Fight for copyrights in Bulgaria turns ugly
On 9 May the Bulgarian publishing house ‘Trud’, owned by the German media group Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, sent a letter threatening with a lawsuit a Bulgarian specialized web library for blind people - bezmonitor.com (its name means ‘without a monitor’). The publishing house claims that they own the copyrights for certain classical Bulgarian books and translations of foreign-language ones, which appear on the website, in ASCII format, which is good for reading by the audio programs used by people who cannot see. The website is non-commercial; its creator, Victor Kirilov, who is also blind, is supporting it on his own. Although he removed the texts in question in the same day, he mentioned this case to his friend Grigor Gatchev, who is recognized translator, an author and well-known blogger.
On 14 May Grigor wrote about the story in details in his personal blog, and hundreds of people express their outrage towards the immoral behavior of the publishing house. The news quickly spread in Internet, reaching over 50 websites and around 90 forums, and hundreds of e-mails were sent to the office of the publishing house, demanding explanation of this behavior.
In addition to being immoral, this action of “Trud” appeared also to be illegal. The Bulgarian Law for Copyright and related rights states:
Art. 24 (1) Without the agreement of the owner of the copyright is permitted:
…
10. Distribution of already published texts through Braille writing or a similar alternative method, if this is not done for profit.
(All texts on bezmonitor.com are in pure ASCII, and almost only blind people visit it, so, it falls under the category “similar to Braille”.)
Bulgarian citizens as well as organizations of the blind people, such as Association ‘Eyesight’ and the National Library for the Blind ‘Louis Braille’ informed all Bulgarian media on the behavior of publishing house ‘Trud’, which itself owns a few major daily newspapers. ‘Trud’ tried to prevent the story from becoming public, as the owner of the publishing house is also a director of the Union of the Bulgarian Publishers. Most major BG media outlets kept silent. However, fewer small independent newspapers voiced people’s outrage.
After removing the texts, Victor asked the publishing house for documents stating that they really hold the copyrights in mention - after all, anyone could say in e-mail anything. “Trud” refused to supply him any documents, and instead wrote a complaint to the Bulgarian Service for Combating the Organized Crime (despite that all texts in mention were taken down). The department, although a state institution, has reputation for serving corporate interests and having made illegal arrests on previous cases. A phone call from the department to the blind programmer of the website, Victor, makes him remove all texts under the fear of arrest, which although completely illegal and immoral, would put Victor’s health in danger.
Later, Victor was summoned to the office of BSCOC and presented to sign a document in sense that he would be responsible for all violation of copyrights that may involve his site, and that this is a criminal offense that will lead to years of imprisonment. He was explained that, after this warning, the copyright holders don’t have to resolve the matter with him first, and may directly trial him - and that even a sole pretension on violation would result for him in being arrested (possibly for years, since these trials take a long), and his PC confiscated. Which, to a blind man with a frail health, is a clear attempt for intimidation. Victor was refused any access to the complaint being filed against him, or to the documents the publishing house is said to have attached to the complaint to prove their right. He was refused even to have a copy of the document he signed.
At this meeting, however, it turned out that not only his site is being harassed - all Bulgarian online electronic libraries are targeted by the complaints to BSCOC, despite that some of them never had any copyrighted texts. At a talk with the “Trud” CEO, Nikola Kitzevsky, Victor learned that “Trud” now makes a commercial (paid) online electronic library, and is determined to make it the only electronic library in Bulgaria. Which sheds some light over what is really happening.
The authors whose texts are in question are pillars of the Bulgarian literature. In their stories they fight injustice and defend the poor and disadvantaged people. Now a corporation, many years after authors’ death, is attempting to prevent access to those stories for those very same people…
It is sad that the publishing house ‘Trud’ completely misses the point that one blind person has made the utmost effort to provide access for sightless people to literature and this is an act only to be admired and supported. People of Bulgaria, however, are determined to win this battle.
юни 27th, 2006 at 22:30
This is incredible! Is there details of people at Trud where we can start directing our emails and phone calls on this matter?
юни 27th, 2006 at 22:37
Trud:
viktoria@trud.bg
rumen@trud.bg
znam@trud.bg
office@trud.bg
WAZ media group, owner of Trud in Germany
kontakt@waz-mediengruppe.de
Please also copy us on all your e-mails: helpbezmonitor@gmail.com
юни 28th, 2006 at 0:26
This is simply just wrong. What is next? after attacking blind people Confiscating the crutches and wheelchairs of crippled children? How can you go home? Do you tell your family that today, I hurt blind people? Is this something to be proud of?
юни 28th, 2006 at 1:48
Guys, I wish you all the best of luck to win the battle. …and I hope it will become a good lesson for other countries where copyrights are used as a good curtain to hide extra profits.
юни 28th, 2006 at 3:20
This is atrocious. We will definitely spread the word.
юни 28th, 2006 at 13:14
[…] След като медиите в България доказаха, че НЕ СА СВОБОДНИ! Историята за bezmonitor.com и Труд излезе в BoingBoing. Четете, уважаеми журналисти, четете… German publisher attacks Bulgarian books-for-blind site… […]
юни 28th, 2006 at 13:34
[…] Folgender Text über eine WAZ-Tochter in Bulgarien und deren Gebaren dort, ist seit gestern auf Boing Boing zu finden:
Am 9. Mai hat der bulgarische Verlag ‘Trud’, der zu der deutschen ‘Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung’-Verlagsgruppe gehört, einen Brief, in dem rechtliche Schritte angedroht werden
… […]
юни 28th, 2006 at 13:39
[…] …On the 9th of May the Bulgarian publishing house ‘Trud’, owned by the German media group Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, sends a letter threatening with a lawsuit the specialized web library for blind people - bezmonitor.com (its name means ‘without a monitor’)… […]
юни 28th, 2006 at 13:57
[…] …Saw on Boing2 this story about a German publisher bullying a Bulgarian website for the blind into closure just because it damn well can… […]
юни 28th, 2006 at 14:06
А какво можем да направим, за да заявим недоволството си от действията на Труд? Автора на сайта има ли идея за някаква …ааа..гражданска инициатива?
добра работа!
BTW, идвам тук от боинг-боинг
(What should we do in order to voice our disagreement with Trud’s actions? Does the site’s author has an idea for some kind of grassroot initiative?)
юни 28th, 2006 at 14:14
[…] … I would like to thank BoingBoing for blogging the Trud vs Blind People story. The case sure needs some publicity as local media are not willing to report it. I have personally contacted several journalists (some of them are among my real-life friends) and they all refused to report the story as ‘their editors-in-chief and publishers do not approve articles against any newspapers’. That’s what I call censorship.
And I want to add some information that makes the story even uglier… […]
юни 28th, 2006 at 14:30
We definitely need to spread the word.
Digg it!!!
юни 28th, 2006 at 14:45
Digg is a user driven social content website. You feel the puls of the web there!
юни 28th, 2006 at 16:18
@ D.
http://protest.bloghub.org/2006/05/22/what-to-do/
Освен това следи този сайт ние веднага ще информираме за различни инициативи, които започват.
юни 28th, 2006 at 16:32
[…] …След като и *БОП се намесиха в скандала около Труд и bezmonitor.com си мислех, че поне някоя от независимите български медии най-накрая ще отрази новината, та макар и в стил “ГДБОП затвориха сайт на литературен пират”. Не би. Нашите медии си остават независими в българския контекст на думата. Ами да си мълчат… […]
юни 28th, 2006 at 16:35
[…] …Ein Blinder wurde vom Westdeutschen Verlag angegangen, weil er - in Übereinstimmung mit dem bulgarischen Urheberrecht - Inhalte für Braille-Geräte (Kommunikationsmittel für Sehbehinderte) bereit gehalten hat… […]
юни 28th, 2006 at 16:54
Dear all,
what is happening in Bulgaria is not only terrible. It is related to lots of information I have found via Google on the actions of Bulgarian police on copyright issues. It seems that several copyright holder associations have managed to keep the police under control and order them to confiscate computers, hard drives, and now - shut down web sites.
I speak Bulgarian, so it was easy for me to find this information, and what worries me is the lack of control over the work of the police and their special unit for fighting organized crime. In fact, I can’t see how a blind person can alone organize crime whatsoever.
юни 28th, 2006 at 16:56
I forgot to mention - it’s better to send letters, emails, etc. to the WAZ, not to the Trud daily. It seems the Trud daily does not really care about the whole issue. But their owners are among the biggest German publishers. Perhaps one could also approach their competitors in Germany - hope that someone can tell us who they are and how they can be contacted.
юни 28th, 2006 at 21:02
Grassroot initiative? In Sweden we have formed a political party to illuminate the questions about copyright, patents and respect for personal privacy. We hope that the innitiative will rise to other countries then this is truly a global question, allready we have sisterparties in France, Italy and USA.
This act that happend to bezmonitor.com is not unlike what happened in sweden about a month ago when 65 policeofficers raided a webhotel to take down Thepiratebay.org. Larger companies are using the police to scare smaller companies into silence…
юни 29th, 2006 at 0:01
Danne_T - there are already talks in Bulgaria about forming a political party similar to the one in Sweden. Most bloggers here are well familiar with the case with thepiratebay.org and others have written about your party in details.
юни 29th, 2006 at 0:05
[…] …der problemlöser sowie viele andere auch berichten über die unglaubliche dreistigkeit, mit der die WAZ, bzw. die bulgarische untergruppe “trud”… […]
юни 29th, 2006 at 2:47
Jonathan Bent a agree with you!
Here, in Bulgaria, everyone could be drived crazy event with the scent of money.
That’s because of the misery we live in. A big part of the bulgarians do not even know what is to have meat for dinner once a week. So they feel such things as web copyrights issues so far away of them that I don’t know if you can understand.
Here the problems is how could we learn to be generous, to help each other no matter what had happend.
Everyone is trying to earn some money (without mention the way).We are trying to leave anything to our children, because here is no way to start from the bottom-the society will drawn you.
Here we are trying to survive. I don’t know how exactly had said the next, but: “Bulgaria will reach the nowadays stage of Europe and the European Union in no less than 50 years.”
The people who can help our sick society, or can protect us, don’t want to. But there is nobody who can lock them with the “imputation of parsimony”.
That’s all I had to say. Excuse me if you find too much mistakes, I think you will be able to understand the written.
All the best : Irina .
юни 29th, 2006 at 11:07
[…] …Най-четеният блог в света boingboing отрази продължаващите спорове между Виктор Любенов и WAZ. Спорът е един от любопитните примери за онлайн обществото срещу офлайн подобното… […]
юни 29th, 2006 at 16:00
[…] …Българската блогсфера за сравнително кратко време се разви много и продължава да открива нови потенциали в себе си. Вече имаме няколко принципно различни нагласи на блогерите, което си е нормално. Има хора, които пишат изцяло и само лични неща, други пишат само по конкретни теми, трети опитват да правят директна публицистика по вълнуващи ги проблеми… […]
юни 29th, 2006 at 17:24
@ international readers wondering how they can be of help:
1. If you have a website or blog you can write about this.
2. You can post about it in the forums you are visiting.
3. Inform the media in your country (this is especially true for visitors from Germany).
4. Inform the international organizations for defending human rights and international organizations for defending rights of disadvantaged people in your country.
юли 5th, 2006 at 21:43
Нечувано направо.
Аз самият макар активно използващ нет научих за това от boing-boing.
В БГ новината се премълчава чудесно.
Пфу, отвратителна държава с отвратителни хора.
юли 6th, 2006 at 12:39
[…] …Seit fast zwei Monaten beschäftigt diese Frage die einheimische Blogosphäre. Kurzum: der ohne Zweifel mächtigste Verlag in dem Land - “Trud” (Труд) -, ein Eigentum der Westdeutschen Allgemeinen Zeitung, droht mit Klagen die spezialisierte Website bezmonitor.com… […]
юли 6th, 2006 at 12:40
[…] …A notícia que mais me enojou hoje foi esta: Na Bulgária, uma editora local chamada ‘Trud’, propriedade do grupo alemão Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, procurou fechar o site bezmonitor.com, que se dedica a distribuir obras literárias em ASCII, alegando que detinha os copyrights das mesmas… […]