Zhou Huifang Esq., legal consultant to Dharma King Lian-sheng’s corpus and the party in charge of authorization to use rights of the corpus, answers disciple questions as follows:

Background: In connection with the Interaction Is Power Series, disciples have asked how to communicate with the True Buddha Prajna Treasury (tbboyeh.org) for the purpose of better understanding the use rights of Grandmaster’s corpus. However, this question should not be addressed to Grandmaster. Instead, TBSN invited Zhou Huifang Esq. to provide clarification.

Question posed in the letter:
Grandmaster, I wish you well, peace, and may Grandmaster Buddha stay in the world! Out of concern for violating intellectual property rights, many disciples have stopped sharing Grandmaster’s works online. As a result, opportunities for netizens to read Grandmaster’s works have been significantly reduced. In addition, those not in TBS won’t make a special effort to access tbboyeh.org to read Grandmaster’s works. Although a few cultivation venues and individuals have received permission to share a very limited amount of the works and use rights, the sharing is still very minimal. Therefore, how should TBS disciples communicate with tbboyeh.org to avoid uninformed guesswork and act appropriately with better understanding?

Attorney Zhou responds:
Greetings. The inquiry letter seems to reflect some misunderstandings. I will clarify as follows:

1. After TBF-GA Notification # 00001, the True Buddha Foundation (TBF) followed up with Q&A Regarding Intellectual Property to clarify certain intellectual property concepts. Please reference the two articles for the answers to your questions. You can find answers to your questions, especially about “sharing”, in Q1, Q2, and Q4 of the Q&A Regarding Intellectual Property. I hope this is helpful.
   
   Regarding your comment about “Out of concern for violating intellectual property rights, many disciples have stopped sharing Grandmaster’s works online. As a result, opportunities for netizens to read Grandmaster’s works have been significantly reduced,” it may be that you do not yet fully understand the meaning of sharing. As long as one adheres to legal rules and shares Grandmaster’s works accordingly, opportunities to read Grandmaster’s written works will not be lessened. At present, TBF, cultivation venues and disciples continue to properly share Grandmaster's Dharma discourses and chapters from his books. This type of proper sharing can be found online anytime. You are welcome to search for yourself and learn more about it.
   
   
2. As for “those not in TBS won’t make a special effort to access tbboyeh.org to read Grandmaster’s works,” I’m afraid there is a misunderstanding. The tbboyeh.org sign-up is open to everyone. Anyone fond of reading can sign up on the website. In fact, there are many non-TBS members of tbboyeh.org. As long as they are signed up, members can browse Grandmaster’s entire corpus and discourses, in text or video format. Moreover, to uphold Grandmaster’s intent that his works be available to readers without cost, tbboyeh.org’s membership is free of charge. Also, promoting tbboyeh.org or sharing the content of the website is another way of propagating Grandmaster’s written works. Therefore, everyone is welcome to make full use of the website.
   
   
3. Questions regarding intellectual property rights law and application for use rights authorization are the responsibility of Zhou Huifang Esq., Grandmaster’s intellectual property rights legal consultant, who is also the CEO of the True Buddha Prajna Treasury Foundation. Because of this dual role, you mistakenly think tbboyeh.org is responsible for handling the questions regarding the intellectual property rights law and application for use rights authorization. I hereby clarify that the tbboyeh foundation is not responsible for issues related to intellectual property rights.