The Washington Post has a somewhat disturbing article up titled "Non-European PhDs In Germany Find Use Of 'Doktor' Verboten." It's an interesting read. If I were in academic research, I think I'd advocate boycotting research in Germany until they figured out to properly recognize legitimately credentialed professionals. Why risk the harassment? I agree with this quote from the article:
"This is a completely overdone, mad, absolutely ridiculous situation," said Barbara Buchal-Hoever, head of Germany's central office for foreign education. "We are talking about highly acclaimed researchers here. . . . The people who have pressed charges must be gripers or troublemakers who wanted to make a totally absurd point."It seems extremely likely that this is just a petty tool used by those jealous over not being themselves recognized or having their research funded. Talk about a lousy way to mess with someone's career. To me, the person making the report should be drawn up on charges, too, such as criminal mischief or trying to incite trouble of some sort.
