[sword-devel] Tyndale and Powis Smith Bibles
Michael Paul Johnson
sword-devel@crosswire.org
Wed, 01 Dec 1999 18:00:15 -0700
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At 05:17 PM 12/1/99 -0800, Chris Little wrote:
> > Also one last question. I have at my disposal a tyndale new testament and
>a
> > copy of the bible an american translation edited by powis smith copyrite
>1930
> > something. Would these be acceptable for inclusion?
>
>Do you actually have these in electronic format??? I had pretty much given
>up hope of ever finding an electronic edition of Tyndale's NT and would love
>to see it get put into SWORD format.
>
>I'm pretty sure Tyndale would have fallen out of copyright, but I don't know
>about the Powis Smith edition. I'm curious to know whether any of you are
>aware of copyright law extending in some manner to the producers of an
>electronic edition. If I type in a book that has fallen in the public
>domain, do I own a copyright on the electronic edition or does it remain in
>the public domain?
The text itself remains in the public domain. Copyright doesn't protect
WORK, but CREATIVE EXPRESSION. There is nothing creative about scanning
and/or typing a book, even though it is obviously work. On the other hand,
some text formats may include an element of creativity, such as the Logos
indexed hypertext format. Logos Research claims a copyright on public
domain texts in their format, but if you export those public domain texts
to something with no hint of their embedded programming (i. e. plain text,
GBF, HTML, or ThML), then you have a public domain text, still. ...at least
that is my non-lawyer interpretation. After all, you can't take a Public
Domain text out of the Public Domain simply by expressing the same exact
text in another format.
_______
Michael Paul Johnson
mpj@eBible.org http://ebible.org/mpj
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At 05:17 PM 12/1/99 -0800, Chris Little wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite cite>> Also one last question. I have at my
disposal a tyndale new testament and<br>
a<br>
> copy of the bible an american translation edited by powis smith
copyrite<br>
1930<br>
> something. Would these be acceptable for inclusion?<br>
<br>
Do you actually have these in electronic format??? I had pretty
much given<br>
up hope of ever finding an electronic edition of Tyndale's NT and would
love<br>
to see it get put into SWORD format.<br>
<br>
I'm pretty sure Tyndale would have fallen out of copyright, but I don't
know<br>
about the Powis Smith edition. I'm curious to know whether any of
you are<br>
aware of copyright law extending in some manner to the producers of
an<br>
electronic edition. If I type in a book that has fallen in the
public<br>
domain, do I own a copyright on the electronic edition or does it remain
in<br>
the public domain?</blockquote><br>
The text itself remains in the public domain. Copyright doesn't protect
WORK, but CREATIVE EXPRESSION. There is nothing creative about scanning
and/or typing a book, even though it is obviously work. On the other
hand, some text formats may include an element of creativity, such as the
Logos indexed hypertext format. Logos Research claims a copyright on
public domain texts in their format, but if you export those public
domain texts to something with no hint of their embedded programming (i.
e. plain text, GBF, HTML, or ThML), then you have a public domain text,
still. ...at least that is my non-lawyer interpretation. After all, you
can't take a Public Domain text out of the Public Domain simply by
expressing the same exact text in another format.<br>
<br>
<br>
<div>_______</div>
<br>
<div>Michael Paul
Johnson
</div>
<div>mpj@eBible.org
<a href="http://ebible.org/mpj" EUDORA=AUTOURL>http://ebible.org/mpj</a></div>
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