Subject: Re: tc-list-digest V1 #117

From: Timothy John Finney <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 17:47:38 +0800 (WST)

Someone asked how to get involved in helping with the Electronic New
Testament Manuscripts Project ('entemp' for short). The project aims to
run on voluntary power. A major goal is to have people transcribe mss and
make their transcriptions available to others. Inclusion of high quality
digital images of the manuscripts is also an essential part of the
Project. Once obtained they would provide a sound basis for transcription
work and allow verification of existing transcriptions. 

The genesis of the project was partly motivated by precisely the kind of 
frustration some of the correspondents have mentioned. It is especially 
bad for those of us isolated from the great libraries of the world that 
might be expected to have some of the rare editions or even the mss 
themselves.

Unfortunately, not many images are presently available to the Project. 
However, much progress could be made on the transcription front by
parcelling out particular jobs to volunteers. After transcribing the
pre-1000 AD mss of the Epistle to the Hebrews, I think that the best
approach is to begin by converting existing editions into machine readable
form -- that is, alter a standard Greek New Testament text until it
conforms exactly to the text given in the edition. (If you can make OCR
work, go ahead!)

Here are some editions that would be most useful if interested 
volunteers would key them in:

1) Tischendorf's editions of the great uncials (01, 03, 04, 06, etc);
2) Schofield's edition of the papyri (those known up to 1936);
3) Kenyon's edition of P46
4) numerous other editions as found in J.K. Elliott's _Bibliography of 
Greek New Testament Manuscripts_

Most of these are difficult to get, but should be available in large 
libraries.

There are all kinds of barriers standing before the Project, especially
with regard to obtaining images. A recurring issue is that of Intellectual
Property Rights. Is a conversion to machine readable form an infringement
of copyright? Which editions could we convert without fear of litigation?
We want to do the right thing, and we do not intend to give up. 

If you have a web browser you can look at the Electronic New Testament 
Manuscripts Project's web site which is maintained by James K. Tauber. The 
address is

http://www.entmp.org/

If you want to become a volunteer transcriber, please e-mail James 
or me.
 
Tim Finney
Associate Director, ENTMP
[email-masked]
Baptist Theological College
and Murdoch University
Perth, W. Australia

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From: "James K. Tauber" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 22:22:34 +0800 (WST)

The additional interest in helping out with the ENTMP has come just as 
the web site is being transferred from the University of Western 
Australia (which hosted the server but didn't have anything else to do 
with the project) to a site I'm paying for in the US.

I apologize if people have problems accessing stuff on the web site over 
the next week or so. Once the transfer has taken place, things should 
work again.

James K. Tauber <[email-masked]> 
Associate Director, Electronic New Testament Manuscripts Project

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From: "Stephen C Carlson" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 11:22:44 -0400 (EDT)

>We want to do the right thing, and we do not intend to give up. 

You realize that the international aspect tremendously complicates the
copyright aspects.  Although the U.S. Constitution requires limited
terms for copyrights, I'm not sure that that is true in other countries.
(Isn't the 1611 AV still under copyright in the Commonwealth?)  As a
result, one would have to investigate the copyrights of the editions
in every country in which they were published, and whether web-publication
in the U.S. would infringe an Australian copyright, for example.

Generally, conversion to machine readable form of copyrighted material
without permission and not excused by fair use is an infringement (in the
U.S.).  However, what portions of the edition constitute copyrightable
material and what is fair use are not easy questions to answer.

Stephen Carlson
-- 
Stephen C. Carlson, George Mason University School of Law, Patent Track, 4LE
[email-masked]              : Poetry speaks of aspirations, and songs
http://osf1.gmu.edu/~scarlso1/     : chant the words.  -- Shujing 2.35

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From: Maurice Robinson <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 21:10:57 -0400 (EDT)

> 2) Schofield's edition of the papyri (those known up to 1936);

I have a complete copy of Schofield's 1936 dissertation, and the
transcriptions would be easy enough to reproduce electronically.  Now if I
could only find something called "spare time"....*;-) 

> with regard to obtaining images. A recurring issue is that ofIntellectual

Obviously any edition which was produced in printed form over 75 years ago
(pre-1921) is now in the public domain and may be freely used by anyone. 

Independent collations from current published photographic or printed
editions (e.g. the Bodmer plates) are of course entirely permissible,
since they are merely the recording of factual data taken from such
facsimiles or reproductions.  

Should one choose to utilize such a collation to reproduce in full form
that collation as a continuous text, no infringement would occur (though
errors from any poor collation procedures might exist).  

Only if you were intending to reproduce photographic plates from currently
copyrighted published works would there be any possible problems, and then
more likely with the holding institution which may have given permission
to the publisher or author of the copyrighted book.  Of course, if the
photographic plates were published over 75 years ago, they are totally
within the public domain, and free for reproduction, regardless of the
library or monastery holding them.

If dealing with _unpublished_ photographs or microfilms, one of course is
subject to whatever restrictions the holding institution (e.g. Muenster)
might impose in granting access to them, though I would hope that in most
cases there would be no restrictions whatever on making collations and
freely distributing collation data; anyone then could reconstruct a
continuous text from such collations with no infringment.  Anything less
than free and unhindered access by major holding institutions would
reflect a practice almost as scandalous as the current Dead Sea Scrolls
situation, being a hindrance to free inquiry and the scholarly endeavor.
(I seriously question whether a "real" copyright can or should exist on
any ancient MS data in the first place, since under all copyright laws,
the "original" publication was hundreds of years ago, and such should by
all rights now be in the public domain).

I would mention that the microfilms of all the MSS at Mt.Sinai, Mt.Athos,
and Jerusalem which were made by the Kenneth W. Clark expedition in the
late 1940s were deposited in the US Library of Congress, and have been
from the beginning totally available for any scholarly purposes and/or
publication. 

_________________________________________________________________________
Maurice A. Robinson, Ph.D.           Assoc. Prof./Greek and New Testament
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary     Wake Forest, North Carolina
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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From: "James R. Adair" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 23:09:00 -0400 (EDT)

The question of copyright is indeed an important one, and few people 
would argue that the author of an original work deserves to have 
exclusive rights to his or her own work for some period of time.  
However, the same can hardly be said for ancient documents, like the mss 
of the Old and New Testaments.  Transcriptions of ancient mss probably 
fall in the same category.  I personally can't see how an individual's 
transcription of a ms can be copyrighted.  After all, someone else might 
easily look at the same ms and arrive at the same conclusions concerning 
difficult readings.  The bottom line for me, however, is this: scholars 
in general should promote the dissemination of knowledge, and scholars of 
the biblical text in particular should support the free transmission of 
the contents of the biblical text.  In other words, it would be nice if 
the scholars themselves, those producing transcriptions and even 
translations of ancient texts, would voluntarily waive whatever rights 
they might claim in the interest of scholarship.  This is exactly what 
those involved in the ENTMP are doing, and I would like to see others do 
it as well.

Jimmy Adair
Manager of Information Technology Services, Scholars Press
    and
Managing Editor of TELA, the Scholars Press World Wide Web Site
---------------> http://scholar.cc.emory.edu <-----------------

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From: "Stephen C Carlson" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 23:33:17 -0400 (EDT)

Maurice Robinson wrote:
[Pretty good overview of copyright law snipped]
>                                                           Anything less

Does anybody know the status of the Qimron v. Shanks lawsuit?  The last I've
heard is that Qimron prevailed in the District Court of Jerusalem, enjoining
Hershel Shanks from publishing the Dead Sea Scrolls anywhere in the world.

Stephen Carlson