Man files judicial letter against Mintoff biographer, claiming plagiarism

The author of a book in Maltese titled “Statues of Malta and Gozo”, which was first published in 1998, has filed a judicial letter in court complaining that his work had been plagiarised and stolen by a man bearing a near-identical name to his.

Joseph Mary Grech filed the judicial letter against the Commissioner of Police, Doreen Spiteri as a representative of Dom Communications limited, the Dominic Mintoff Society, Josef Grech, Book Distributers Limited, the national Library of Malta and the Attorney General.

The defendant, 34-year-old Josef Grech from Marsacala, who had set up the Dom Mintoff Foundation in tribute to the former prime minister and published his biography of the Labour leader titled Duminku Mintoff u Malta in 2012, had already received  a 20-month jail sentence earlier this year after being found guilty of fraud. 

The judicial letter filed today states that Joseph Mary Grech had authored a 123-page book, published by Publishers Enterprises Group (PEG), on the subject of titular statues and secondary statues in Maltese and Gozitan churches. This book also contains an analytical index running from page 119 to 123.

Grech had recently come to know that last year, another book with the same title had been published by Josef Grech through Dom Communications Limited Malta. This eponymous publication features a foreword about Maltese Feasts, written by Dominican priest Fr. Reno Muscat.

Joseph Mary Grech, the plaintiff, alleged that, having observed this new publication, it is clear that the information about the statues had been taken from his original work and constitutes intellectual property theft.

The plaintiff points out that the subsequent publication contains 80 photographs that are identical to those in his and which had been scanned or photographed from the book, something he says is evident from the poor quality of the images.

The letter indicates that the Dom Communications book is available in the Maltese National Library and the Malta Public Library and requests the court to order the misleading publication by Josef Grech be withdrawn from the market, and a notice be published in four national daily newspapers, informing the public that Josef Grech’s book was plagiarised from his.

He also requested compensation for past and future damages caused by the infringement of his intellectual property rights and asked the Commissioner of Police and Attorney General to investigate this case and ensure the protection of intellectual property through both local and EU legislation.