Scandal!

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