Concerning The Actual, Legal Identity Of The BBT
From: Bhima Das (Malaysia)
Dear Gaura Prabhu, obeisances for you, all glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Hansadutta has asked me to reply to your email and the statements of Smara Hari Prabhu. I would like to point out that Smara Hari’s account is fraught with inaccuracies, particularly with regard to the actual, legal identity of the BBT. Like the many curious wonders produced by the churning of the ocean of milk, there were several important take-aways from the BBT court case of 1997:
• Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc. was not and is not the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
• The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust created by Srila Prabhupada in 1972 was a valid, legal trust.
• Srila Prabhupada vested it with the copyrights to all his books, manuscripts and other documents written by and translated by himself, including copyrights and publication rights.
• Prabhupada appointed Hansadutta as a lifetime trustee of his trust.
• There were only ever 3 trustees at a time, although provision was made in the trust for 5. Srila Prabhupada was himself one of them, and upon his departure, there remained two.
• There were many people claiming to be BBT Trustees who were never trustees of Prabhupada’s BBT.
• ISKCON GBC had no legal mandate or power to direct or interfere with the operation of Prabhupada’s BBT.
• ISKCON and the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc. had taken over the publishing operations of Prabhupada’s BBT and diverted the proceeds from it.
• Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc. never owned the copyrights to Prabhupada’s books.
I’d like to clarify here that in this post, ‘BBT‘ stands for Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, whereas ‘BBT International, Inc’ stands for Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc. They are not one and the same. In fact, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc. is not even a trust — it’s a corporation.
– CREATION OF BHAKTIVEDANTA BOOK TRUST IN CALIFORNIA, MAY 1972
While there are different kinds of trusts, in principle, a trust is established for the benefit of someone(s). The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust created by Srila Prabhupada in California, May, 1972 was Srila Prabhpada’s legal construct to carry out his intentions while still living and afterwards, in perpetuity, and his designated trustees were entrusted to execute the functions of the trust for the benefit of ISKCON. Srila Prabhupada explicitly stated that the BBT was independent of ISKCON, although he needn’t have stated it, because a beneficiary of a trust DOES NOT OWN the trust and has no say in its execution. The trust belongs to the creator of the trust, Srila Prabhupada.
– ISKCON ATTEMPTS TO BYPASS THE TRUSTEE AND TAKE OVER THE BBT
Practically from the time of Srila Prabhupada’s departure in 1977 until 1980 book printing had come to a halt. There were stocks of books that were being distributed, but printing had stopped, and gradually stocks declined. Sometime between 1980 and 1981 a dispute arose between Ramesvara and Hansadutta over funds that Ramesvara claimed were owed to the BBT by temples under Hansadutta’s management. In 1982 Hansadutta published 20,000 sets of Srimad-Bhagavatam in Singapore for distribution through contract sales. He also printed at the same time 10,000 of the black hard-copy Bhagavad-gita As It Is, 10,000 copies of the pocket size black vinyl Bhagavad-gita As It is, and 10,000 copies each of the pocket size newsprint Bhagavad-gita As It Is and hardcover Golden Avatar (Teachings of Lord Chaitanya). Ramesvara, who was never a BBT Trustee, moved to boycott the books in North American ISKCON centres and in other centres around the world, including Mayapur. Sometime in 1983 ISKCON GBC passed a resolution to remove Hansadutta as trustee of the BBT (and please note that while Hansadutta was sanctioned for lapses in strictly following the regulative principles of devotional life, he was not involved in criminal activity). They also passed a resolution to transfer the copyrights to Srila Prabhuapda’s books from the BBT to a corporation. THEIR RESOLUTIONS DID NOT EFFECT LEGAL REMOVAL OF THE TRUSTEE AND COPYRIGHTS FROM PRABHUPADA’S BBT because they never had legal standing to do so.
Shortly afterwards Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc. was incorporated and assumed operation of publishing Srila Prabhupada’s books. Legally, however, it had no connection whatsoever to Srila Prabhupada’s BBT. They simply tagged the same name onto their corporation. Prior to this, Ramesvara informed the GBC that ISKCON of California, Inc had been carrying out BBT functions under the fictitious business name ‘BBT’. The rank and file devotees had no knowledge of any of this and for that matter, probably most of the GBC had no clue either. No doubt they thought that the BBT was going on and that ISKCON GBC had authority over it. ISKCON never had legal authority to direct, appoint or remove the trustees or to take over operations of the trust or to seize its assets and properties. They created BBT International, Inc. as a smokescreen, an illusory device for taking over Srila Prabhupada’s trust and bypassing the trustee. BBT International, Inc was a California corporation – not a trust, and had directors – not trustees. Most importantly, it owned neither the copyrights to Prabhupada’s books nor the publishing rights. » more
BBTi – and the stolen Copyright Record
Copyrights Transferred to the BBTI ?
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