru of the commune then ??
Will they??
see
http://www.oshothemovie.com/team_it.html
Here’s an Italian swami who thinks he can ..(.use Google translate for the english version ).
Voice over (sound of helicopter whirring blades)
THEY THOUGHT THEY HAD A MASTER WHO WOULD LEAVE BEHIND A MASTER PLAN
..da da dad dada dada
THEY THOUGHT THAT OUT OF OF 934 BOOKS AT LEAST THE ONE ON OSHO’S FAVOURITE TEA TIME BISCUITS WOULD BE FREE OF COPYRIGHT…
dada da adada dadada
loud music fades sound of whirring helicopter blades in surround sound across the cinema…..
(deep voice announces… :-
WELL HECK THEY JUST THOUGHT WRONG..
WORLD OF OSHO BRINGS
In TECHNo KundaliniVision in 3 D (and Fourth Dimension for Gurdjieffians)
Roll the credits….
‘COPYRIGHTS at THE OFI CORRAL’
thrills spills and lawyers threats into eternity….
be sure to wear your holgraphic glasses or you might never see the truth of OSHOTAR the worlds first non-action packed movie ..in Truthovision….
music fades …Albino haired usherette suspiciously selling overprticed popcorn appears amongst the cienema audience….
There are multiple transgressions of copyright especially in India. Nothing seems to happen legally to these guys, so it is all a bit odd.
I guess that Amrito and Jayesh have given up in India,. but they still do apparently send out legal notices to those breaking copyright elsewhere and try and frighten those doing it off.
As for the Internet it seems a more or less totally free zone, and one sees Osho writings, etc everywhere.
Wasn’t some guy in California trying to test out the copyright issue legally also?
the main thing is the unpublished Osho Hindi books and their translations of which some say there are more than 50 still in the pipeline.
The text of those is well secreted, and any future publication is well guarded so the ordinary disciple is unlikely to be reading those in the near future!
NEWSFLASH ‘ Gospel Evenings to replace White Robe ‘
In a rapid reversal of policy OFI ( Oh FUCK IT INTERNATIONAL) have announced Hank Williams evenings to console and improve upon their worsening public relations campaign.
The video cannot be shown at the moment. Please try again later.
Hot on the heels of the SHELL ‘ Im sorry’ campaign…OFI have apologised to all the loony tunes they previously described as losers and medically in-zen , who will now be allowed to hold public meetings during white robe in the white robes which they are alreadt provided with by hospital staff..
Editors at Sunrise news welcomed the move as ‘ another fine day for freedom of the downtrodden and oppressed meditators of the world to be paid equal rates for doing absolutely nothing’
Quote ‘ Gone are the days of oppressively paying someone else for watching your own thoughts… from now on we demand that all meditators do nothing for something as opposed to the previous exploitation of of doing something for nothing !”
A leading black rober commented ‘ From now on I will be advocating that everyone does as I say not as I do’
OFI international has recently teamed up with McOsho’s to sponsor ( editors comments page 27
Keerti really did us a favour with this copyright in India; too much power, especially spiritual power in the hands of the few is simply dangerous however experienced meditator or sincere they would be. Meditation centres only OFI way is the same. I understand the effort to protect Osho’s words, but most of the countries’ have this thing freedom of religions. One priest wrote this book Everybody goes to Heaven and was able to keep his job in the Church.
Amrito and Jeyesh must have been rebellious hippies when they came to Osho. I wonder if they ever compared them selves with their old normal Christian friends (if they have any left) how they are running the osho cult with banning of people, not communicating etc…You must know the book “Animal farm”?
Also, they are bragging about the level of education new people have who come to osho, and one argument has always been that new people get hurt and do not understand if other sanyasins are critical.
Well, how does it really look to educated people if you are not allowed to express opposite opinion. I mean hello, in scientific world that is a request. So, pointless repression really undermining new people. How does it look if you say oohhhh, I can not be negative here, I get banned for minor argument…Does it look like a cult? And at the same time say well, osho is for individual freedom….huh.
And of course, in the end all this is personal mind fuck. I do see that.
If I told my normal Christian friends about this they would laugh their ass off at me…so much about individuality and individual freedom.
Fundamentalist sanyas answer would be: “they do not understand….” (=we know better)
hahhaaaaahhaaaaaa
No-Thought for the Day ®
Copyright © 2010 Osho International Foundation
“The new man I talk about and the new humanity, will not be Eastern or Western.
It will not believe in this world only or in that world only, it will believe in the totality of man. It will believe in the body of man, it will believe in the soul of man; it will believe in the material, it will believe in the spiritual.
In fact the new humanity will think of spirituality and materiality as two aspects of one phenomenon. Then the world will be rich in both ways, within and without.”
I think the honesty lies in the fact that if you read something inspiring, take steps in that direction. This also makes a distinction between newspaper reader and a seeker.
Osho in His part was not just giving the Gospels but creating a world around Him…. This what he created..what he directed should have preserved and nurtured, growth would have followed by itself.
Copy right, trade mark,inner circle, PMT etc. are good for practical reasons, but when they become arrow to bleed the heart, when they become tools to dominate some philosophy or way of life, then they need to be fought tooth and nail.
Keerti and friends did a good job till an extent but the last goal is to make the roots of Osho´s work at 17, Koregaon Park free from the iron grip of small group of people.
Pune should be a place, which goes on inspiring people for generations to come for its cutting edge ways of life, for its inter personal behaviour for its management skills, for its sharpness and soothings.
Few people think it is very difficult job to run the place.
Yes, it is difficult, if you puncture the tyre of a Volvo Bus, and than to push it towards the destination.
Should the perspiring driver and the conductor get the reward for their hard work?
Maybe this is old hat, but even if it is I would appreciate comments as it is reletively new to me and most of my sanyassin amigos in Europe.
http://www.cineman.at/en/movie/2010/GuruBhagwanHisSecretaryAndHisB/trailer.html
17 koregaon needs to change , has to change , will change ………lets work hard to make osho free from cunning politicians and businessmen .
, that is all for today. more than this is not needed really today
Lokesh, thanks for sharing the information about this interesting documentry movie to be released in Switzerland on 29th April, 2010.
I hope this movie will again renew people´s interest in Osho. Just the other day, i have visited a friend who got 1984 edition of Osho´s book in German and she cannot sleep witrhout reading few pages every night and cannot believe the kind of rumours were spread around Him.
World at large was suppose to misunderstand the model of life presented by Osho. His people who have spend the years around Him owe to themselves and to the evolutionary forces to continue the O process, instead of making it middle class.
Well…it may renew people’s interest in Osho, but perhaps not for the best of reasons. Osho never seemed to care about such things and appeared to view any publicity as being good.
One thing is for certain: it looks interesting…kind of docu-drama with all the usual suspects. Sheela is always good for a bit of divine insanity—what a nut…love it. Shiva has gone completely grey…hardly surprising all things considered. I am looking forward to seeing it.
I been a bit emotional about this discussion and thought I should wait…but what the hell…
Were not Osho’s guidelines that there are 21 members of inner circle ALL THE TIME and they should always work it out to get consensus on EVERYTHING? So, if some people leave (or are forced to leave) and new members come in, shouldn’t they ALL accept the new members (I mean shouldn’t old members accept the new one also)? Are any of these people acting according to the guidelines? The first 21 names were public, why not any more?
And how can ordinary sanyasins carry ANY responsibility for what THEY do, if we do not get any information and if we are not allowed to say anything about anything? Are OFI authentic authority and everybody else on emotional anti-authority trip with them if you disagree on anything?
Is it a practical decision making or religious power to decide what books come out and when, who therapists works there, decide who gets banned, and raise entrance fee from 10 rupees (that was it when osho left his body) to 700 rupees 20 years latter? I just wonder because these decisions make difference on individuals spiritual lives.
I have tried to look at this from many angles…
When I read all of your posts, I must say, I have been feeling very hurt for what is happening. I am so touched by you all. Thank you for sharing. I love being Osho sanyasin. I know it will change. Very soon.
Love and hugs
Freschee i am very nearly considering ordering Jayesh to order Amrito to order Sudheer to order the Sodexo boss to order the Sodexo cook to order the Sodexo cleaner to order the Sodexo gardener to order Osho to ban you.
Well, this guy got banned for a year putting disco music down and informing about terrorist attack …in the middle of the happenings, what I see as only possible respond in that situation. I mean really, the suffocating grip on sanyasins is HARD. No wonder the energy is down. That is NOT zen for me.
When a Banyan tree with an inbuilt life span for hundred years falls down because of thunder storm or the lightening; it has a dignity, a warrior like grace.
But When it is chopped Off, simply by an electric axe because some Villa owner thinks it as an hindrance to his parking place; than the branches and the leaves spread on the ground give the feeling of what Sannyas is today.
Copy right and trademark kind of things are like the discussion, how we can sell the dead wood for good amount of money.
Why we don´t talk about the LIVING Tree, the LIVING movement of religiousness, why we cannot take care of Osho´s investemnt on all of us in a solid way. Why we are so reckless to spend all our inheritance on non essential things, why we have lost the will to continue His model experiement of meditatting and sharing.
Some technical information about the Osho copyright from: http://oshoteachings.blogspot.com/search/label/Osho%20Copyrights:
These are some key points from the conversation with Ma Sangeet (the lawyer who fought the case for Osho friends international).
1. The US case was a TRADEMARK case, not a COPYRIGHT case, so the trademark case was not a direct ruling on the copyright issue and has no direct impact.
2. The copyright issue did arise in the trademark case, in that OIF claimed it owned the trademark because it owned the copyright. That would have been an absurd legal argument, even if true, but in 9 years of litigation OIF was unable to produce any documents to prove it owned copyrights. Because the trademark case was before an entity called the US Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, that board did not have jurisdiction to rule on the copyright issue and the trademark decision can’t be cited to prove OIF doesn’t own the copyrights. So, practically this ruling will have only indirect effects on Osho copyright case.
The documents OIF relies on to claim copyright ownership are posted on the OFI-site (http://oshofriendsinternational.com) along with explanations of why those documents don’t prove Osho International Foudation owns any intellectual property rights.
I am not of the view that trying to prove OIF does not own the copyrights will go anywhere. OIF demonstrates a continuity of activity in this regard, and therefore the onus would be on OFI to prove that OIF does not own the copyrights, or alternatively to prove that some other entity owns the copyrights. For example OFI would have to prove that some Indian publishing company did not transfer the copyrights to some American publishing company, rather than trying to show OIF has no proof of this transfer. OFI is trying to show that OIF does not have the documentation to prove the transfer. However OIF has operated as if the publishing rights were transferred, this was before Osho left the body, and Osho has both directly and indirectly demonstrated his agreement with this.
The way I see it there are four possible avenues worthy of investigation. I am sure there are many more.
Prem Abhay’s Notice of Eviction is an example of the first line of inquiry. OIF has the copyrights of Osho as representatives of him. It has its authority through its operation by members of the Inner-Circle. These representatives have shown increasing and troubling incompetence. A second major example of this is the failing to protect the resort immediately following the German Bakery bomb blast. OIF itself also has serious competence issues, in for example heavy editing and restricting the availability of quality Osho works.
In the second line of inquiry, if it can be clearly demonstrated that a group of people from the original Inner-Circle have not ceased to undertake their responsibilities in this regard, even though they are no longer part of the current Inner-Circle, then they can make claim that they are a collective of legitimate and founding Osho Inner-Circle members. It follows that they can legitimately request the responsibility of protecting Osho’s legacy with respect to his works, including the copyrighting function.
The third line follows in part from the understanding in the trademark ruling. The trademark ruling was made against OIF because Osho is a famous historic figure. OIF failed to make this clear, and so illegitimately attained numerous trademarks. The other aspect of this line of inquiry is based on the changing nature of the image of Osho. It is a little like great painters who only became famous after they die.
When Osho was in the body he was generally perceived as an infamous cult leader. In just a few short years after leaving the body this perception has changed remarkably. He is now viewed as a famous historic spiritual figure. When he was known as a dangerous sex ‘guru’, the question of protecting his wisdom and making it freely available does not arise (from a social humanity perspective). Of course Osho was in the body, and so had the ultimate responsibility in this regard anyhow.
Now that Osho has left the body, and now that he has undergone a revolution in his image, everything is changed. To think that an entire collection of his works is in the Indian National parlamentiary library. This is almost inconceivable when one thinks of the way governments previously viewed him, especially a conservative nation like India.
It would seem absurd that someone could own the copyrights to Krishna, or Christ, or Muhammad. Imagine if the Indian government would like a second entire collection, and all that was available was heavily edited versions. No person would have the ability to get a genuine, unedited version of Osho’s works, unless OIF allowed it. This demonstrates the complete idiocy of the current situation.
So, Osho is no longer in the domain of sex cult leader. He is in the domain of famous historic spiritual figure. Because he is a famous historic person, no one can own the copyrights to his works. The copyrights of OIF are therefore invalid. Of course there should still be an entity to ensure that his works are available in a quality format, and that people do not exploit or misuse him or his works. This was supposed to be the function of OIF, and they have gone way outside their jurisdiction. Not surprisingly the Inner-Circle has done the same.
Of course a fourth avenue of exploration is to undertake democratic reforms, and vote the Inner-Circle out of office.
No person or persons can use the above arguments without the express permission of the author.
© Swami Detective 2010
Swami Detective strikes again…right on the money it would seem.
I’d still like to know who owns the copyright to the forthcoming film ‘GURU’, which comes out in Switzerland at the end of this month.
http://www.cineman.ch/en/movie/2010/GuruBhagwanHisSecretaryAndHisB/trailer.html