Well, maybe not a huge scandal, but copyright infringement is not something to dismiss. It is amazing to me that people would think in these times that an author would not find out you stole and retranslated his work, but even in the world of alternative medicine, some people are without scruples.
Vietnam facial acupuncture publication violates copyright abroad
A book of facial acupuncture researched by a Vietnamese scientist and published under his name in Vietnam 22 years ago was found recently to have violated copyright in three countries abroad.
Methods in Facial Acupuncture and Gland Therapy (Dien Chan - dieu khien lieu phap) was written by Bui Quoc Chau and published in 1984 by the Minh Hai newspaper.
The publication was recently translated, re-printed, and published in France, Spain and Germany, which is where the problems arose.
The publication was recently translated, re-printed, and published in France, Spain and Germany, which is where the problems arose.
According to the author Chau, his book was initially translated into French and published illegally in 2000 by Switzerland’s publishing house Jouvence under title ‘Le Dien Cham – Une étonnante méthode Vietnamienne de réflexologie faciale’.
The book was undersigned by a French Marie France Muller and Le Quang Nhuan, Chau’s former student in Vietnam, without Chau’s consent.
In 2002, the book was translated from French into Spanish by the two ‘co-authors’ and published by Océano Ambar publishing house and in 2005, the book continued to be translated into German and published in Spain.
Chau said the latter books copied most of the content of his original book, thus he is claiming copyright compensation and a change in the undersigning of the books to his name.
Chau said that in a similar incident in 2004, one of his students plagiarized his unique book of facial acupuncture and translated it into Chinese to be published it in Taiwan.
The student was discovered and had to repay him money for copyright and reprint the book under the author’s name.
Source: Tuoi Tre – Translated by Minh Phat
3 comments:
I am Marie-France Muller, the author of Dien’Cham’ and Facial Reflexology, first published in French, then translated into various languages. I just read your blog and feel very shocked by these accusations. I NEVER « STOLE » ANYTHING NOR DID I TRANSLATED PROEFSSOR CHAU’S BOOK TO WRITE MINE’. This is not true at all. I did not even know that he had written a book ! I am sure he had not done it at the time of my first book, that is sure.
I learned Dien’ Cham’ from Nhuan Le Quang courses. That is why I put his name on the cover of my first book. For the second, Facial Reflexology, I did not, as it was the result of my own practice for years.
I sent my first book to Professor Bui Quoc Chau, in 2000, and he simply showed his surprise that I did not ask him to write a foreword to my book ! He even asked me to help him teach the technique in Switzerland and we exchanged a few e-mails on the subject. I did not go on with this project only because I had personnal problems at that time (my husband had a serious accident, then died). Never did Professor Chau accused me of anything as you do !
I wanted that everybody could know about this wonderful technique and in my books, I widely referred to Pr . Chau’ work. I met many persons member of Pr. Chau’s association. They all told me that my books, lectures , TV and radio shows helped them greatly to promote Pr. Chau’s workshops !!! This is the first time I can hear such accusations ! I do not understand... What is sure is that I helped a lot Pr. Chau in his teachings. What I wrote was about the courses I had received, then practiced for more than 20 years, with my own approach and conclusions.
Note that I am the author of more than 30 books and that I would never have put my reputation on balance with such bad behaviours as those you seem to accuse me !
Anyhow, it is quite easy to prove that I never « translated » Chau’s books : just compare the words, that’s all ! I used a few of his diagrams as Nhuan Le Quang had authorized me to do, but I made new ones too according to my own practice. The diagram I had reproduced from Pr. Chau’s work were in the first book and I sent him this book. Never he complained to me about that !
My books’ aim was to teach a simple technique available to everybody. Pr. Chau’s courses are about Facytherapy and go much further than what I wrote ! I built for him the first step and I doubt that he would ever have been as widely known as he is now without my work !
Please, correct what you wrote according to reality !
Thanks.
Marie-France Muller
I am a French journalist, probably one of the first to have talked about "Dien Cham" and mentioned Mr Nhuan Le Quang. I even met Dr Chau, once he was in France. I also know very well Mrs Muller and I can say without the shadow of a doubt that there is not 1% truth in the accusations made against her. Quite the contrary, as a matter of fact : I doubt Facial Reflexology would be as well known today if she hadn't done a HUGE work in putting together, organising and clarifying the available information, with utmost rigor and infaillible ethics.
People should be much more careful before launching accusations, which have no valuable basis whatsoever. Especially against an author with over 30 remarquable books, and a publishing house that is quite respected.
Regards,
Olivier Clerc, literary agent, writer and translator
Thanks to both of you for commenting on my blog.
Acupuncture News is a blog that reprints news articles in the acupuncture field and usually with personal comments from the blog's creator (me) in italics. It is not in the business of reinvestigating claims that may or may not be newsworthy.
If you take issue with the accusations in the article, I would suggest you take it up with the person who wrote the article 2 years ago: Tuoi Tre. My comments are in direct relation to the information presented in that article and I stand by them, but appreciate you and your friend providing an update to the situation.
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