Tamil dictionary dispute III

[Dominik Wujastyk]

Letter sent to Dominik Wujastyk, distributed with the author's permission.

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          S. Ramakrishnan,
          Cre-A, Madras, 16/6/94.

          Dear Dominik,

          You are aware that Cre-A:  published in January 1992  Kriyavin
          Tarkalat  Tamil   Akarati,   a  unique   dictionary   focusing
          exclusively on  the  contemporary  variety  of  Tamil.    This
          dictionary for the first time, has listed the words in  modern
          Tamil,  defining  them  in  Tamil  and  giving  their  English
          meaning.  The copyright of this dictionary is with me.

          Institute of Indology and  Tamil Studies, University of  Koln,
          Germany, has made  available a facility  called `Online  Tamil
          Lexicon', (Tamil-English) on International Communications  and
          Research Network (INTERNET).   I  find that all  the words  in
          Kriyavin Akarati together with their English meaning have been
          incorporated int  he  OTL.   What  is important  is  that  the
          English meaning is rendered in the  very same way as it is  in
          Kriyavin Akarati.  This has been done without my knowledge and
          permission.

          Similarly, a Tamil-German Dictionary has been developed by the
          same Institute of Indology and Tamil Studies, Koln, taking all
          the headwords from Kriyavin AkaratI and rendering into  German
          the English meanings given in Kriyavin Akarati.  This also has
          been done without my permission.

          Since these constitute infringement  of my copyright, I  moved
          the High Court  at Madras  praying for  an interim  injunction
          against IITS.    The  injunctions  has been  granted.    I  am
          enclosing a copy of the Court order.

          I thought I should bring this to your attention since we  have
          common interest in databases and are concerned with the ethics
          that should inform academic activities.

S. Ramakrishnan.
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 Dominik Wujastyk           Phone (and voice messages): +44 71 611 8467
 Wellcome Institute,                               FAX: +44 71 611 8545
 183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE.