Pismo Omladine JAZAS-a Telenoru u Norveškoj / Letter to Ola Jo Tandre, Director of Corporate Responsibility in Telenor Norway

From: Karlo Boras
Sent: Thursday, 21 July, 2011 17:20
To: ola-jo.tandre@telenor.com
Cc: mai.oldgard@telenor.com; Kjell-Morten.Johnsen@telenor.rs; Dejana Rankovic; Boris Ciglic
Subject: Kontakt magazine - Telenor Serbia

Attn: Ola Jo Tandre, Director, Corporate Responsibility

Cc: Mai Oldgard, Vice President, Head of Corporate Responsibility

Cc: Kjell-Morten Johnsen, CEO of Telenor Serbia

Dear Mr. Tandre,

We are writing you on behalf of the Yugoslav Youth Association Against AIDS. We are local non-profit organization established in 1994 and we work on HIV prevention and protection of human rights of people living with HIV and vulnerable groups. We would like to bring to your attention the ongoing issue that our organization has with Telenor.

In 2008 we started issuing the magazine Kontakt dedicated to mainstreaming problems we are dealing with. In 2009, Telenor Serbia started issuing the magazine with the very same name and very similar graphic design solution of the cover page. By that, Telenor Serbia violated our copyrights, moreover, started confusing our readers who were not clear whether the magazine is issued by us or by Telenor, and whether we make profit out of it.

We tried to resolve this in dialogue. We addressed to Telenor Serbia more than a year ago and asked that the name of the magazine should be changed. Telenor Serbia’s lawyer came to our office in April 2010 and asked what we are requiring in return to give up from our request. We did not ask for money, but we suggested that jointly with Telenor Foundation we design the action that will promote healthy life styles with young people in Serbia. We believed that this is a fair solution from which both will benefit Telenor Serbia and citizens of Serbia.

Regretfully, our suggestion was declined and Telenor Serbia continued issuing the magazine, with just slightly changed font in the headline. As you would expect, the only remaining step for us was to address to the court. Last Friday, the court adopted our demand and decided that distribution of Telenor Kontakt should be temporarily banned, until the conclusion of the court case.

We did not address to the public, either in Serbia or in Norway. We are genuinely driven by desire to resolve this in dialogue. We do not have money to pay costly lawyers, but we will persist in what we believe is rightfully. Our colleagues from Norwegian AIDS and human rights organizations advised us that we should address to you in the first place.

Please find enclosed informal translation of the court decision for your attention. We are also enclosing cover pages of Telenor Serbia and Youth of JAZAS' magazine. Should you need any further information, I would gladly provide it for you.

With my best regards,

Karlo Boras

Karlo Boras  |  Executive Director  |  Youth of JAZAS

    

front page of OJAZAS' magazine     

front page of Telenor's magazine