Kriyananda - Self-Realization Vs Ananda Church Litigation

Self-Realization Vs Ananda Church Litigation

Self-Realization Fellowship filed suit against Kriyananda and Ananda over various copyright and trademark issues. The litigation lasted for around twelve years (1990-2002). SRF claimed exclusive and sole right (trademark and service mark) to the name "Paramahansa Yogananda" and all images of Yogananda, and the term "Self-Realization".

SRF lost some of the issues in court, including: their claim to own the trademark to the name "Paramahansa Yogananda"; their claim to sole publicity rights to "Paramahansa Yogananda"; their attempted trademark on the term "Self-realization", which the court ruled is a generic religious term used for hundreds of years; their claim that Ananda was trying to "pass itself off" as SRF; their claim that Yogananda's writings were "work for hire" done as an employee of SRF, and done as part of the SRF "corporate body", as opposed to Yogananda writing them himself; their claim to own copyrights on certain photos of Yogananda; their claim that Ananda violated SRF's copyrights to magazine articles written by Yogananda (the court ruled that Ananda's use of the articles was "fair use").

One of the issues on which the court ruled in SRF's favor was their claim that Ananda violated SRF copyrights to sound recordings of Yogananda's voice. As a result of the lawsuit, Ananda began publishing the first edition of Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi. Ananda started publishing the book Autobiography of a Yogi in 1995, when they were in the middle of their litigation with Self-Realization Fellowship which lasted twelve years from 1990-2002.

In 2002 the long litigation was completed with a jury verdict. As reported in The Union, a newspaper located in Grass Valley, California, on October 30, 2002:

The case hinged on the writings and recordings of Paramhansa Yogananda, a native of India who founded Self-Realization Fellowship in the late 1920s. He died in 1952. Walters became a member in 1948 but was "thrown out" in 1962, said Stillman's legal partner, Michael Flynn.

Walters, known as Swami Kriyananda, later started Ananda Village in Nevada County. It became home to hundreds of followers who also revered Yogananda and his words. The group republished his articles and sold his recordings, according to Stillman and Flynn.

Jurors ultimately agreed with Self-Realization Fellowship's argument that Yogananda had repeatedly made his intentions clear before dying - he wanted the fellowship to maintain copyrights to his works.