TEHRAN -- The Persian Language and Literature Promotion Center is scheduled to launch parts of Moin’s and Dehkhoda’s Persian dictionaries online despite controversy over an alleged pre-existing illegal website.

The center is planning to obtain permission from the owners of the copyrights of the two books to make parts of them accessible on the internet, Mohsen Soleimani, the official in charge of launching the website told the Mehr News Agency.
On hearing the recent news alleging that a website has already illegally put the two dictionaries on line, Soleimani explained that it is not clear whether its organizers are in Iran or other countries and that it seems that they have gone ahead without obtaining a license to launch the site.
The Dehkhoda Dictionary was compiled by the scholar Ali-Akbar Dehkhoda and, comprising 15 volumes (26000 pages), is the largest comprehensive Persian dictionary ever published. The Moin Dictionary was compiled by Mohammad Moin, a prominent Iranian scholar of Persian literature and Iranology.
Hamidreza Moradi, executive manager of the center, further noted that if the families and relatives of Moin and Dehkhoda give permission, the project will be set up in the near future.
Moradi added that preliminary steps have already been taken and negotiations have been made with Mahdokht Moin, but as yet no arrangements have been made as far as the Dehkhoda Dictionary is concerned.
However, Mahdokht Moin claims that she has no news of the legal or illegal launching of the site, adding, “These sorts of activities can easily be prevented by taking legal action and suing the perpetrators, but it needs the cooperation of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.”
She expressed her criticism over the repeated re-publishing of the dictionary with an ever-increasing number of errors, adding, “The point is that we would like the dictionaries to be published exactly as they were first compiled and not to be issued as something merely similar to the original works.