His grave concern over the marketing of pirated copies of
Spyridon’s biography (The Lonely Path of Integrity) within the Greek-American
community has been expressed in a statement to the Athens News Agency by Vassilis
Alexakis, a distinguished Greek writer: “It is totally inadmissible that
pirated books should be marketed in America, where Greek literature should
arrive and be promoted intact among the great Greek-American community, given
that Greek literature is one of the pivots of support for the cultural survival
of Hellenism in the Diaspora. It is particularly saddening that The Lonely
Path of Integrity which deals with such a significant part of the history
of the Greek American community, should be made the object of intellectual
theft by some who, it would seem, have no respect for history or for the Greek-American
community itself, in spite of the fact that they pass themselves off as ambassadors
of Greek letters. I have never encountered such a case in France, where my
books are sold. I am surprised that this should occur in America, where laws
on the protection of intellectual property are particularly strict.”
Magda Kotzia, head of Exandas Publishers, is particularly outspoken about
this scandal regarding the theft of intellectual property through the illegal
printing and marketing of Justine Frangouli's book The Lonely Path of Integrity
in America. Ms Kotzia directly accused the official importer of the book,
Sam Chekwas, of marketing the pirated book in bulk and said that many readers
have complained of the affair to Exandas Publishers.
Meanwhile, there have been strong reactions to the printing and illegal circulation
of the biography in the Greek American community itself. Business magnate
Michael Cantonis, a former executive member of the Archdiocesan Council of
the Archdiocese of America, had to say: “This is a crime not only against
the rule of law but also against morality. The district attorney should intervene
immediately to punish in an exemplary manner the person or persons guilty
of this intellectual embezzlement that damages the prestige of the Greek publishing
house and of an established author.”
John Catsimatidis, a Greek-American businessman and publisher of The Hellenic
Times newspaper, described himself as “staggered by this fraud; those
responsible, not only for the marketing but for the reprinting Spyridon’s
biography, should be prosecuted.”
