I am supporting Ramateertha against OIFs Trademark claim on Osho . Will you support him ?Why in US no monopol on him ? Why should be in EU? read letter and share! to all! Letter from Ramateertha Cologne, June 21st, 2014 Dear Friends, On June 12th we received the decision of the European Office for Harmonisation of the International Market in the Osho trademark dispute: Our request for cancellation of the Community Trademark OSHO for “educational services; yoga instruction; religious services; meditation services” has been refused. This decision is not yet legally binding and can be appealed till Aug 11th. I have to admit that this verdict came as a shock to me. After gathering evidence in five rounds of litigation (two rounds would be normal in such cases), OHIM writes that the evidence provided by the parties is too complex to enable a definitive finding on the validity of the contested trademark. They then add that the trademark has been valid for the past fourteen years, and that OIF was the first to register the mark. Therefore, the argument is that there is a prima facie presumption in favour of OIF, and that the registration is valid unless.... The fact that the trademark has not been controlled by OIF for years, mainly because it was not registered at all until 1999 (the name Osho was used freely before that), was not taken into account. The key question of whether the name Osho can be used as a trademark at all is not even discussed in the findings. Furthermore, the fact that a fake “Last Will” of Osho was submitted during the proceedings was also not taken into account and the wording of the decision ignores it completely, as if it had never happened. As I said, the decision is a shock for me. The five years that the court case has been going on have been an incredible strain, both for me personally and also for the people here in Cologne working with me. In particular, we have experienced OIF’s strategy of spreading lies, false allegations and defamatory statements shocking and appalling. Producing a so-called “Last Will” of Osho, which handwriting experts have unanimously exposed as a fake, is only the crudest among many examples of an attitude that is willing to accept and employ virtually any means, no matter how reprehensible, to achieve their ends. In this situation, the question of whether or not we should appeal the court’s decision is a difficult one: Continuing to live in this situation is really not a very attractive prospect for any of us. But then you could argue that if we give in on these grounds, these cunning strategies have worked, and that is equally unpleasant. We also have to consider the financial aspects of this litigation. Huge amounts of money have been poured into this dispute already, and this has placed an enormous strain on our financial situation. So we have to ask ourselves, is it really worth it? On the one hand I know that Osho never wanted a trademark or an organisation controlling his sannyasins in his name. OIF and the Inner Circle are trying to depict this issue as my own “private agenda”, and that is most definitely not the case! On the other hand, this legal dispute is taking up so much energy, time and money that it has become an incredible burden. For all these reasons, I and my friends in the Lotus Verein organisation here in Cologne are going to have to take some time to decide whether or not an appeal is the best course of action. At the moment, the situation of OIF has also changed: Its board of directors has been suspended by the Swiss Government following a disciplinary complaint which I personally filed in Switzerland (this was not an initiative of the Lotus Verein e.V.) The Swiss Government responded to the complaint in a matter of days, suspending the board members and freezing the bank accounts of the foundation. People have quite rightly asked me why I did this, and I would like to take this opportunity to give you the facts that prompted me to take this course of action: First of all, it is important to know that OIF lost its non-profit status in Switzerland in 2012. As a result, OIF’s operations are now classed as normal, profit-oriented business activities. As a business organisation, the foundation is infringing on its own charter, because its revenues are not being used for the purposes laid down in its own by-laws. Secondly, OIF is over-indebted to such an extent that its debt endangers the survival of the foundation. In this context I was particularly alarmed by the presentation of the so-called “Last Will” of Osho and its implications. Thirdly, almost all of the OIF directors are directly involved in companies that are privately owned by them, and the available evidence suggests that funds that should have gone to OIF have been diverted into those companies. The decision of the Swiss Government was issued on June 2nd and OIF has until July 4th to appeal. To date, no appeal has been filed. Meanwhile, the investigation of the Swiss authorities is proceeding and an administrator has been appointed by the Swiss Government to manage the affairs of the foundation until the situation changes. I do hope that this letter has been able to answer some of your questions and provide a better understanding of the current situation. We will be publishing the full text of the decision on the trademark case on osho.de shortly. I would also like to take this opportunity to ask for your support for the work we are doing. Especially we do need also financial support… If you click on this link, you can find all the information you need for this: osho.de/2012/04/how-to-support-trademark-case-en/ Ramateertha
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 02:01:18 +0000
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