The Thieves at Ostara Publications Lose

I have temporarily, at least, been the victor in my battle against Ostara Publications, which shamelessly stole my material.

Both amazon and lulu.com have removed their plagiarized publications.

I shall see if they behave after this.

Progress against the Crooks at Ostara Publications

My last post mentioned that I had filed a complaint with amazon against Ostara Publications, which has shamelessly stolen my work.  Amazon is good at dealing with plagiarism and has removed the publication that steals from my translation of Wolfgang Diewerge’s nefarious Nazi pamphlet The War Goal of World Plutocracy, as well as two other Ostara publications.

That leaves only lulu.com, where for some reason Ostara published a second version of the stolen material. I’ve filed the appropriate complaint and expect lulu will remove it soon.

For the benefit of those curious, here are the e-mails from Ostara that makes the astonishing claim that their alleged ”translators in Germany” somehow came up with translations identical to mine:

All e-mails dated May 10, 2016:
========================================================

Dear Sir, 

Thank you for the quick response, 

We must however confirm that all our Third Reich-era translated works -- which, we point out, are far more extensive than the two items you mention -- have been acquired and prepared by ourselves, and that nothing has been taken from your website. 

For example, we note, upon looking at your website, that our translation of the series of "Unser Hitler" speeches contains all the texts, whereas your website's collection is incomplete. 

You will therefore appreciate that we cannot remove our legitimate work from sale. 

Yours sincerely,Richard WilliamsSenior Editor

==============================================================

I responded:

It is remarkable that your “paid-for” translator in Germany translated things in exactly the same way I did.  For example, compare “The Art of Propaganda” which is the first item in your Europe in the Year 2000” with this page that has been on my web site for years:

  http://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/goeb54.htm

They are identical.  The chance of two people translating the same passage in an identical way is vanishingly small.  

Compare what you wish. You have reprinted large amounts of my material.  If you do have a translator in Germany, he or she cheated you by providing you with my material.

Please remove it from sale.

==================================================================

Ostara’s response:

 Dear Sir,

Thank you for your email.

We are unaware of which website to which you refer, but whatever it may be, please be assured that we have taken nothing from it and used our own paid-for translators in Germany.

Kind regards
Richard Williams
Senior Editor

Rather amusing, no?

Ostara Publications Steals Again

Back in May I noted that Ostara Publications had stolen my material and republished it without any credit to me.  When I wrote to them, they made the astonishing claim that they had hired a translator in Germany who just happened to translate things in exactly the way I did.

What does one say about such effrontery?

Well, amazon removed those items, apparently, since they are no longer for sale.

I broke down and bought a copy of another of their books.  Sure enough, it plagiarized my translation of  the Nazi propaganda pamphlet The War Goal of World Plutocracy. 

I filed the appropriate complaint with amazon.  If they follow their policies, they will remove the item.

Thieves

One of the less pleasant aspects of my work is plagiarism.  Any number of people, often neo-Nazis, plagiarize my material.

An interesting recent example is Ostara Publications, a scurulous Britsh outfit that has stolen a lot of my material, offering it in various publications available on amazon.com, among other places.

When I wrote them asking to “cease and desist,” I got the following fascinating responses:

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your email.

We are unaware of which website to which you refer, but whatever it may be, please be assured that we have taken nothing from it and used our own paid-for translators in Germany.

Kind regards
Richard Williams
Senior Editor

When I responded that is was highly improbably that their “paid for’ translator in Germany would translate things exactly as I did, I got this response:

Dear Sir,

Thank you for the quick response.

We must however confirm that all our Third Reich-era translated works -- which, we point out, are far more extensive than the two items you mention -- have been acquired and prepared by ourselves, and that nothing has been taken from your website.

For example, we note, upon looking at your website, that our translation of the series of "Unser Hitler" speeches contains all the texts, whereas your website's collection is incomplete.

You will therefore appreciate that we cannot remove our legitimate work from sale.

Yours sincerely,
Richard Williams
Senior Editor

I pointed out that the missing speech in my translations of Goebbels’s “Unser Hitler” speeches was in fact published in one of my books.  I have yet to receive a response.

What is astonishing is the sheer idiocy of the claim that their supposed translator in Germany would translate things in exactly the way I did.

Well, I’ll post more as things develop.