Subject: tc-list Angels have no copyrights!

From: Patrick Durusau <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 03 Sep 1999 08:20:29 -0400

Greetings,

The topic of copyright of biblical manuscripts is important to text
critics since some assertions of copyright have impaired dissemination
of such manuscripts in a variety of forms. The Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals has held that the copyright on divinely authored materials is
held "first human being who compiled, coordinated and arranged." the
work. If you would like to discuss copyright of biblical materials or
challenges to such claims please contact me off list.

For further information on the court decision see:

Non-technical announcement:
http://www.ljextra.com/copyright/0623urantia.html

Legal decision:
URANTIA FOUNDATION v. MAAHERRA
http://www.ljextra.com/cgi-bin/f_cat?prod/ljextra/data/external/1997/06/970628.c09

Would anyone care to guess when the copyright expired on most manuscript
witnesses to the OT and NT? Be aware that the addition of variants and
arrangement of a public text can lead to a work that has valid copyright
protection. I am interested in getting a formal legal opinion on whether
copying the public parts qualifies as public domain text once I strip
out the authorial additions that give rise to copyright status.

Patrick

--
Patrick Durusau
Information Technology Services
Scholars Press
[email-masked]
Manager, ITS

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From: "Professor L.W. Hurtado" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 3 Sep 1999 14:23:10 +000

The whole question(s) about copyright of ancient, edited, restored, 
texts was taken up in a special one-day conference held in the 
Univ of Edinburgh earlier this year, sponsored jointly by the Faculty 
of Divinity and the Centre for Intellectual Propery of the Faculty of 
Law.  Dr. Timothy Lim was a co-ordinator, and will, I think, be 
taking some papers to publication.  All interested in the questions 
should certainly note the article by Prof. Cindy Alberts Carson, 
"Raiders of the Lost Scrolls:  The Right of Scholarly access to the 
Content of Historic Documents," _Michigan Journal of International 
Law_ 16/2(1995): 300-48.

L. W. Hurtado
University of Edinburgh,
New College
Mound Place 
Edinburgh, Scotland EH1 2LX
Phone: 0131-650-8920
Fax: 0131-650-6579
E-mail:  [email-masked]

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From: "Stephen C. Carlson" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 04 Sep 1999 01:34:19 -0400

>out the authorial additions that give rise to copyright status.

If you are seeking legal advice, it is best to seek a competent
attorney, who will be able render an opinion after careful
consideration of the relevant facts, such as the identity and
nature of the text, exactly which portions are proposed to
be copied, license, and fair use factors.

Stephen Carlson
--
Stephen C. Carlson                        mailto:[email-masked]
Synoptic Problem Home Page   http://www.mindspring.com/~scarlson/synopt/
"Poetry speaks of aspirations, and songs chant the words."  Shujing 2.35

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 04 Sep 1999 10:50:34 -0400

I have a Packard Humanities Institute CD Rom of Greek Documentary Texts
that got around the copyright problem by doing just what Durusau suggests,
stripping out the critical apparatus and printing straight text.  Even then
I have use of that CD Rom only by a licensing agreement.  Perhaps the folk
at Packard could point you toward someone with competent legal advice.
--Rod Mullen