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CEATL

Conseil Européen des Associations de Traducteurs Littéraires

Legal cases

Spanish translators join forces against non-paying publishing house: avalanche of solidarity on Twitter

Spanish translators join forces against non-paying publishing house: avalanche of solidarity on Twitter

A spontaneous campaign started on Twitter last Tuesday 4th of June with the hashtag #MalpasoPagaYa (https://twitter NULL.com/search?q=%23malpasopagaya&src=typd) (Malpaso, pay now) in support of translators affected by the non-payment of the Spanish publishing house Malpaso Ediciones. The spark was a series of messages tweeted by the president of Malpaso in which he insulted and discredited one of those translators – who had turned to social media in order to raise awareness of her situation. →

Two translators among arrested human rights defenders in Istanbul

Two translators among arrested human rights defenders in Istanbul

On 5 July 2017, ten human rights defenders from various international organisations who took part in a workshop on the island of Büyükada, Istanbul, were arrested. Two of them, İdil Eser and Özlem Dalkıran, also work as translators. Both are members of the Translators´ Association Turkey (Çevirmenler Birliği, ÇEVBİR).

The workshop in Istanbul, attended by eight human rights defenders from Turkey and facilitated by two workshop facilitators from Germany and Sweden respectively, was a routine meeting to assist human rights defenders in carrying out advocacy activities. →

First hearing in the case against the detained translator Necmiye Alpay, author Aslı Erdoğan and other members of the advisory board of the newspaper Özgür Gündem. They risk a life sentence.

First hearing in the case against the detained translator Necmiye Alpay, author Aslı Erdoğan and other members of the advisory board of the newspaper Özgür Gündem. They risk a life sentence.

On 24 November 2016, the first hearing was held in the case against the translator Necmiye Alpay, the author Aslı Erdoğan and other members of the advisory board of the now banned newspaper Özgür Gündem. The hearing took place in the court house in Çağlayan, Istanbul.

Aslı Erdoğan was arrested on 19 August 2016 and Necmiye Alpay on 31 August 2016. →

Academics, authors and translators call on translators to withdraw from Qatar Conference on Translation

Academics, authors and translators call on translators to withdraw from Qatar Conference on Translation

On 15 February 2016 a group of academics, authors and translators published an open letter to urge translators to not support the Qatari regime and to withdraw from the Seventh International Translation Conference (http://tii NULL.qa/conference-registration), which will be held on 28-29 March 2016.

The letter argues that while trying to create an image of being an oasis of creativity and freedom – using awards and translations of Arabic literature as instruments to strengthen this image – Qatar has kept the poet Muhammad Al-Ajami (widely known as Ibn al-Dheeb) imprisoned. →

CEATL expresses its concern to Turkish ministries

CEATL recently sent a letter to the Turkish minister of Culture and Tourism and the minister of Justice to express its concern about the restriction of the freedom of expression of translators and publishers in Turkey.

The reason for this letter is a law case against the Turkish translator and publisher of the novel Les exploits d’un jeune Don Juan by French author Guillaume Apollinaire on the charges of dissemination of an obscene text. →

Suspension in court case against Turkish translator and publisher of Apollinaire

On Tuesday 17 December 2013 there was another hearing in the court case against the translator and the publisher of the Turkish edition of Apollinaire’s novel Les exploits d’un jeune Don Juan.

The case started in 2010, when the translator İsmail Yerguz and publisher İrfan Sancı of publishing house Sel Yayınları were accused of contributing to the dissemination of an obscene work. →

German Constitutional Court rejects appeal of Hanser Publishing House

In a decree (http://www NULL.bundesverfassungsgericht NULL.de/entscheidungen/rs20131023_1bvr184211 NULL.html) published on 28 November and summarized in an accompanying press release (http://www NULL.bundesverfassungsgericht NULL.de/pressemitteilungen/bvg13-071 NULL.html), the German Federal Constitutional Court  (BGH) rejected an appeal by the publishing house Hanser-Verlag against the decision of the Federal Supreme Court (BGH) relating to the remuneration of literary translators and their underlying terms under copyright contract law. →

Verdict in reopened case against Turkish translator and publisher of Apollinaire again suspended

The reopened leagal case against the Turkish translator and publisher of Apollinaire’s novel Les Exploits d’un Jeune Don Juan by Guillaume Apollinaire continues.

In 2009 İsmail Yerguz’ Turkish translation of the novel, Genç Bir Don Juan’ın Maceraları, was issued by publishing house Sel Yayıncılık. A year later both the translator and the publishing house, represented by İrfan Sancı, were brought to court on charges of aiding the publication of obscene texts. →

Turkish court reopens case against translator and publisher of Apollinaire

In 2010 charges were filed against translator İsmail Yerguz and Istanbul based publishing house Sel Yayınları for their assistance to spread obscene texts. The books at stake were the Turkish editions of the two French novels: ‘Correspondance d’une Bourgeoise Avertie’ (Görgülü ve Bilgili bir Burjuva Kadının Mektupları)  by P.V. and ‘Les Exploits d’un Jeune Don Juan’ (Genç Bir Don Juan’ın Maceraları) by Guillaume Apollinaire. →

98 subtitlers resigned from Broadcast Text International in Finland

98 subtitlers have resigned from Broadcast Text International in Finland after having been outsourced there by MTV Media, a major commercial broadcasting company.

On October 1st, 110 subtitlers working under freelance contracts were outsourced to BTI International, a subsidiary of Broadcast Text International. According to Finnish law, outsourced employees have a right to resign without notice during the first month after the deal – 98 subtitlers chose to use that right. →

German translator fights publisher on Amazon

Two years ago, in August 2010, the German website of Amazon published a remarkable ‘customer review’ (http://www NULL.amazon NULL.de/product-reviews/1844846482/ref=cm_cr_dp_see_all_btm?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending) of Arturo Graf’s Satan, Beelzebub and Lucifer: The Devil in Art, published by Parkstone International / Kroemer (May 2009):

‘The text written by Arturo Graf, a literary figure from the late 19th century, is wonderful – full of hidden irony, a literary cabaret of the first order. →

Literary Translators’ Society Turkey (ÇEVBİR) wins court case for plagiarism

Plagiarism of translations is still one of the problems haunting the Turkish book market. It is particularly widespread among publications of the classics, popular novels of nineteenth century French and Russian authors such as War and Peace by Tolstoy, Dead Souls by Gogol or Flaubert’s Madame Bovary . Nearly all classic novels are published by more than one publishing house – for instance there are at least twelve editions of War and Peace available. →

The Turkish Association of Literary Translators, Çevbir, condemns the arrests of intellectuals and the climate of intimidation in Turkey

This is a press release from our Turkish member organisation, Çevbir (http://www NULL.cevbir NULL.org/).

ÇEVBİR – The Turkish Association of Literary Translators, condemns the arrests of intellectuals and the climate of intimidation

Turkey is currently witnessing a period as dark as that of the oppressive regimes which have left so many scars on its history. →

Two more court cases against Turkish translators and publishers of foreign novels

Two court cases are pending for a hearing at Istanbul’s Second Penal Court of Peace. In each case proceedings are started against a Turkish publisher and a translator of a recently published foreign literary work:

  • publishing house Sel Yayınları and translator Mr Süha Sertabiboğlu will be prosecuted for the publication/translation of the novel The Soft Machine (http://www NULL.ceatl NULL.eu/legal-investigations-concerning-turkish-translation-of-william-burroughs-novel-the-soft-machine) (Yumuşak Makine) by the American novelist William Burroughs;
  • publishing house Ayrıntı Yayınları and translator Ms Funda Uncu will be prosecuted for the publication/translation of the novel Snuff (Ölüm Pornosu) by the American novelist Chuck Palahniuk.
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Legal investigations concerning Turkish translation of William Burroughs’ novel ‘The Soft Machine’

The office of the Attorney General of Istanbul recently started legal investigations concerning Yumuşak Makine (http://www NULL.selyayincilik NULL.com/kitaptanitim NULL.asp?kod=697), the translation of William Burroughs’ novel The Soft Machine, translated into Turkish by Mr. Süha Sertabiboğlu, and published by publishing house Sel in Istanbul.

Notwithstanding the literary acknowledgement William Burroughs has received all over the world, the Prime Minister’s Council for the Protection of Children from Harmful Publications decided in a report, issued on the request of Istanbul’s Attorney General, that The Soft Machine had no literary value. →

German Federal Court verdict on remuneration of translators

The rulings concerning the verdict of German Federal Court in the translator remuneration dispute (http://www NULL.ceatl NULL.eu/new-german-federal-court-verdict/) that has been occupying the German publishing scene since the 2002 amendment to German copyright law, have recently been made available.

In brief, appropriate and reasonable remuneration for literary translation is as follows:

  • primary rights: for hardcover editions 0,8% starting from 5000 copies sold, for pocket book editions 0,4% starting from 5000 copies sold, and for all exploitations/uses outside the price fixing agreement (audio books, electronic books etc.) one fifth of the author’s royalties;
  • electronic rights: normally 4%, 5% or 6% of the net price (i.e., one fifth of the author’s royalties, which are normally 20%, 25% or 30%);
  • additional and subsidiary rights: normally 10% or 12% or 14% of the total net receipt (i.e., one fifth of the author’s royalties, which are normally 50%, 60% or 70%.
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