News

PRESS RELEASE

CALLAN PUBLISHING SUES FOR PLAGIARISM AND BREACH OF COPYRIGHT

ISSUED: Thursday 10th February 2011.

Translations of this press release are available in Polish and Slovak.
Download PDF versions, click the following links polish_pressrelease_feb2011.pdf and slovak_pressrelease_feb2011.pdf

Callan Publishing Limited, the United Kingdom publishers of world famous Callan Method of teaching English has today filed claims in the Polish courts against Direct English Publishers for plagiarism and breach of copyright. Callan Publishing is seeking an injunction to stop Direct English Publishers from printing and distributing their Direct Method books and will be seeking substantial compensation.

In a second action bought in the Slovakian courts, Callan Publishing has also today made a claim against Empire School seeking an injunction to stop them using the Direct Method books to teach English claiming that these books are in breach of copyright.

Mr Tom Lundie, Chief Executive Officer of Callan Publishing, said "As soon as we saw the Direct Method books it was obvious to us that Direct English Publishers had copied our material but we wanted to make sure that our decision to sue was based upon fact and not prejudice or emotion. For this reason we appointed Professor Malcolm Coulthard and Prof. PhDr. Eva Tandlichová as independent experts to separately advise us. Professor Coulthard, one of the world's leading forensic linguists, who has given evidence in a number of high profile court cases in which tracing the source of written material was a key element, has emphatically concluded that the Direct Method books substantially and pervasively plagiarise our books and that Direct English Publishers have committed and continue to commit a breach of our copyright. Prof. PhDr. Eva Tandlichová of the Department of English and American Studies of the Faculty of Philosophy of Comenius University in Bratislava has also concluded that the authors of the Direct Method Books have used our textbooks in the preparation of their own and have copied the pre-existing Callan Method course books in substantial way and thus infringed on our copyright".

Mr Robin Callan said, "creating the Callan Method and writing the Callan Books has been my life's work. I find it very distressing to learn from experts that my books have been copied to a material extent that my company is forced to take action to protect and defend a business it has taken me over 50 years to build".

Background

Mr Robin Callan created the Callan Method for teaching English to students who don't have English as their first language whilst working in Italy during the 1960's. His method proved so successful that it became the standard for teaching English at many companies in Italy including Olivetti, IBM, and Hewlett Packard. During this time it was proven that the Callan Method taught English to the level of the Cambridge First Certificate in one quarter of the time taken by a normal student using traditional methods. Today, the Callan Method is taught in approximately 267 schools in 26 countries. The Callan Method School in Oxford Street, London is believed to be the largest single English Language teaching School in the world with over 2,000 students attending lessons every day in the summer months.

Lawyers for Callan Publishing are:

Traple Konarski Podrecki Kancelaria Prawna sp.j. Krakow Poland -
Kvasnovsky and Madej Bratislava, Slovak Republic
Mills and Reeve LLP Cambridge, United Kingdom

Enquiries:

Tom Lundie CEO Callan Publishing	07809 046 950
Charles Bunker Advisor to Mr. Robin Callan	07785 766 936