David Irving |
Documents on the International Campaign for Real History
Posted Sunday, August 5, 2007
© Focal Point 2007
Therefore the books [by David Irving] indicated above are not [copyright-] protected on the Russian territory. . .
August 3, 2007 (Friday)
Wiltshire (England)NO sooner have I had to learn that Arndt Verlag, in Germany, has published German-language editions of both The Destruction of Dresden and a truncated version of the second volume of my Churchill biography, under some strange title, without my receiving a penny from them for either, than I learn that a Moscow publisher has put four titles by me into print, also without signing any legal agreement or paying a penny to me. Talk about exploitation of the workers!
I first got wind of this Grand Theft Copyright on July 16. A Russian friend of mine Vladimir Smirnov wrote me: "Just yesterday in a Metro tunnel shop I saw your book about Dresden (of course in Russian) and planned to buy it. When you come you will see it yourself. Good luck!"
His cheerful message choked me. Even in the bad old days of Moscow under Soviet rule, I received royalties -- in unconvertible rubles -- for the several books by me of which they had published Russian translations, without of course asking my permission. These included "The Virus House," "The Destruction of Convoy PQ.17" and others. In the land of the oligarchs, the lawless Russia of Berezovsky, Abramovich, and Khodorkovsky, everything is up for grabs.
I reply in puzzlement to Smirnov: "I shall perhaps visit Moscow again next year. I have not yet been paid for my books which appear in Russian! Even the USSR paid me as an author, but not these new publishers."
I pass the whole matter on to my own excellent Russian translator, Alex Shipilov: "Who has published a pirate Russian edition of my book The Destruction of Dresden? Can you find details please?"
Very shortly he confirms it.
Actually, I am out of town now and come home only once a week, that is each Saturday, or Sunday. No translation work to do, due, as I told you before, to fierce racial discrimination in this sphere. The pirate edition of your Dresden book was published in 2005 by the Centerpolygraph publishing house, which is located in ... Moscow. It was translated by a certain Igorevsky (a Jewish name), so the text is a half-comprehensible one. Their e-mail address is CNPOL@DOL.RU. All the best to you, my friend, AlexanderA visit to the Centerpolygraph website confirms it. I put in my name in Cyrillic script, and SEARCH. Four of my titles published by them come up, four. It is worse than I thought. We are talking tens of thousands of dollars. As soon as they saw I was a political prisoner in Vienna in 2005, they evidently through they could get away with it.
Photo: Researching his book on the Hungarian Uprising, David Irving visited Moscow and interviewed Red Army general Batov [click]
I HAVE had a bit of a struggle since being liberated from that political prison term in Vienna.
The prison ordeal will have cost me around half a million dollars in the long term -- airline tickets, lost book contracts in the USA and Spain, legal costs, missing possessions, plus, strikingly enough, three houses which a kind couple in Munich had bequeathed to me; halfway through the prison ordeal I received without further explanation a two-line letter from one informing me they had now altered their will, of which they had kindly sent me a copy four years ago. They had originally explained to me that they wanted me to have a secure base to fall back on when I was too old to carry on the fight. The Lord only knows what, or who, has got at them since. Those Vienna "students" have, as said, a lot to answer for.
Now this savage word from Moscow. I find it a bit raw. On behalf of Parforce UK Ltd, who legally own the copyrights, I write to the Centerpolygraph publishing house a formal letter of inquiry
YOU have published our book "The Destruction of Dresden" and others listed in your catalogue [the details follow in Russian]. These books are in print and they are copyright-protected works. They are my intellectual property. You do not have a licence to print these books or their illustrations. I will be willing to grant you licences, but you must contact me immediately to avoid further difficulties. Thank you.Since they did not at first reply, I repeated this message last Saturday, July 28, with the last paragraph now reading: "I will be willing to grant you licenses, but you must contact me immediately to avoid further difficulties. If you do not respond I shall contact the Russian embassy in London and the copyright authorities in Moscow."
Now they reply, in Russian, and their letter is an arrogant refusal to see they have done wrong:
- THE Centerpolygraph publishing house has examined your claim, and considers it necessary to inform you of the following:
- Works of foreign authors are protected on the territory of the Russian Federation on the basis of Geneva and Berne conventions, which it had joined in 1973 and 1995 accordingly. This country joined the above conventions on the condition that foreign authors' works originally published ouside Russia before its joining the above conventions are not protected on the territory of the Russian Federation.
- The translation of books [the Russian titles of four works authored by me follow] had been done by our publishing house from editions printed for the first time before 1973, that is before the USSR, and conformably Russia, as its assignee, joined the above conventions. Therefore the books indicated above are not protected on the Russian territory.
- I hope that my reasons will be apprehended rightly. At the same time, taking into account your message we are prepared to abstain from reprinting the above books in future. Yours truly,
- A. V. Nogaytsev, General Director
In other words, go take a running jump. And if it helps any, we promise we won't offend again. And we've got a nice bridge in Brooklyn we'd like to interest you in buying.
August 4, 2007 (Saturday)
Wiltshire (England)I WRITE to Alex (who signs himself as "your friend in Occupied Russia") at 8:33 p.m : "What scumbags they are. Can you please reply to them: I have read your reply with bewilderment. I appreciate the courtesy of your reply. Do you believe however that you are morally entitled to steal my intellectual work on those four books therefore, and make no kind of payment to me whatsoever? I shall now take up the matter formally with the Russian embassy, because unless you indicate a willingness to obtain a proper licence from me to publish my works, I shall not let this matter drop."
[Previous Radical's Diary]
Dieter Munier and Arndt Verlag also publish translations of my books without paying me:
and another crooked German publisher Langen Müller Verlag:
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