Latest on the Osho Copyright Controversy, and the closing down of sannyas internet sites
(Readers of the Sannyasnews noticeboard will know that the Sannyasworld.com site was closed down a few days ago as a result of their server being lent on by Osho International. This on the grounds of abuse by sannyasworld of the Osho copyright. Sangeet comments on this below:)
Just a few comments. I'm trying to help people understand the structure we're dealing with, so that we can deal with it more effectively. The Osho Meditation Resort (OMR) is an Indian place run by several Indian charitable trusts. It is completely independent of any entity in any other country. It is not a legal entity in itself and doesn't claim ownership of any rights.
Osho International Foundation (OIF) is a Swiss corporation run by Jayesh, Amrito, Yogendra, and Pramod. It has no legal control over the OMR. OIF claims to have ownership of Osho's copyright.
However, and this is a BIG however, they can produce no evidence of copyright ownership. They have some copies of old documents where Osho allegedly assigned publishing rights (not copyright ownership) to Rajneesh Foundation in India. But, again a BIG but, they have no originals and can't even prove the authenticity of those documents. The alleged assignment of publishing rights was conditional and was to end if compilations of Osho's work were ever published without His written permission. Needless to say, that happened long ago, and there can't be any basis for a claim of any rights from OIF. (These documents are on file with the US Library of Congress and available to anyone.)
These are exactly the "rights" OIF is claiming in recent attacks on websites. This is, as usual, a major bluff.
Anyone who "acknowledges" copyrights that don't exist will be just participating in this big lie. I question whether that's a good idea. I acknowlege that there's no evidence Osho never signed over His copyrights to anyone else and that He could have done so if He had wanted to. I acknowledge Osho's right to make His own decisions and deny Jayesh's right to change them to suit himself.
Also, OIF have tried to confuse all the entities worldwide in the hope that they can pass themselves off as a global motherchurch and be given legal control over all of Osho's work, and all work done in connection with His name. This is clearly in contradition to what Osho said Himself, and I, for one, am not willing to go along with that. So, I hope people will look very closely at legal entities and who and what they really are, instead of what they pretend to be. If the picture of separate entities is kept clear, OIF will not be able to achieve it's goal of world dominance. The attacks on websites won't be able to withstand a challenge, but someone has to make the challenge.
Sangeet
