03/16/98 - 1697

BBT International, Inc. Claims Copyrights

USA (VNN) - VNN has learned that the BBT International, Inc. (BBTI), a corporation created by Harikesh Swami has recently filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles county courts against Hansadutta das, BBT trustee appointed by Srila Prabhupada. In that complaint (lawsuit), BBTI claims that the 1972 BBT, registered and operated by Srila Prabhupada and other trustees, was never valid and was thus never the owner of the BBT copyrights. BBTI also claims that whatever Srila Prabhupada wrote and published belongs automatically to ISKCON as "works for hire," meaning ISKCON supplied Srila Prabhupada with pen, pencils and paper, along with office, secretaries and place to eat and sleep; therefore whatever work was done by Srila Prabhupada automatically became the property of ISKCON, just as a hired farm hand would have no claim over the fruits of his labour working on the estate of some master.

BBTI wants the court to rule that the BBT created by Srila Prabhupada be declared as invalid and its trustees declared invalid and that the corporation named BBT International, Inc. be recognised as the legal owner of the copyrights of Srila Prabhupada's books and that Harikesh Swami, Jayadwaita Swami, etc. be recognised as the officers of the corporation named BBT International, Inc.

The BBT International Inc. lost a similar lawsuit filed against devotees in Singapore for copyright infringement of Bhagavad-gita As It Is. In that case, the defence was "Show the legal documents and prove to the court that BBT International, Inc. is the owner of Srila Prabhupada's copyrights." The case went on from 1992 to 1997 at a cost of at least $100,000 to BBT International, Inc. BBTI never produced any documentation to convince the court that BBT International, Inc. is the legal owner of Srila Prabhupada's copyrights.

The copyrights were given by Srila Prabhupada to the BBT registered in 1972 in Los Angeles, of which Srila Prabhupada himself was a trustee. BBTI could not prove that Hansadutta was not a bonafide BBT trustee appointed for life by Srila Prabhupada. This 1972 BBT is today still the legal owner of Srila Prabhupada's copyrights.

BBTI now claims that the 1972 BBT created by Srila Prabhupada was never valid and that Srila Prabhupada was simply a hired hand by ISKCON, and thus everything he produced was automatically the property of ISKCON, and he had no right to give his copyrights to any trust.