Osho Trademark Decision in
Sannyasnews learn that the US trademark decision came in today.(January 14th).
Readers will remember that Osho Foundation International (OFI) wanted to stop people using the word Osho, and for OFI to have sole rights over it as a trademark. The US Courts decision went against OIF on every trademark contested. Osho International Foundation has until April,09 to appeal, but this only applies in the US. So this is a big start on establishing that the word “Osho” is free for all to use, something which sannyasnews support.
The basis for the decision was that the word Osho is generic and descriptive of meditation techniques and a movement that arose around the teachings of the person Osho. “Osho” isn’t an indicator of the products of only one company, OIF. The Court ruled that all people involved in Osho’s work have a need and a right to use His name, as He asked them to do.
When Osho World fought with OIF, the management company of Osho Meditation Resort, over the copyright issue in the American courts, they won, that’s why all those Osho discourses, pictures, signatures are available for free download on Osho World website.
Two years back OIF had closed Osho Tapoban’s website threatening the server host company over the copyright issue, which was based in the West. Later Tapoban reopened its website from the home country which came as a blow to OIF.
One of the reasons why OIF did this was beacause Tapoban was making almost all Osho discourses and videos available at a very low price through its website. OIF had also attacked the company through which these sales were being handled on the net. Being based in the west this company also denied to take care of Tapoban’s sales and froze Tapoban’s account.
Later OIF in Feb 2008 again made a complaint to google.com and suspended Tapoban’s websiteTapoban.com and 17 other URLs from google search results. Tapoban with the help of it’s legal advisors made a counter complaint. The complaint was made in pursuant to the related sections of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA). Tapoban won the case with OIF and the URLS were re-included. (the news is available here in the May issue of sannyasnews.com)
However, talking to other Osho centres and groupleaders in the West, it seems that they dont know about this and are still scared of OIF. The OIF still tries to control the centres in Russia, Canada, America, England, Germany and many other places where copyright laws are strictly implemented. Osho World and Osho Tapoban should inform other sannyasins and friends about these cases so that people can know the truth.
Anyways its a good news that the word Osho is now “legally” free. It always was!
So now we can have “Osho Massage Parlour” “Osho Hamburgers” “Osho Boxing and Military Training.”
And any old criminal who invents some useless alternative medical technique can bring Osho’s name into disrepute by calling the technique an “Osho Technique.”
“The Court ruled that all people involved in Osho’s work have a need and a right to use His name, as He asked them to do.” But then you have to decide what is Osho’s work. Who is going to decide this? Is “Osho Boxing
and Military Training” Osho’s work? Is the Humaniversity doing Osho’s work?
OIF has to take really difficult decisions in defending Osho’s legacy and reputation. I think Tapoban and Osho World are obviously doing Osho’s work, so maybe OIF has erred in the past. But don’t think OIF are the bad guys and everyone else is good. It is a complex matter.
yes well that is one in the ass for the management team of oif.
I expect they new this and were hoping to threaten and bully people into just accepting their control..which is financially beneficial to them… they should get off their high horses and share their feeling not attack with their expensive lawyers.
the power of control both financially and emotionally has gone to their heads…the book deals have been done ..all rights sold so the financial situation for oif can only weaken…and the emotional control..well all the juice has long since left poona resort ..all the banned people long gone…the legacy of the management team will be to have divided and rejected osho’s people.
as far as I know there are still people resisting other claims by oif in the courts and I look forward to the day when we can post a little video clip of osho on the web without being attacked by the lawyers of amrito and jayesh and their greedy friends..
and dont give me that…we were only trying to protect osho’s work…it is themselves and their lifestyle that they try to protect…their suite of rooms at the taj and oberoi… anyone can do their jobs ..they are not for life .. they should stand down immediately and allow others to share the work.
great news! alok john can open his OSHO MILITARY MASSAGE BOXING SALOON and the clever OIF boys can proof to the world their true metal once more by materializing (out-of-nothing) some new tricks… look ma, a white rabbit…!
The implications of this sentence are not clear. Now anybody can publish Osho’s books, or put them for free in the Net? Foreign publishing houses can publish Osho’s books without paying any trademark?
yes,oshos work is a very serious business.
it should be decided on in offices in new york and zurich by $400 an hour lawyers at all times.
individuals cannot decide for themselves.
this is dangerous.
`any old criminal` cannot just devise alternative medical techniques without supervision from some central body.
do you think the vatican would have lasted so long if every tom dick and harry had decided for himself what was god`s work?
i dont think so.
and just think! an osho massage parlour where the therapists were having sex with the clients!
no. osho must go completely copyrighted,censored and 100% corporate.
and osho`s reputation must be defended.
it is clear that freedom must be tightly controlled by an invisible elite living in five star hotels.
i salute them!
and so what if they drink the best whisky and gin and stay in the best hotels and have access to the best hotties?
are you guys on some poverty trip or something?
and if you have something to say,
speak to my lawyer.
But suppose a young person visits Bangkok and sees “Osho Massage Parlour” on every corner. And then someone tells him Osho was a great spiritual master.
Will the young person believe this?
hello at the risk of being unpopular, i can say that I agree with the copyright of osho’s name and work. i saw a resort in mexico which had nothing to do with osho’s work using his name, the same with a brothel in mumbay and back in latin amerca there was a big osho ayawaska movement.
I think the use should be descretional.
regards
anthony
anthony,
yes,but most of the ventures targeted by oif `s bullying and not-legally justified campaign were headed by `osho people` weren`t they?
but i can sympathise,i did meet one guy who went to the osho brothel in mumbai in search of enlightenment,and is now very disillusioned with osho,as he lost all his money,got fucked and has nothing to show for his spiritual endeavours except a very nasty rash!
Noone except the likes of Jayesh and Amrito themselves have seen Osho’s last instructions. Many of the changes in the Ashram, etc,the publishing, etc, hated by others may have actually been in those last instructions. One of the instructions may have been to keep them a secret.
None of the attitudes of Tapoban and Osho World actually seem very “surrendered” or graceful. Surrender is about doing what one does not want to do, not arguing for what one does want to do!
Copyright and trademark rebellions have the taste of fighting the father. I am not at all sure had Osho lived to a grand old age these guys would be rebels at all. In fact they might well have been the most compliant. Worth thinking about!
Yes I agree with all of you. There are massage parlours, therapy centres, brothels being run under the name of Osho… and since a long time back that is when Osho was still a trademark of OIF.
But i wonder why OIF never had a problem with these places and only attacked places like Osho World, Osho Tapoban and other centres and communes where they do Osho meditations and are trying to share Osho’s message that is his books, discourses, videos by making them affordable to people.
If you flip through the issues of Osho Times of past few months, you can see that there is a quarter page ad of Osho Dhara on each issue (for those who dont know about it, its a charlatan guru business started by three people..Osho shailendra, Osho siddhartha, Osho Priya who claim that they are Osho’s succesors and can give you enlightenment for a few thousand dollar… they have changed Osho meditations saying that new people need new techniques, they claim that dynamic is for kindergarden meditators,they have thriving communes all over the world) I really wonder why OIF has no problem in promoting them.
Just because they pay them they get the license to be promoted as an “Osho commune” doing “Osho’s work”
Now I atleast have an idea why this Osho brothel in Mumbai which is so close to the Pune Resort never faced any problems.
OIF trademarked OSHO only to cash it not to protect it from being misused. Can’t you see that, its concrete and clear!
One last hint on the subject. osho himself was the one twho wanted hat his name ( back when it was bhagwan) had to be copyrighted. this was never a unilateral move from the part of the inner circle. the only difference is that they have started inforcing and prosecuting legally people who use the name. back then osho had alreeady so many legal problems to solve that there was no ebergy for that.
i agree that the use should be descretional, but inevitablym eventualy there wil be no way to control it.
but I like the idea that things are somehow being protected from deviations from what the old man himself wanted.
now we can desagree with that… but it is his work… so he had the right to asked to be protected. and these are not secret instructions. if you see the meditation center guidelines from his time as bhagwan, you will find all sort of restrictions related to his name with direct quoted from his speeches about that.
greetings \ anthony
well whatever its all free now..
I think that the copyright issue is being disputed strongly in the american courts.. I myself would like to see this exclusivity removed from oif as well and perhaps shared between the major centers.. with new delhi and nepal also receiving rights…
oif in poona are aware of their fragile situation and that is why they have been selling everthing before it is too late..
so its open season on osho now and the management team have only themselves to blame..
you will notice that the only resistance to these trademark claims came from sannyasins …
as for the management team.. hiding their personal desires behing the umbrella of osho guidance has fractured sannyas and I ask them now to stand down ..to get out of their own way..to allow new fresh people to bring us back together.
they are like politicians feedind at the trough of the gravy train..
desperate to hold on to their position of power and their fabulous benefit package…first class flights the best hotels around the world..they like politicians
are addicted to all that lovely free gravy…
they say they are doing everything for our benefit but in reality all they care about is themselves.
lets see if they have the courage to stand down or if they will need dragging away .
Neerav writes “But i wonder why OIF never had a problem with these places and only attacked places like Osho World, Osho Tapoban and other centres and communes where they do Osho meditations and are trying to share Osho’s message that is his books, discourses, videos by making them affordable to people.”
This is only speculation but…
OIF were trying to get books published all over the world. Newcomers very often start with books and often read books for years before visiting Osho centres. Publishers say “Okay, we will publish and distribute your books but you must ensure that the books are not available as text, audio or video over the web or elsewhere. We won’t make much profit on these books and we certainly do not want competitors.” So OIF has to do a certain amount of litigation to pacify the publishers.
My friend Nitya who took a holiday in Spain recently said there were Osho books available at every railway station. This is a result of the work of OIF.
In spite of all the litigation Tapoban still sells inexpensive audio and video discourses, and you can still download masses of audio discourses from Osho World for free. So maybe OIF are smart guys doing Osho’s work.
Alok says ‘So maybe OIF are smart guys doing Osho’s work.’
I cannot see anything smart in banning Tapoban’s website and Osho world, for example! Those guys, that do Osho’s work by large more sincerely!
But Tapoban and Osho World’s site are still running!
Exactly! Nothing smart I guess!
my 2 cents on this issue:
From the standpoint of a student in commerce, I can completely see the benefits of copywrite on Osho. In this day and age where any one will practically do anything to make a buck—Osho is a goldmine. Now whether OIF is only trying to make alot of cash for themselves or for the genuine vision of Osho is uncertain and opinions/arguments can be made both ways.
Like Alok John says, Osho’s work has been spread because of publishing houses who needed protection for themselves before signing any contract. In business, everything is written down in contractual terms and corporate law is a huge investment. So the threat of substantial lawsuits against the OIF is always lerking behind the bush by these huge multi-national publishing houses.
Now, this is all great in the world of commerce, but I can still differentiate between Osho and a commodity. Unfortunately these efforts by the OIF have reduced Osho to a simple trade-mark, author who’s only legacy seems to be a commercial type resort. (Although the energyfield of the resort still resounds a sacred touch).
Furthermore the continuous banning of individuals are like “ex-communications” from insitutions like the vatican. When Osho was Bhagwan, all Osho Meditation Centers had copywright to Osho’s books, audio and video (including Tapoban). However, when Osho left his body in 1990, all these connection between meditation centers and Pune suddenly became dis-attached. No more did Tapoban “legally” have entitlement to any of Osho; s work without Pune’s consent, when for the last 15 years before Osho left his body they functioned fully in accordance to spread Osho;s work.
I believe the OIF simply made a strategic choice in 1990 in the best possible way they can produce and expand Osho’s work. They had to get rid of any barriers to what they wanted to do which meant banning individuals who simply disagreed with their point of view on Osho and his work. Now, from their strategic point of view, they were successful, because they achieved piece by piece everything they wanted to do in Pune and the world.
However this strategic choice of Power and control is now going to see repruccussions (which have begun since the year 2000). Many individuals who have been banned, including Sw. Anand Arun, Ma Neelam, Sw. Chaitanya Keeri, Sw. Chaitanya Bharathi, Sw. Dhyanam (Osho Viha): all are flourishing in spreading Osho;s vision.
This isolationist approach by OIF has given strength to a large fraction of the sannyasworld. That being said, OIF is still responsible for the creation of pseudo-osho movements like Osho Dhara and Osho copy-cats because they also use the counter-pune message when spreading their own propoganda. The OIF has created a “Us” and “Them” approach, where everyone else is wrong and only OIF is right.
Osho has spoken about the dangers of repression, from sex to anger, to greed and power. Now repression is repression, whether you repress saintlihood or crimininality: the function of repression creates a leakage and abundance to that object you repress.
OIF has repressed Osho’s image as a Master and the role of a desciple. “Role” is a funny word, and I don’t intend it to mean each sannyasin had a duty, but many sannyasins did feel in complete surrender to Osho. Whether this childish or not cannot be upto the inner-circle which is soley responsible for mundane matters. Now after removing many of Osho’s photos, keepining minimal photos on Osho.com and removing all devices in the master-desciple relationship such as malas etc.: the counter-movement is stronger than ever.
I agree that Osho Dhara simply makes mockery out of Osho, but this is because of the devicive politics played by the OIF. If they had worked to build a more unified and “diverse” environment to spread Osho’s vision, it would be much larger than it is now, and creeks (which what Dhara means) like Osho Dhara, would simply dry out.
Nonetheless, I feel what is happening now is also appropriate. Simply because a few idiots of have put “osho message parlour” somewhere (this has been used as the basis for such enforcement), doesn’t hide the fact even without Osho Message Parlours, there are always going to be people who see Osho as simply a Sex Guru. This happend before message parlours, and will continue after them.
But I think discussion should always be open and that;s something OIF has lacked. I;ve heard of many who have been banned for simply sharing their opinion like—-hope I’m not next!
Cant we just have an Osho boxing ring where all the representatives of the world religions come to release there anger.And, those Osho Dhara guys arent just charlatans.They really are enlightened and can get you there for £2000 rupees.
Im sure they are enlightened anyhow.Just look at Osho priyas beautifull eyes,like jewels. And I dont like boxing.But osho porn may be good idea.
alok john.
oshoworld and tabopan are still runing only because they stood up against oif and resisted them …in courts untill they won.
and oif should realize that they will be resisted …
they have sold the book rights for a big cash payment now and almost nothing in the future ..they are making hay while the sun shines..
I am actually in dispute that the idea of a few watered down books at railway stations is actually such a fantastic thing.. and I have long since forgotten that red wave spreading across the planet idea..
you might say that zen has become mainstream but it is rarely practiced.
if oif had their way this website would be shut down as we wouldnt be able to mention the word OSHO!
A bit more three cents worth, but only my opinion…
Amrito writes :
“OIF has repressed Osho’s image as a Master and the role of a desciple. “Role” is a funny word, and I don’t intend it to mean each sannyasin had a duty, but many sannyasins did feel in complete surrender to Osho. Whether this childish or not cannot be upto the inner-circle which is soley responsible for mundane matters. Now after removing many of Osho’s photos, keepining minimal photos on Osho.com and removing all devices in the master-desciple relationship such as malas etc.: the counter-movement is stronger than ever.”
OIF probably found that the master/disciple relationship was too much for most newcomers. They probably found that too many pictures put people off. If you really want the master/disciple relationship you will find it…… Or actually I seem to recall the master chooses the disciple, not the other way round.
As to the banning of Sw. Anand Arun, Ma Neelam, Sw. Chaitanya Keeri…
The cultural differences (conditionings) between sannyasins from the West and those from India/Nepal remain very great indeed. Osho envisioned a world where these differences would disappear, but obviously this is a long way off. Maybe it is for the best that Sw. Anand Arun, Ma Neelam, Sw. Chaitanya Keeri work independently from Pune.
Swami wrote ” and I have long since forgotten that red wave spreading across the planet idea..”
Osho knew his work would not be accepted in his lifetime. We are talking one or two generations hence before His work would be accepted. I recall Sw Arun mentioning a figure of 50 years hence I think.
Four cents worth…
Sw wrote “I am actually in dispute that the idea of a few watered down books at railway stations is actually such a fantastic thing.. ”
Most people are not all that literate. I love those those big old Indian books but most people would not buy them. To have short paperbacks available widely is an excellent way to introduce people to Osho.
(Enough for today!)
“The cultural differences (conditionings) between sannyasins from the West and those from India/Nepal remain very great indeed. Osho envisioned a world where these differences would disappear, but obviously this is a long way off. Maybe it is for the best that Sw. Anand Arun, Ma Neelam, Sw. Chaitanya Keeri work independently from Pune.”
But its sad they won’t ever have the opportunity to visit the place their master stayed longest, or perhaps only outside the gates. The bannings are quite authoritarian in nature and they leave no space for reconciliation, much like China’s treatment of the Dalai Lama. Even China thinks they’ve done alot for the Tibetan cause, like rebuild monastaries, economic power, roads and the production fo Tibetan texts..
Now the argument can be used that the Chinese wouldn’t ever understand Tibet if the Dalai Lama was in power right now, and that the tibetan people would be feudal pheasants.
In the same way you make the assumption newcomers would not accept Osho as he IS. Yes there are beautiful paved campus spots, marble floors and jacuzzi’s, as well as a night-life—-YAY, but we play the guessing game when we say this is all that newcommers look for.
Only time will tell!
Repression, Banning, Power, Control, authoritarian are words to describe the actions of OIF time and again. Piecemeal excuses to explain the behavior of OIF cannot hide the impressions they create in the very people the are supposed to serve and are antithetical to growth in consciousness, their own and others. As individuals and as collectives we must always be changing as time is a wasting. Positions of power can be very useful when we use them to transform ourselves instead of getting caught up in it. This ruling by the courts on the OSHO trademark dispute has the potential to be a wakeup call to OIF to take a fresh look at their policies, themselves, and what they can do to best serve consciousness.
well you know Alok…these are just opinionated thoughts and any Judgements I make on the Osho Meditation Resort should remain seperate. I recieve the Osho Times every month and I absolutely love the presentation of the campus and the new developments happening every month. Alot of young people and people from all over the world are there, dancing, meditating and celebrating. So as far as the Meditation Resort goes, I can;t say much unless I stay there longer than the 3 days I stayed last time.
I just hope the contradiction of loving a place like Tapoban and the Osho Meditation Resort don’t get me banned from both haha!! Or else I’ll star the Osho Tapoban Meditation Resort Commune
RESPONSE BY
AMRIT SADHANA, Public Relations for OFI
Friday, January 16, 2009
“OSHO : a protected trademark in more than 40 countries”
For more than 40 years both during his life and afterwards the Osho Foundations have always acted on Osho’s request to protect his name, his copyright and his work and will continue to do so. As part of this work Osho is now a protected trademark in more than 40 other countries around the world.
Recently the Patent and Trademark office in the US decided, in a trademark dispute brought against the Osho Foundation by a group of so called “Friends of Osho,” that the name Osho is generic and cannot be registered as a trademark in the United States.
Generic means that Osho is now in the same category as computers and tissues. This decision is appealable in the American courts. It is interesting to note that the same group, Friends of Osho, that brought the US action, and who today claims victory in the US action, is the same group applying to register “Osho” as a trademark in India for their personal business.
Osho Foundation’s main reason for applying for the Osho trademark is to ensure that Osho’s name would be used as a way of identifying his work. If this decision stands this will no longer be the case.
As the decision now stands anyone in the United States can use the name Osho in any manner they may choose. They may create their own meditations and call them Osho Meditations or even change any of Osho’s meditations as they wish. They may create and sell “Osho paintings” even if they are painted by someone else, or any manner of such things.
It is strange that the Foundation’s success in making Osho’s proposal available, including in the United States, was the source of the board’s view that Osho, in the United States, is considered generic.
This decision has no effect on Osho’s copyright which is protected by international treaties around the world. So, Osho Foundation’s efforts to make Osho available around the world will continue to expand exactly as is currently the case.
http://oshobytes.blogspot.com/2009/01/osho-protected-trademark-in-more-than.html
I love all the humor expressed here. After 9 years of litigation with OIF, I need some good laughs. Thanks!
Just a bit of clarification. There is a lot of confusion about what a trademark is and what it does. A trademark is about using Osho’s name. Copyrights are something different. They’re about the way Osho expressed his ideas in his discourses or writings.
The trademark issue in the US has nothing to do with what we think might be a good idea, our preferences for discretion, or any secret messages from Osho. Trademarks are only about how the word is used.
To be a trademark a word has to tell the consumer who is producing the product. “Coke” is a trademark; it tells you that Coke, and not Pepsi, is producing the drink. “Cola,” on the other hand, is a generic term. It doesn’t tell you who made the drink; it only tells you what kind of a drink it is.
So the question the Trademark Board asked in the US was: Does “Osho” in the name of a product or service tell the consumer who created the product or service, or does it simply tell you what kind of a good or service it is?
The answer, of course, is that it only tells you what kind of a good or service it is. If you see an “Osho Here and Now Festival” organized, see a listing for an “Osho Tantra” group at the Omega Institute in NY, or see a class in “Osho meditations” at the Univ. of Texas, does that tell you who created those services? No, it doesn’t. We’ve all been using “Osho” to describe everything connected to our Master for so long, that the “Osho” in the names of these services only tells us that they are somehow connected to the teachings of Osho.
Because of the way the word Osho is used it can’t be a trademark. End of story. But the most important point is that “Osho” has been used the way it has because Osho specifically directed that it be used that way. In 1989 when he changed his name, there was an article in the Osho Times where Osho directly requested everyone to start using Osho. They did, and, as a result, Osho can never be a trademark.
For several years now supporters of the trademark idea have been using fear as an excuse for OIF to claim control of Osho’s work. “What if they opened massage parlors?”
Well….here’s the thing. None of the trademarks OIF has ever tried to claim could ever have prevented that. Trademarks are for specific goods and services, and OIF has always claimed control of “Osho” in relation to goods and services based on the teachings of Osho. People have always been able to (and will always be able to) use Osho for other goods and services. If they claim association with the historical person Osho, the legal issue would be one of false association, not trademark violation.
Also, trademarks have nothing to do with the historical person. There’s a US TM for Buddha Rice. This doesn’t mean that the company that owns Buddha Rice gets to tell Buddhist centers how to operate. There is simply no connection. Anyone who wants to can claim an association with Osho. The issue is only whether or not the association is factually true. (No one ever gets to decide if someone else has the “right” understanding of Osho.)
This means that even if there was an Osho trademark, other people could refer to the historical person Osho in marketing their goods and services.
Finally, on the trademark issue, there IS such a thing as religious freedom. We’ve come a long way since the Inquisition, though I get the impression a few people wish we hadn’t. No one can ever control or limit the use of a religious teaching. Neither trademarks nor copyrights could allow that control. Teachings are ideas and ideas can never be owed as intelllectual property.
So if anyone has a consuming urge to try and control Osho’s teachings, I’d say, “This is the 21st century. Get over it, already.”
As for copyrights, those are entirely different from trademarks. OIF’s copyright claim is based on documents on file with the US Library of Congress and a matter of public record. Those documents show that the most Osho ever possibly assigned to anyone else was the publishing rights (not the copyrights) in 8 books.
That was Osho’s choice. I don’t care what “secret messages” there were. That’s what Osho DID, and that’s what counts.
A final note: OIF in Pune is not the same OIF that is claiming trademarks. The trademark claimant is a small Swiss foundation that Sheela set up in 1984. It never received any assignments of trademark rights from Osho or from anyone else. The Pune center is made up of 10 or more independent entities, none of which are controlled by the Swiss company.
amrit sadhana says:
“osho is now in the same category as computers and tissues”
he is also in the same category as the sun the moon and the stars!
the world is what you see.
some people like to play `cowboys and lawyers`
fair enough.
but when you lose,do it gracefully,please…..
Actually, I made a slight mistake. OIF in India claims to own a trademark in India. OIF, Zurich claims to own the same trademarks for Osho in other areas of the world (US, EU, Switzerland, Australia, Canada).
reply to sadhana.. posted on her blog…copied here…
I notice that you are osho’s public relations officer…this I imagine is a work to present and develop a good face for the public..the problem you have had here is not with the public it is with other sannyasins, you and the other management circle have driven wedges in the sannyas family that you could drive a bus through..basically through lack of communication ‘failing to share and generally acting like a big bully.
you fall back on your disappointment and anger by attempting to celebrate the 40 countries that you have trademarked osho..well after the utter collapse of your case in america I imagine on appeal none of these other 40 countries will enforce your failed lawsuit.
To help you understand ..the people you dismiss as so called friends of osho are indeed friends and lovers of osho ..it’s just that they disagree we you and your opinion.
osho is obviously a generic term and perhaps you should look at why you wanted it not to be..perhaps you will find the answer in the comments you make about the friends of osho attempting to do the same thing in India as you have just failed to do in america..
you accused them of applying to benefit their personal business!
you then put osho in the same category as computers and tissues .. well the truth is osho can never be categorised .. you look only at the negative ..and you moan about how people will paint osho pictures and create their own meditations …
what about the positive that any loving sannyasin will be able (without your permission) to open any osho meeting house and share osho’s message with anyone anywhere..yahoo.
you also mention that the case can be appealed…why you mention this I don’t know ….the decision was so clear cut ..you and the team.. were even accused of lying!
there will be no appeal…
why is it strange that the foundations work has resulted in this outcome?
osho works through you ..it is not your work it is osho’s work…it is more osho working irrespective of you and the management circle getting in his way.
As for the copyrights .. they are also being resisted in the courts…again not by strangers or the public but by sannyasins and friends of osho.
I call on you and the management circle to get out of your own way and stand down .you and the management circle are not needed…anyone can do the work ..it is not a job for life…let go ..allow others to enjoy sharing the work!
take yourselves off to the beach or wherever and go in …meditate ..look for the place inside where you can allow all to be friends of osho and not as you accuse just ..so called friends…
regards.
A few responses to Anthony, who seems to be very confused on some facts (though sounds completely sincere):
The Inner Circle has nothing to do with the trademark or copyright claims.
There is no reliable evidence that Osho ever knew about or approved any trademark (not copyright) of his name.
There was never a trademark for Bhagwan.
Sheela, when she was first at RF in India, and then when she moved to the US, filed some contradictory claims to own a trademark for “Rajneesh.” The foundations she was running didn’t actually own a trademark, because Rajneesh was used in the same way Osho is used today, to decribe the work of all Osho’s people.
Given Sheela’s history, there’s no reason to assume she told Osho what she was up to.
Even if the foundations Sheela was running had owned a trademark for Rajneesh, that would have absolutely nothing to do with a claim to own Osho, a completely different name.
Neither RF in India or RFI in the US ever assigned any rights in a “Rajneesh” trademark to OIF, so that’s irrelevant to OIF’s claim, anyway.
If Osho had wanted his name “controlled” in 1989, as OIF claims, he could have assigned the rights in his new name, Osho, to Jayesh, OIF, the IC, or someone. Osho didn’t do that. Instead, he chose to ask everyone to use Osho in the same way they had been using Rajneesh, as a generic term.
Osho said repeatedly that he had no successor, that every sannyasin would be his representative, that all the centers were to be independent, that there was only a spiritual, not legal, connection beween him and centers. After all that, where on earth do you get the idea that legal control of Osho’s work was Osho’s idea?
Osho could have created a “church” with an enforcement arm. He very publicly declared he never intended for that to happen. I must admit to feeling a bit irritated when Osho is protrayed as a moron.
Osho is not a moron. He knew that by encouraging all his people to use his name to describe their own work and encouraging them to teach his meditation techniques, that no one would ever be able to force his people into a church or religion. Osho put his work in the public domain because he wanted it there. He did this over a period of 30 years of his life, so there’ s no doubt that he meant to do it.
If people want controls, religion and dogma, I’m sure there are many religions looking for recruits. Osho made his own decisions about his name, his work, his meditations, and his relationship to his people. He had a right to make his choices, and it isn’t up to any of us to try and change them now.
The real point is that the OIF has telling lies to all sannyasins, They dont want to lose the power over the Osho meditation Centers around the world, thats simple, in many of them there are only greed people who rules this centers and wants mony and power like in many countries in Sud America or a especial case in México.
Thats only the power and the greed of this OIF
beloved sangeet …I just got a message from osho…
he wants to dance with you …and he sends you these kisses…xxx
Osho on ON COPYRIGHT, TRADEMARKS,SUCCESSION, SUCCESSORS
(It is quite clear that he was neither interested nor intended that his name, discourses and meditations be copyrighted or trademarked. After reading these I am very much sure Osho never said that he left his dream to Jayesh or Amrito (as they claim). It was all phony and if not they should produce evidences. Everyone who loved him were his medium and he left his dream to everyone )
“Things can be copyrighted, thoughts cannot be copyrighted, and certainly meditations cannot be copyrighted. They are not things of the marketplace. Nobody can monopolize anything. But perhaps the West cannot understand the difference between an objective commodity and an inner experience. For ten thousand years the East has been meditating and nobody has put trademarks upon meditations.”
Osho- Om Shanti Shanti Shanti
“I want my sannyasins to inherit my freedom, my awareness, my consciousness. And each sannyasin has to be my successor, has to be me. There is no need for anybody to dominate. There is nobody for anybody to dictate to. They are on their own. If they want to be together they can be together. Out of their own freedom, it is their choice and their decision. If they want to move free they have all the rights to move free.”
Osho – The Last Testament
So when I say, “Spread the word,” I mean whatever I have been telling you, go on spreading in as many ways as possible. Use all the news media, use everything that technology has provided, so that the word reaches to every nook and corner of the earth. And remember, it is far more powerful than any nuclear weapons because nuclear weapons can only bring death — that is not power. But the word which has come from an enlightened consciousness can bring new life to you; it can give you rebirth, resurrection — that is power.
OshoThe Path of the Mystic
“But nobody is my follower. Nobody is going to be my successor. Each sannyasin is my representative. When I am dead, you all — individually — will have to represent me to the world.
Osho – From Death to Deathlesssnes
“The very idea of succession is not the right idea in the world of consciousness. That’s why I have said, I will not have successors. But you are right in saying that you will carry in your bones and in your blood my love, my insight. But don’t use the word `successor’, rather use the words `you will be me’. Why be so far away, a successor, when you can be me? Be so empty that I can make a home in you, that your emptiness can absorb my emptiness, that your heart can have the same dance as my heart. It is not succession; it is transmission.
The very idea of succession is political. Only one person can be a successor, so there is bound to be competition, ambition. There is bound to be a subtle struggle to be closer to the master, to force others away. It may not be on the surface but, underneath, the problem will remain in the disciples: “Who is going to be the successor?”
I destroy the whole conception. Every disciple who has loved has become one with the master. There is no need of any competition, nor one successor. It is for everybody who has offered himself in deep gratitude, who has become one in a certain sense with the master’s presence. There is no need of any competition. Thousands can have the same experience, millions can have the same experience.
To avoid politics in religion, I have said that I will not have successors. I want religion to be absolutely devoid of ambition, competition, being higher than another, putting everybody lower than oneself. With me you are all equal. And I trust and love you, that you will prove this equality. In equals there is no competition; there is a combined effort. You will all carry my message, but nobody will be higher or lower, nobody will be a successor. All will be my lovers and they will carry me.”
Osho Nansen: The Point of Departure
“Once I am gone, the serious people are dangerous. They can take possession, because they are always in search of taking possession of things. They can become my successors, and then they will destroy. So remember this: even an ignorant person can become my successor, but he must be able to laugh and celebrate. Even if somebody claims that he is enlightened, just see his face: if he is serious, he is not going to be successor to me! Let this be the criterion: even a fool will do, but he should be able to laugh and enjoy and celebrate life. But serious people are always in search of power. People who can laugh are not worried about power — that is the problem. Life is so good, who bothers to become a pope? Simple people, happy in their simple ways, don’t bother about politics.”
Osho on Yoga: The Alpha and the Omega
I didn’t intend to say that there was a copyright on bhagwan, the copyright was on rajneesh.
Regarding the quotes above. One thing that people, especialy sannyasins, have troubles dealing with is that one thing is what osho said, for the record, and another thing is what osho actually did.they did not always went together. as an example we have osho speaking on doubts, skepticism, while at the same time, in fact, what was encouraged was surrender to the master.
regarding the issue of his work in reality he was extremely jelaous. he asked personally people to be banned from his commune. If people left the sannyas movement he was hard with them, not even allowing them to stay in houses of sannyasins or have any contact with the centers.
When Somenra left he was so concerned where he was staying and wether he was staying ” with his people” and that everybody should be adviswed to not be in contact with him. Veeresh was a witness to such conversation with sheela.
The reason why somendra was expelled was that he refused to put osho’s picture on the cover of his alchemy international magazine. And the order to throuw him out came directly from osho.
regarding copyright it was not sheela’s idea. It was his. and it begun when tantra groups were offered in Brazil using his name, which were basically organized orgies by simple sannysins, not even therapists. At that time the only way to stop that was to threaten the guys to be legally prosecuted.
greetings
anthony
Here’s what Sangeet (one of the legal representatives involved in this case) had to say. Taken from the report in sannyasworld.com.
“This is the best possible decision we could have hoped for. It steps over all the arguments about who owned what trademarks and whether anyone licensed anyone else. In essence, this decision simply says that there is no trademark. Since the name “OSHO” means a certain approach to meditation and a whole movement, it can’t be a trademark for anyone, ever.”
OshoWorld have written a beautiful letter:
================================
A great day below messages from Osho World and Osho VIHA….
Beloveds of Osho
As i write this my heart is so fill…..of what cannot say…of gratitude, of love , of rememberance of Him, of …. Feels impossible to write.
CONGRATULATIONS to all of you… His lovers….we won.
OSHO is now … freely available to all His lovers.
Message from our attorneys to whom we will always be filled with gratitude.
“We won! We won! We won! Congratulations to all of you!”
USPTO granted our petitions filed to cancel and granted our oppositions to all of OIF’s OSHO trademark registrations and applications. It is a beautiful opinion.
We succeeded in simplifying the lengthy and complex record sufficiently so the Board obviously was able to grasp what was going on in this case.
The following are some of the more noteworthy statements by the Board.
“Based upon the testimony and evidence of record, we find that the primary significance of OSHO is as a religious or meditative movement, and not as a source identifier for goods or services.”
“…this term is generic and should be freely available for use by competitors. … As a result, defendant cannot appropriate the term OSHO to identify the source of its goods and services related to such teachings.”
The Board concluded: “Based upon the foregoing, we find the term Osho is generic for the meditations devised by the mystic Osho and the meditative and religious movement arising therefrom. As a result, defendant cannot foreclose others from utilizing the term OSHO to describe their own goods and services based upon such meditations and movements.”
The Board sustained our action based on the grounds of genericness and/or the term being merely descriptive. It said that it therefore did not feel it was necessary to reach the other issues.
It is a beautiful decision and a great victory in a team effort. On a personal note, I congratulate all of His lovers for this fabulous result and thank you for all of your efforts in this cause.
Thank you thank you thank you…..
Let us now freely go forward to let Him do His work….
LOVE U all His Lovers.
Sangeet writes :
“Well….here’s the thing. None of the trademarks OIF has ever tried to claim could ever have prevented that. Trademarks are for specific goods and services, and OIF has always claimed control of “Osho” in relation to goods and services based on the teachings of Osho. People have always been able to (and will always be able to) use Osho for other goods and services. If they claim association with the historical person Osho, the legal issue would be one of false association, not trademark violation.”
Surely I cannot start selling Ben and Jerry’s automobiles? Please explain.
Sangeet writes : “The answer, of course, is that it only tells you what kind of a good or service it is. If you see an “Osho Here and Now Festival” organized, see a listing for an “Osho Tantra” group at the Omega Institute in NY, or see a class in “Osho meditations” at the Univ. of Texas, does that tell you who created those services? No, it doesn’t. We’ve all been using “Osho” to describe everything connected to our Master for so long, that the “Osho” in the names of these services only tells us that they are somehow connected to the teachings of Osho.”
This is historically true but is it a good thing? Many sannyasins go to Osho leela in Dorset, England. But the heart of the place is behaviourist psychotherapy created by a sannyasin. They rarely show his discourses, and only occasionally do active meditations created by Osho. I am quite sympathetic to the idea that they should not be allowed to use the term “Osho.”
At Osho Leela they often mildly disparage (insult) Osho because they want you to sign up for the behaviourist psychotherapy which is more profitable for them. “Do you want to go to Pune and sit down silently or do you want to meet people and have fun?”
It certainly grates on me that they can disparage Osho and then call the place Osho Leela. It shows lack of integrity.
I dont know about Osho Leela since i have never been there.
However Osho World or Osho Tapoban are truly Osho places where people do Osho meditations, listen to Osho discourses and share Osho in all ways possible and nobody disparges Osho in any way whatsoever. Yet OIF has always been creating problemms for them.(for more search for the info in Osho world website and news about Tapoban being harassed by OIF over trademark issues)
If you have only been to Leela and not to Tapoban or O world… then go there atleast once and tell me if these places dont deserve to be called as Osho places…
Re: OSHO trademark
reply to sadhana…posted on her blog and copied here..
I notice that you are osho’s public relations officer…this I
imagine is a work to present and develop a good face for the
public..the problem you have had here is not with the public it is
with other sannyasins, you and the other management circle have
driven wedges in the sannyas family that you could drive a bus
through..basically through lack of communication ‘failing to share
and generally acting like a big bully.
you fall back on your disappointment and anger by attempting to
celebrate the 40 countries that you have trademarked osho..well after
the utter collapse of your case in america I imagine on appeal none
of these other 40 countries will enforce your failed lawsuit.
To help you understand ..the people you dismiss as so called friends
of osho are indeed friends and lovers of osho ..it’s just that they
disagree we you and your opinion.
osho is obviously a generic term and perhaps you should look at why
you wanted it not to be..perhaps you will find the answer in the
comments you make about the friends of osho attempting to do the same
thing in India as you have just failed to do in america..
you accused them of applying to benefit their personal business!
you then put osho in the same category as computers and tissues ..
well the truth is osho can never be categorised .. you look only at
the negative ..and you moan about how people will paint osho pictures
and create their own meditations …
what about the positive that any loving sannyasin will be able
(without your permission) to open any osho meeting house and share
osho’s message with anyone anywhere..yahoo.
you also mention that the case can be appealed…why you mention this
I don’t know ….the decision was so clear cut ..you and the team..
were even accused of lying!
there will be no appeal…
why is it strange that the foundations work has resulted in this
outcome?
osho works through you ..it is not your work it is osho’s work…it
is more osho working irrespective of you and the management circle
getting in his way.
As for the copyrights .. they are also being resisted in the
courts…again not by strangers or the public but by sannyasins and
friends of osho.
I call on you and the management circle to get out of your own way
and stand down .you and the management circle are not needed…anyone
can do the work ..it is not a job for life…let go ..allow others to
enjoy sharing the work!
take yourselves off to the beach or wherever and go
in …meditate ..look for the place inside where you can allow all to
be friends of osho and not as you accuse just ..so called friends…
regards.
anthony says:
“one thing that people,especially sannyasins have difficulty dealing with is that it was one thing what osho said for the record and another thing what he did”
gosh.
anthony,you are beginning to sound exacly like your good old friend christopher christ-job calder.
i always thought you made a good couple….
Actually this judgement will have effect in all other countries (and is legally valid basis for all), and it is the Legal tradition to follow the precedence and judgements of law given for the same or similar cases.
This Amrit Sadhana is a fool…doesn’ t even know the ABCs of Law….
U.S. court judgement can be taken as a model by other courts as the main Jurisdiction and prolonged arguments have already been judgemented by the legal authorities. ..precedence follows….
Unless a strong change of circumstances such as Osho coming Alive and Taking Charge of his case…
I consider an insult your comment. I have been fighting calder evereywhere… and I am not even a sannyasin. I am not a blind follower and , despite the fact that i admire and respect Osho, and I can say he is one of the most extraordinay human beings I have ever met, I know he was a human being, not a god ( he also said that). And as a human being like you and me, he had flaws, made mistakes, sometimes exagerated, sometimes he changed facts. Sometimes he twisted truths, BUt so what?
and yes, sometimes he said something, but encouraged or allowed something else to happen… again, so what? he was human, trying to do his thing, his way, and finding ways to get his vision through.
I do not need him to be perfect according to any standard to love, admire and recognize him as one of the most effective spiritual masters of human history.
I do not need him as as an infallible god. In fact that is his beauty…hisd humanness, and as such an encouragenment to all of us to reach to such hights.
greetings
anthony
antony thompson..where have you been fighting calder ..everywhere ..you say…
I would like to have a look at that ..where is everywhere?
could I have a link?
Here are two links for Anthony’s article
http://truthaboutosho.blogspot.com/
http://www.beyond-truth.blogspot.com
Here are Calder’s two articles
http://home.att.net/%7Emeditation/wrong-way.html
http://home.att.net/%7Emeditation/Osho.html
Oh dear, I have to be moderated now. Did Leela complain?
One comment was moderated, the other was not.
It is `A Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside an Enigma
I am looking to doing everything osho… calling myself osho.. painting osho paintings.. having a huge flashing neon light on my roof saying .. 0sho lives here!
and I am also thinking how can I financially benefit from this freedom?
Thanks for the great quotes Neerav, and Swami, thanks for the message.
Anthony says:
didn’t intend to say that there was a copyright on bhagwan, the copyright was on rajneesh.
Regarding the quotes above. One thing that people, especialy sannyasins, have troubles dealing with is that one thing is what osho said, for the record, and another thing is what osho actually did.they did not always went together. as an example we have osho speaking on doubts, skepticism, while at the same time, in fact, what was encouraged was surrender to the master.
Actually, it’s trademarks. The name has to do with trademarks. Really, you sound like you don’t like sannyasins very much. You’re not a “blind follower” and we are? No wonder you think you know more about Osho than we do.
I don’t know where you get your information, but your sources aren’t very good. I agree with one thing you say though, we do well to look at what Osho DID and did not do, not what people claim he said.
For example, Osho never assigned legal rights in his name to anyone ever. Osho never assigned his copyrights. Osho never assigned his meditation techniques. Osho publicly gave permission, even encouragement, to all his people to use his name, publish his works, and teach his meditations. So yes, let’s look at his actions.
Alok John said:
Surely I cannot start selling Ben and Jerry’s automobiles? Please explain.
Actually, you probably can. The rule in trademark law is that you can’t use the same trademark if the consuming public would be likely to confuse the goods or services. If one person use Starcom to market computers, someone else couldn’t use that to market software, but someone else could probably use it to market canned peas.
Alok John again:
We’ve all been using “Osho” to describe everything connected to our Master for so long, that the “Osho” in the names of these services only tells us that they are somehow connected to the teachings of Osho.”
This is historically true but is it a good thing?
Well, this is the old control issue again, isn’t it? When Osho gave freedom to people, I never personally thought it was because he thought people would never misbehave or act unconsciously. He always distinguished between persuasion and coersion. Have you told the people in the UK what you think?
I think the real point is that Osho trusted freedom above all else and he set things up so that his work would be in the public domain. It not only too late for us to ask if that’s a good idea, it isn’t our business to ask it.
Great news, this head on collision should be a eye opener for our overly controlling Resort management team, who has created a rift and alienated a lot of us.we should unite and come together, the ban on sanyasins that did not commit a crime in the resort should be lifted NOW, the devotional songs with Milarepa miten and other musicians singing to osho should be welcomed back , the juice will flow again, it is drying out!!!
its an outcry that we old Osho lovers are choosing to distance ourselves, we have something to compare with, and this decline indicates a acute lack of intelligence and wisdom. His place should be even more vibrant and alive than before, more people more juice and more love and openness. We need to see the therapists that worked around Osho being invited to share their work again , the musicians to paly their song, the indian devotees to sahre their meditation, and all those banned for politics being welcomed back.
This is my dream the healing of our movement, and the people who can do it are the ones running the Resort, it should take its place as the heart of our movement. where we all feel at home. OSHO
There is, by the way, already another “Osho” trademark on the books in the US. That one is for a Japanese restaurant south of San Francisco. When Japanese words are transliterated into English, several Japanese words, with different meanings, come out as osho. One meaning is of a spiritual master or the head monk at a temple, but there are several others. The restaurant’s name refers to a board game, similar to chess, called osho.
The restaurant had no trouble registering its mark, even though OIF had already registered marks for “Osho.” OIF, of course, never objected to the restaurant’s mark, since it had no grounds to object.
So there’s no question that osho can be a trademark for goods and services not related to Osho’s spiritual teachings. The Osho trademarks OIF tried to register have always been, and ONLY been about attempting to control the Osho centers and to retroactively impose a hierarchy on what Osho and his people understood to be a spiritual association.
I don’t really understand all the discussion about, “Should there be control?” There can’t be control, so why go on about it?
Even though Osho never wanted a religion formed around his teachings, religious freedom means that people CAN always form a religion, if they want. But religious freedom also means that the religion can only include people who VOLUNTARILY choose to join. Churches can exercise control, yes, but only over those who VOLUNTARILY submit to authority.
No one can retroactively take control of people against their wishes who came together in a loose spiritual association. You certainly can’t use trademark law to do that. The US Trademark Trial and Appeal Board saw clearly what OIF was trying to do and said,
“Because the evidence of record shows that consumers identify the term OSHO with a series of meditative and religious teachings, defendants [OIF] cannot monopolize such teachings by asserting trademark rights in the generic term used to identify them.”
There’s no retroactive religion, church, or hierarchy, so why not let this go? Instead, we might look at why this desire to control others even arises.
hey,if i was running the osho brothel in mumbai,i would be embarrassed to have my name associated with these guys……..
nirguna has just said something that was clear..
.The ranchlike scenario fits. Sheela acted the way she did for only one reason: to protect Osho’s work. OIF management acts as well for only one reason: to protect Osho’s work. They have gone in the same trap. Obviously “protecting Osho’s work” doesn’t work at all. It didn’t work for Sheela and it doesn’t work for Amrito & comrades. Has anyone ever thought that Osho’s
work doesn’t need any protection, but simply spreads and grows? Sitting silently, doing nothing …
Yes, Swami, Osho thought of it.
Prasado wrote : ” the devotional songs with Milarepa miten and other musicians singing to osho should be welcomed back ”
I love the old devotional songs. But if I was 25 and visited an ashram and saw a load of old age pensioners singing devotional songs to their Master who died 19 years ago, I might be out the door sharpish.
Prasado wrote : “This is my dream the healing of our movement, and the people who can do it are the ones running the Resort, it should take its place as the heart of our movement. where we all feel at home. ”
As a sannyasin you are meant to be dropping dreams and living in the here and now. Maybe existence does not want a re-creation of the sannyas movement of thirty years ago. I really don’t think it is going to happen. For one thing many of us are too old to visit third world countries.
Sangeet wrote : “There can’t be ( religious) control, so why go on about it?”
Surely this is untrue. The Christian Church was protected by law and custom for many centuries in the West.
Alok John said:
“Sangeet wrote : “There can’t be ( religious) control, so why go on about it?”
Surely this is untrue. The Christian Church was protected by law and custom for many centuries in the West.”
As I said, we’ve come a long way since the Inquisition. Churces are still protected in the sense that they can exercise control over those who VOLUNTARILY agree to join the church.
It used to be that the church and the government were the same and you could be forced to be a Christian. You could be forced to give up Judaism, for example. Thankfully, those times are past.
Laws still protect people who WANT to be part of a religion. Laws also protect those who DON’T want to be part of a religion. You can no longer be forced to join one; that’s the point.
I’m sure the Orthodox Christians would like to control the Roman Catholics, and the Roman Catholics would love to control the Lutherans, who would love to control the Seventh Day Adventists…. But though there is freedom to be a Christian under the law, no particular group gets to control the religious teaching of Christianity. No one gets to say, “My view is Christianiy and I’ll sue anyone else who calls themselves Christians and doesn’t submit to my control.”
It just doesn’t work that way, as hard as that might be for you to accept. Once a religious teaching is out there: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, etc., etc. then anyone can take the teaching and interpret it the way they see fit. No one can prevent it. The same goes for the teachings of Osho and others who actually taught religiousness instead of religion.
All of the religions listed above have several sects or subgroups that disagree and argue with each other. Some of them are no doubt like you and would LOVE to be able to control the other people and enfore their own particular interpretation, but they can’t do it. Thank goodness!!
No one owns a religious teaching. No one can monopolize a religious teaching. No one can force people to be part of a religious hierarchy or church. Why would you want that to be different?
And I didn’t say that only religious control is impossible. Other forms of control, such as by using trademarks, are also impossible, because Osho made sure his work was firmly in the public domain.
regarding the question where i have been fighting with calder. all you have to do is type in google: “anthony thompson” osho
and you will see all the forums where we have battled and my article about him.
regarding my sources… hundred of interviews conducted over 22 years with current and formewr sannyasins, including close residents of lao tzu house.. 250 osho books, all darshan diaries. 10 times visit to pune. My phd disertation. My period with osho in pune 1988-1990. the whole archive of press releases in the Usa congress library up to 1995. etc, etc.
And to like or not to like sannyasins is an absurd question. it depends on the sannyasin… on the individual. some al like, some i dislike, some I do not care… as with anybody else in this planet.
greetings
anthony
good morning antony.
alok john posted a couple of your sites and I had a look ..I was left a little bemused …what was the idea? . there are also thousands of other people you could fight who are anti osho .. the list is endless.. I would be interested to read your phd dissertion….if it is available?
250 osho books! speed reading?
one of the thing I find hard to understand is management circles total inability to communicate with sannyasins?
nothing from them .. just a post on her blog from sadanda. acting as public relations for the management circle.
http://oshobytes.blogspot.com/2009/01/osho-protected-trademark-in-more-than.html
they have probably gone of fto plan their next Osho total domination. stratagy.
messages to the management circle can be left on sadana’s blog..I’m sure she will pass them on…
let them know how you feel.
Sangeet wrote
“No one gets to say, “My view is Christianiy and I’ll sue anyone else who calls themselves Christians and doesn’t submit to my control.”
This is true.
But what if there was a building with the words “Islamic Mosque” on the ouside, and inside the building there were Bibles, not Korans, and they were conducting Catholic masses, not Muslim prayers.
Or there was a building with the words “Catholic Church” on the outside. And inside the building there were Korans, not Bibles. And inside the building there were no masses or Christian prayers, only Muslim prayers.
In both cases there would be a hell of a row and possible litigation.
And suppose there was a building with “Osho Centre” on the outside. And inside the building there were no Osho books, only Korans. And people were not doing Osho meditations, only traditional Muslim prayers. Is it such a great idea to allow this for the sake of “freedom?”
May be this picture is wrong but I see you all dancing to be noticed as I am now.
And I remember in Poona 1 a question to Bhagwan ” how did it make him feel seeing all his sannyassins? ”
I believe his reply went
“And he laughed and laughed patted the poor soul nicely and sad “that will Do!??£$$$$$$!!!!”
Bring on the cash registers at every possible enclave of ” true be£ievers ” just like the Ranch The Resort Veeresh and Dhyano
As ChogyamTrungpa would say
I paraphrase
” if you are lazy some one will take
your spirtuality and mess it up.”
if we expect others to do
it for us we cannot be
expecting much
as they are as stupid
as we are
Happy Leaving Day (nearly 19 years)for Osho
I am with you lokking at the stars
my friends
Ashik
Alok John says:
“And suppose there was a building with “Osho Centre” on the outside. And inside the building there were no Osho books, only Korans. And people were not doing Osho meditations, only traditional Muslim prayers. Is it such a great idea to allow this for the sake of “freedom?”
Is that why you think OSHO should not be free and should still be a trademark of OIF? Please give a lil rest to your wild imagination. You’re stretching it too hard just to support what you believe is right. Its a hilariously stupid logic and shows an extremist fanatic approach!
stop letting that idea run amok..alok!
in all the years cristianity has existed withiut a trademark no one has set up a muslim church inside as some kind of falsification????
hey I like that ,,,amok alok…
alokamokalokamok…
its like a mantra…
try it tonight alok ….no ………
try it in the morning …do it until you start laughing out loud..
and then go forth and have a happy day…
I love my wild imagination!
Surely it is possible there might be “The Osho Mosque, Cairo?”
Seriously though
…..
I once found an Islamic Sufi site on the web with tons of Osho quotes. These Muslim people really loved Osho. Osho authored “Sufis — The People of the Path.”
There really could be “The Osho Mosque, Cairo”
These guys who oppose the “Official” organisation are actually pretenders, they are simply competitive, they themselves want to be the official church and dont like that the one that has technically the only link to Osho’s last instructions.
And isn’t it strange, 68 responses to this short post, sometimes I notice very few responses to SN articles…. which often have a lot more spiritual content. Osho is actually quite a common West African name, just check Google to see…. there is absolutely nothing in a name. In fact for a while Osho refused to have any name, it was the organisation that insisted on it.
One thing for sure Osho himself would not then, and would not now, care a toss about such disputes. he would see them as wasting time when those disciples worth their salt would be looking within.
Alok John, I won’t debate whether or not religious freedom is a good idea. It exists. As for your imaginary situations, countries have various laws that apply to “false association.” Each country would deal with this in its own way.
Your examples have no connection at all with the point we were talking about, which is that no one can monopolize a religious teaching.
You say:
No one gets to say, “My view is Christianiy and I’ll sue anyone else who calls themselves Christians and doesn’t submit to my control.”
This is true.
If no one can say, “You can’t be a Christian without my permission and you have to submit to my control” how can anyone say, “You can’t use Osho’s teachings in the world without my permission and you have to submit to my control”? That’s exactly what OIF is saying.
Since talking about whether religious teachings should be free is a bit like talking about whether the earth should be flat instead of round, I’ll go out and enjoy the sunshine instead.
Before I soak up those rays, a note to Anthony. It sounds like you’ve done a lot of research, but there’s one area you seem to have missed, and that explains the mistakes earlier.
You don’t seem to have read the actual legal documents (and there are boxes of them). If you had read the actual files on the Rajneesh trademark registrations in the US, for example, you would have realized that these were in no way trying to “protect Osho’s name.” Neither RF or RFI was in any way trying to interfere with how anyone ELSE used Rajneesh.
If you had read those files, you would have been sceptical when a member of the OIF board told you that Osho asked to have his name protected in the Ranch era.
I’m not criticizing you for not reading the files, only pointing out that you were making statements without knowing all the facts.
yes.
go and enjoy the sunshine
Osho`s Fecking Idiots
versus
Osho`s Idiot Feckers ?
its rubbish!
i would rather watch anthony thompson and christopher christ having a pillow fight on a greasy pole over a pool of crocodiles…
Heraclitus // Jan 18, 2009 at 7:30 pm
These guys who oppose the “Official” organisation are actually pretenders, they are simply competitive, they themselves want to be the official church and dont like that the one that has technically the only link to Osho’s last instructions.
And isn’t it strange, 68 responses to this short post, sometimes I notice very few responses to SN articles…. which often have a lot more spiritual content. Osho is actually quite a common West African name, just check Google to see…. there is absolutely nothing in a name. In fact for a while Osho refused to have any name, it was the organisation that insisted on it.
One thing for sure Osho himself would not then, and would not now, care a toss about such disputes. he would see them as wasting time when those disciples worth their salt would be looking within.
swami says..
high hiraculetise… sorry ..i’ll just call you biggus clitus..
in response to your post….
these guys!
ok… there is no organistion official or unofficial..
you are right when you say look in..
and I recomend it to you….
and to light the way…
Osho cared about everything.
nothing is a waste of time …
and
all disciples are worth their salt.
regards.
Sangeet writes
“Your examples have no connection at all with the point we were talking about, which is that no one can monopolize a religious teaching.”
I think my examples are highly pertinent to the trademark dispute.
Sangeet writes
“You can’t use Osho’s teachings in the world without my permission and you have to submit to my control”? That’s exactly what OIF is saying.
It is not my impression that this is the essence of the dispute. OIF are concerned that if you use Osho techniques, you should use them as they were created by Osho and not change them. That is why they want to trademark them. People have taught dynamic without permission from OIF for decades.
Mr Swami
you seem to enjoy making cheap stand-up comedian attacks on people.
Why is that I wonder? Most would find it very distasteful and show a complete absence in yourself of self-examination – and immaturity writ large.
I was around Osho a lot when he was alive and for certain he did not care a dot about such things. It is just your paternalistic projection that he “cared” in this way. You just want a father figure not a master.
Loads of those who wished to be disciples were shown the door in a myriad of ways without being “directed” to leave. But they did in their thousands especially after the Ranch… and they didn’t have salt in their veins I can testify to that.
yea biggus clitus..
was that when you left ?
when did you leave ? biggus clitus.
Alok John says:
It is not my impression that this is the essence of the dispute. OIF are concerned that if you use Osho techniques, you should use them as they were created by Osho and not change them. That is why they want to trademark them. People have taught dynamic without permission from OIF for decades.
That’s their story and their sticking to it. If you really want to know the essence of the dipute, go read OIF’s briefs. They’re online at http://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?qt=adv&pno=91121040
This discussion seems to have run its course, so I’m opting out.
hi,
are you really hitting your heads because of power issues? where is the real thing?
what are all these emotions for? why are you getting involved with such force against the oif or anybody that does not support your opinion around osho? for my taste this is so much the old little man that i feel disgusted.
little men who shout from the roof top ‘we won, we won’ as if they won a price for awareness. i don’t see any intelligence here.
if we are not able to create an intelligent way dealing with the situation we have not learnt anything. we have stayed the same way through the ages. no new man. sorry.
don’t come with arguments like ‘the other has done this or that’. whatever the topic, i don’t care. in my view inferiority feelings and related superiority feelings drive the whole heat here. nothing special, of course, everybody has these restrictions, yet it is time for a change.
instead of taking the chance to uncover unconsciousness (my own, not that of the other), the whole energy goes to ‘what they have done’. as if anything that the oif does can do anything to me or anybody else who is with osho. so, what are we really fighting about? this situation has been created for us to learn! and not to unconsciously do the rotten same thing as we always did and do in any conflicting situation.
what is the drama about? that somebody tells me ‘you are not good enough to use osho’s name?’ or that somebody sets boundaries with ‘you are not allowed to…?’ no need to create such a theatre around it, situations that i don’t get what i want happen every day, many times, with many issues. so what. i walk my way.
an attempt to be practical:
i have worked with all the people of the ic and so far i did not find anybody amongst the critics who had the same capacity to organize a place like the osho meditation resort. just practically! the job the ic is doing is not an easy job, that anyone can do, as it was said here. including myself i do not see anybody who would be able to handle all the politics around so called osho’s work as e.g. jayesh and amrito do. just practically, their minds are well trained – by osho. nothing special, just perfect mind training. so why not them?
being involved in management for many years i do see the managers of the meditation resort as fairly grown up people – if i am lalowed to judge that. thus, if i have to choose they get the credit. not by what they are doing but by what they are.
i go playing now.
with love to us all
samarpan
well, yes, sangeet, I did not read that box. in fact all I have is second hand information. I am in no way in full knowledge abiut it. all i have is what people have said in their interviews with me.
regards
anthony
Hallo Dear Ones,
Today is 19th January. It was not centuries ago, just 19 years before, an evening sun was not setting alone, Osho was disappearing in the vast horizon.
And once the master left, slowly slowly 17, Koregaon park started becoming like Zimbabwe!
I hope sun will rise again. Few of us will come forward with our true inner light to share His vision with world at large…
Solutions are simple. By turning Ashram into resort, the gusy in Poona re selling ALDI prodcuts at Harold´s rate. If we have compassion and love in our heart, we will sell Harold´s product range at ALDI prices.
Just Imagine 700 people doing Mystic Rose in Osho auditorium @ 2100 Rs. The ripple effect of this kind of actions will be tremendous..
Thanks for the briefs, Sangeet. I will read at least some of it!
If you are still around Sangeet, do you want to suggest something in the briefs where OIF are “showing their true colours.”
Would anyone ever think that a disco in Germany called “Osho’s”, named after Osho, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh be charged with rascist admission policies on numerous occasions? How come the OIF doesn’t screw around with them?
Once again foreign teenagers disco doors have been dismissed, calling the CDU politician a boycott of all discos with discriminatory admission policy. Es handele sich keineswegs um Einzelfälle. It is by no means isolated cases.
. At the entrance to the disco Osho visitors were dismissed. Foto: Decker Photo: Decker
The councilman said Friedrich-Wilhelm buses: “I am appalled and ashamed for this city.”
. The council had at the weekend along with Mayor Stephan Weil am Raschplatz postcards against discrimination Disco doors distributed. . On the same evening buses from the test examples. Accompanied by two Turkish youths he asked for admission into the Osho disco. While the councilman was allowed to pass the door, his companion had to stay out.
. As announced yesterday, have coaches and his colleague Mrs Christine Handke then still “dozens of times” seen as “visitors with apparent migration background” at the entrance of the Osho disco were rejected without explanation. . “I have spoken with many stakeholders,” said Coach yesterday. A rethinking of the disco operators will only deploy when the guests helped wegblieben when they witness such incidents would.
Already in July, the Osho disco in the headlines. At the time, should bouncer four Turkish and Israeli Alfelder guests of the Lions Clubs have dismissed their German hosts, however, admission is granted. At the time, denied the two Osho CEO discriminatory admission policy vehemently. Also yesterday shared with writer Alexander: “There are no admission policy, which prohibits foreigners.” According to recent allegations that he now wanted to talk with the city.
Coach stresses that the problem is not confined to the Osho-Disco could be reduced. “We know that this happens everywhere.” The test of the council was not the first. Already in August, FDP chief Wilfried Engelke a similar attempt. Together with three Africans, he visited several nightclubs. In five cases were dismissed black guests.
von Vivien-Marie Drews Vivien-Marie Drews
http://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.haz.de/newsroom/regional/art185,776787&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DNachdem%2Bschon%2Bwieder%2Bausl%25C3%25A4ndische%2BJugendliche%2Ban%2BDiskot%25C3%25BCren%2Babgewiesen%2Bwurden,%2Bfordern%2BCDU-Politiker%2Beinen%2BBoykott%2Baller%2BDiskos%2Bmit%2Bdiskriminierender%2BEinlasspolitik.%2BEs%2Bhandele%2Bsich%2Bkeineswegs%2Bum%2BEinzelf%25C3%25A4lle.%26hl%3Den
beloved samarpan ,thankyou for speaking your truth.
you are right,these unconscious little old men,jumping up and down in their inferiority complex-driven retarded emotions are really disgusting.
they point the finger with all kinds of ulgy abuse at good,honest people in order to cover their own stupidity,they create a fight
and never come to realise that they are loking in the mirror,at their own ugly projections,and just cannot take responsibility…
if oif order you to do something,what`s the drama?
why get emotional and childish?
just obey.
that`s what osho wanted.
thanks for making this clear samarpan,
and hammering the thick headsof those little men!
will those little men listen?
will the new man be born?
probably not.
that is why water tight legislation is needed to preserve osho`s dream.
thank goodness for lawyers.
can you imagine what a mess oshos vision might be in without them?
If you have ten minutes look at the Preliminary Statement of document 121 of thr trial documents below. See page 5. This is a late submission on behalf of OIF.
According to OIF, and I think this must be true because it is a statement made to a court, during the course of the proceedings, Neelam and Keerti registered ‘Osho’ three times as a trademark for themselves.
” Rather than wanting ‘Osho’ to be free, they want the trademark for themselves.”
http://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?qt=adv&pno=91121040
It was Neelam and Keerti “applied to register three OSHO trademarks”
I cannot cut and paste cos it is a pdf document
Swami I never left. But I fear you would leave after the first bum’s rush.
Swamis and others
An Osho brothel would probably die laughing and the girls go dye their hair? It would never make a profit !
Why pay for something you love being ?
In the days when Osho did books , I am told by others that they were edited. I know some of the editors who laboured to bring Osho’s world to us . osho teaches us in so many ways and how may ways do I have to say this?
let me try : If Osho allowed something to be edited was it still Osho ?
Who is in there ?the editor or Osho?
Who owns it or does he just say as I told That will Do !!!!s ?
If the Sheela was doing Osho’s work was Osho in There Too?
Do we have the right to protect the very people who need Osho more and more every day from being exposed to Osho?
It is 19 years A Saturn return year of Osho not being here ….. will I meet him tonight I hope so
I’m cheered up
Love and be well
I love that Osho
AShik
Open letter to the so called “friends of Osho”.
I do not know if you are naïve or plain stupid. What you have done in USA is basically opening the door for any crackpot to use the name of our master for whatever purpose they consider appropriate, and make money out of it.
Sure, now you can use the name too… but also any other guy who wish to do so. I do not know weather you ignore the American mentality, because you live in the Himalayas or Delhi… or what?
I heard some people claim that now Sw. Arun can finally do his cultish version of Osho’s work with no problem… so any other sannyasin who wishes to become a guruji or change the meditations to his/her own wish and call it Osho is free to do so.
I think calling yourselves “ friends” of Osho is a contradiction in terms. You are doing a pretty lame favor to your friend.
I work and lead a center in Chile. I work spreading Osho’s work in the world in a contemporary way. Now I feel that our work will soon be equated with Osho jeans, brothels, pornoshops, or whatever the Americans wish to do with the “generic brand” Osho.
One last point. You had no problem in putting a copyright notice in your Osho world website… and also in trying to apply for the ownership of the trademark for yourselves…groovy.
I think this is a sad day for the work of a man whom we love and admire.
Vikrant A. Sentis MS. ED.
Director
Centro Experiencial para el Desarrollo Humano
Being very imaginative ….
….
It did occur to me it might be “divine justice.”
The Americans murdered Osho and now his work may be destroyed in America.
beloved vikrant.
you seem a bit angry and religous!
and attached to your rightousness..
.(your right ..anyone who dissagrees with you is wrong)
have you tried ‘stepping out of the circle’
this is not a sad day for osho..
it’s a day for celebration.
when you reject other friends and lovers of osho you reject a part of yourself.
sw arun is no more cultish than you!
regards.
beloved vikrant.
what would your sannyas look like if you were in charge and could refuse anyone who didnt agree with your opinions?
beloved samarpan.
usually in sannyas the moment you get comfortable the rug is pulled away from under you .. a device to stop you getting complacent….
the moment you become safe and secure in something ..pop.. and its gone …
its always been like this ,,,,
on the ranch it mattered not what you were in the world …if you were a teacher …you could well be given a bus to drive ..
and its still like this now…
you see samarpan its a buddhafield not a corporate
enviroment .. its by these out of the box situations that you can see yourself and grow the most…
this opportunity needs to be given to amrito and jayesh…
they have no one to point out .. hey .. your losing the plot…
go clean toilets for a while…
and as for the brain training you mention …
this is nonsense.. this is the opposite of what osho was about…
and can I remind you that after being so close to the master ..osho when he was about to leave the body had to remind amrito to stop crying like a baby.
to help light the way… anyone can do anything…if you can allow it…
I personally think if you would really care about amrito and jayesh and the some of the other members of the management circle you would as I have ..in their best interest .. have a word in their ear and tell them to let go…
they are not essensial to osho’s work..no one is.. they think they are and that they are helping .. but osho’s work helps itself.
regards.
Vikrant Says:
“I do not know if you are naïve or plain stupid. What you have done in USA is basically opening the door for any crackpot to use the name of our master for whatever purpose they consider appropriate, and make money out of it.”
1) Most crackheads are probably broke and too cracked up to even use this name rightly
2) If crackheads used the Osho name its not like Pune OIF would step in and sue them (because they’re broke!)
3) A crackhead leading Dynamic Meditation to other crackheads…cool!! (its a win-win)
These arguments are rediculous and show the religious mind strongly—-protecting Osho’s name bla bla bla…its like fundementalist christians who don’t want to marriage to be GAY because it ruins the name of marriage: fucking BULLSHIT! haha
So Mr. Osho Chile, Sw. Vikrant, before calling Sw. Arun a cultist and thinking of yourself as somewhat contemporary: realize Osho is not an organization just in Pune, He exists everywhere!
Another point on America:
America let Osho stick around for more than 4 years and even let the movement have somewhat of its own city!! Obviously no world government could tolerate Osho and America was just one of the most lenient in this regard. In Greece, the Archbishop threatend to fire bomb Osho’s house within a couple weeks!!
on your last point:
“You had no problem in putting a copyright notice in your Osho world website… and also in trying to apply for the ownership of the trademark for yourselves…groovy.”
This is what it says on the Osho World Website:
Copyleft and Privacy Policy
“Things can be copyrighted, thoughts cannot be copyrighted, and certainly meditations cannot be copyrighted. They are not things of the marketplace. Nobody can monopolize anything. But perhaps the West cannot understand the difference between an objective commodity and an inner experience. For ten thousand years the East has been meditating and nobody has put trademarks upon meditations.”
Osho
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti
So Please use your references when making such assumptions and allegations.
what is the reason for thinking that the word “osho” is so effective for selling stuff?
does vikrant really think that sticking osho in the name of a pornoshop or site is going to get people reaching for their creditcards?
redhot hardcore action oshoxxx ?
i can`t see it myself
96 comments here and counting!
This whole thing MUST be a device of the master…
Dear Vikrant A. Sentis MS. ED.
Director
Centro Experiencial para el Desarrollo Humano
How come you are a centre leader? your comments show that you have no intellegence at all.
Each point that you make have been proven to be self made assumptions. i wouldnt even wanna discuss them.
Such a stupid man leading a centre, how come?
Amrito, crackpot means fool, not someone who takes crack.
As to America and Osho, it is a dark history. You should read Shunyo’s Diamond Days with Osho.
haha so OIF can’t stop fools like Osho Dhara in India!! Many genuine seekers see the truth eventually and give into the fact that it doesn’t have much to do with Osho and more to do with the fool—and they will still follow the fool..
Yea I know about America and Osho, but my point is: India had a police commissioner come to a lecture and throw a knife. Greece had the archbishop threaten to firebomb Osho’s house within a few weeks of him being there. Italy had the vatican plot with everyone else on how to get rid of Osho. Many European countries denied Osho emediately and formed laws to ban him particularly!
The whole world was basically plotting against Osho and his movement, and yes the USA is a large part of that. They are the most powerful so they use the most powerful and sophisticated techniques against the Osho movement.
But alot of Sannyasins are /were Americans like Sw Dhanyam at Osho Viha, like Ma Satya Priya, like Sw. Niren–> and many many more. We shouldnt discredit Americans for being idiotic and crackheads when politicians universally are. America is a new country creating old mistakes and the rest of the world is an old world making the same mistakes (and learning somewhat)!.
Actually, Canada is a new country, and Mexico, and all of Latin America, and Australia and New Zealand.
“Canada remained loyal to wicked King George lll of England. Canada had no slavery, no Civil War and no George Bush”
Okay Sw. Alok—I didnt claim as an absolute that America was the ONLY new country in the world. But the countries you named (inlcuding Canada when I’m from) all have kept distinct cultural ties to the countries that colonized them. Canada has the queen on every monetary unit, the highest person constiutionally is still the monarch of England. I don;t know about Australia, but I assume its similar to Canada–same with New Zealand. Mexico has its strong spaniard roots as well as the rest of Latin America… but the USA fought against the colony that brought them to North America, they destroyed their british heritage.
Canada would have been a part of America if it hadn’t been loyal to the British Monarch. Hence, America is a new country in the sense that it destroyed much of its British Past and turned into a melting pot of many European nations, Blacks, Minority Asians Etc.
Sorry there was slavery in Canada, but it ended much earlier than in the US
http://www.africanaonline.com/slavery_canada.htm
Hence: Osho even said he admired America and its constitution–and the only reason he spoke out against it soo much because the USA held a higher responsibility than any other nation. Osho had said many times that no country could tolerate him and that he’d eventually be killed or persecuted in any given country around the world—including the USA.
But it just happend that Osho was around during a very conservative government (Reagan being a staunch fundementalist Christian) and we know how the US Rebuplican party works….I’m sure if the Commune was built while Carter was around or if Obama was president, the outcome for Rajneeshpuram wouldn’t have been so bad…
Amrito, I want to respectfully disagree with you.
Of course you cannot prove it, but I think the outcome under Carter would have been similar. It is just the values of the Ranch and those of America were so incompatible.
Also there is some debate as to whether a guy like Reagan was really a “fundamentalist Christian” or was he hamming it up a bit to get elected. You don’t get to be President without some level of intelligence.
I suppose it is not really relevant but did anyone read David Ike’s article on the Notice Board about President Obama. It is no longer there but here it is
http://www.davidicke.com/content/view/18281
It has this link suggesting Obama uses NLP or similar hypnotic techniques.
http://www.pennypresslv.com/Obama's_Use_of_Hidden_Hypnosis_techniques_in_His_Speeches.pdf
Does anyone find Obama a bit creepy, also angry? Not such a good idea to have an angry man with his finger on the nuclear button.
What if it goes like this? He wants peace with Iran so brings down America’s guard, then there is a terrible terrorist attack on US mainland, and then he “has” to go to war with Iran. Democrats do have a history of stumbling into wars.
I could well believe he uses NLP or similar, which I think is unethical.
yea, ofcourse this is mindless discussion!! But glad to view your perspective on the issue.
posted by anuprada on sadhana’s blog…
http://oshobytes.blogspot.com/2009/01/osho-protected-trademark-in-more-than.html
Anuprada said…
For many years, I have been working on the editorial team of the OSHO Times magazine. Recently, I received many New Year messages containing Osho quotes, and I was extremely disturbed that people’s own comments were often in the middle, with no indication as to what came from Osho and what not. It indicated an enormous carelessness and unawareness of the layers of meaning in each word Osho says.
When I heard that the American courts had decided that Osho was a “generic term,” I was aghast. According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, the word generic means “a. relating to or characteristic of a whole group or class,” or b. “being or having a nonproprietary name — generic drugs” or c: “having no particularly distinctive quality or application — generic restaurants.” Since it is the name that Osho used, I don’t see that Osho would fit into any of those categories.
I have understood that this court decision would mean that anyone, without any background or qualifications could twist Osho’s words in any way, and there would be no recourse to the law to prevent them.
I have heard sannyasins talk about freedom as a result of the decision: have they realized what an enormous responsibility that entails for them? The Osho International Foundations are doing their utmost to ensure that Osho’s words will remain as authentic and untainted as possible, so that future generations will be able to benefit from his vision exactly the way he presented it.
Has everyone understood that if this American court decision remains, it will mean that, in America, this gigantic work will be the responsibility of every single sannyasin? There will be no legal way to prevent any kind of misuse of Osho’s words.
Is every one of us equal to this task? Are we all aware enough to take it on in addition to the basic awareness we need to live our own lives? From what I have experienced, most of us have more than enough on our plates managing our own relationships, earning money and remaining centered in these times of stress, depression and crisis – where the media is bombarding us every moment of every day with news of aggression, war, terrorism, misuse of public funds…the list is endless.
More is the probability that, if we have not come to the Meditation Resort and/or meditated regularly for a long time, our own vision can be severely influenced, even crippled, by outside events. The worst thing is that this is very insidious; our minds are influenced by the terrible happenings in the world today without our being aware.
I would like to suggest to those who are critical of the work of the OSHO International Foundations to come to the OSHO International Meditation Resort for a longer visit to renew their meditation, their ability to be “in the world and not of it.”
Come and see for yourself the utmost care that is that is taken in the Multimedia department to ensure that Osho’s words remain 24-carat gold, that his vision is more and more accessible in its purity to everyone, no matter what their age or background. That everyone can partake of Osho’s wisdom, exactly the way he presents it, without any commentary or adulteration by anyone else.
Alok John Says:
“Does anyone find Obama a bit creepy, also angry? Not such a good idea to have an angry man with his finger on the nuclear button.
What if it goes like this? He wants peace with Iran so brings down America’s guard, then there is a terrible terrorist attack on US mainland, and then he “has” to go to war with Iran. Democrats do have a history of stumbling into wars.
I could well believe he uses NLP or similar, which I think is unethical.”
Haha Alok don’t become Obama’s Calder, or take info from such a 3rd rate website!!
Osho was said to be quite hyponitc, mind-controlling and part of a secret society bla bla bla—by these cult-awareness websites. People are completely rediculous!!
Although hez most probably just a regular politician, I do smell a scent of authenticity on him.
This is just the pendulum spinning the other way as it happens with anyone and everyone, there always an anti-dote to someone who reaches such heights in popularity..
I do have an imagination
But even if David Ike’s site is third rate, it does not mean every sentence on it is wrong. Truth is a complex thing
ohh and btw, David Ike actually supports the theory of 911 being a staged attack (homegrown).
I remember the discussion on Sannyasnews with Giten as well. Your views were on the side that bush couldnt be so stupid nor the CIA etc, and now you’re suspecting Obama to be a mass hyponitist?!!!
Nonetheless,
“only an idiot remains consistent”
-Osho
Cheers!
and so no one mis-understands me, I’m saying you inconistent hence not an idiot haha!
I’d be interested if anyone who is trained in NLP would have a look at it. Quite a few sannyasins have done NLP training
Thanks Amrito and maybe you are right about Osho’s death. Maybe Jimmy Carter would not have ordered the murder of Osho.
My guess is for a federal employee (FBI or CIA say) to kill someone, only the President can okay this, probably verbally with no written record.
And Reagan did this but Carter would not have, being a nicer guy.
john,
btw.the history of nlp is not all love and light.
for example
in 1988,richard bandler,the co-creator of nlp was charged with murder of a prostitute,nlp student and fellow heavy cocaine abuser.she was shot in the face with one of bandlers guns.unbelievably,if you read the details of the evidence,he was not convicted.read the story for yourself on the web.
every speaker,salesman,politician,guru,mother,teacher etc is using hypnosis to a greater or lesser degree.it is a natural part of human interaction which can be deliberately amplified.
whether you call it nlp,hypnosis or whatever doesnt really matter.the techniques are available in many formats
more important is that it is very easy to hypnotise huge numbers of people thru tv.
and people love being hypnotised ,you like being hypnotised….you are feeling very comfortable…..your ass fits perfectly into your chair…..thats right……good…….now do as i say……..
all advertising uses hypnotic techniques.
there is nothing “conspiracy theory” about this
to test,anyone can take `introducing nlp`or similar text book,read it and watch all the ads on the box.
its easily grasped.
This is all really a small thing, this is not about copyright which some comments here seem to think. it is simply about the name Osho, and also about it’s use only in the US. The decision may be overturned on appeal.
The reason why there are 115 comments here about it is not about that plain fact. It’s about power, and that there is a small chink now, and possbily for a short time, in the OIF sitadel of power.
Someone here, i think the notorious and abusive “Swami” says that now (God forbid) all sannyasins will have to be “responsible” for protecting Osho’s name. What a great thing. Instead of a bunch of disempowered people who simply “rely” on some overarching authority called the OIF.
All OSHO’S words are needed in a public domain.
This year there will be great change in OIF.
All Five fools will run away.
They will ask for forgiveness to all Osho lovers.
Love from
Osho.
but who really won with this court decision?
love & smiles
playful
I think that Osho won, and also his work. It is a subtle thing because in a way the “Protaganists” lose everytime they get heated up, I mean they lose themsleves, just what Osho was against!
So Osho “lives” on. I thought that this incredible charlatan had disappeared – with his several rols-royces. What utter bunkum and deception you people – like all the organized religions – go in for.
When will the world be free of people like you with your poisonous thinking??
JM…..run run run!!
The orange people are comming!!!
Hahaha…
and if you stay to chit chat longer….you will completely drop your mind—what to say about poisoning your mind–it will simply drop dead!!
well said amrito!
Lao Tzu said “that a journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step”
Oh dear, I think JM has taken the first step!
You all crack me up. I am having fun reading all these comments. Here’s a Osho’s quote for you all.
“Existence is hilarious! If you just have eyes to see the hilarious points you will be surprised: in life there is no place to be serious. Everybody is slipping on banana peels – you just need an insight to see.” – Osho
Vishaka.
perhaps if you start ‘cracking yourself up’…
laughing at yourself and at your own comment you will be really enjoying yourself.
Inheritance problems!!, ha, ha
Osho’s name is not a guaranty of quality, may be Osho’s name is for the people whit money who can buy the registered mark, they¨ll never have the real truth whit the rights of the name, that is free, the other is for bussines
Osho was a joker man, who took his life in several funny ways, may be he is smyling of us, nothing is real but the consciousness, the use of the name Osho is for people who never reached the own comprenssion, the use of the name is for insecure people, who need the words of one important guru for expresse themselfs, ¿Osho was the last important buddha? no,Osho only was one of us whit a spetial mind and helpers with vission.
Osho is not Outside nither in the very inner cose there is nobodhi. and nothing.
I can use my own name for the same work whitout pay anything to nobodhi,
We most go far away from this kind of small things.