[sword-devel] Legal ?

[Jerry Hastings]

At 07:59 AM 11/23/1999 -0700, Michael Paul Johnson wrote:
>As much as I detest the copyrighted status of some Bibles and the policies 
>of some profit-driven publishers, I don't believe we are at the point where 
>we need to defy copyright law to get the Gospel out. Although I would agree 
>that some copyright claims are not very defensible, such as the UBS4/NA27 
>Greek New Testament copyright claimed by the American Bible Society, others 
>are quite defensible, like the NIV and NASB. Note that Zondervan (part of 
>Rupert Murdoch's media enterprises along with "The Simpsons") in particular 
>has both considerable interest in defending its copyrights on the NIV and 
>NIrV, and the resources to do so effectively. Even the ABS has demonstrated 
>the willingness to deny copyright permission for a public reading of one of 
>their new translations in a city park. Still, there are several English 
>translations that can be freely distributed, including the World English 
>Bible. Granted, the World English Bible Old Testament isn't finished, but 
>even in its current form, it is better than the ASV. It is also clearly 
>Public Domain.

Well said. 

Last time I checked Murdoch (HarperCollins/Zondervan) owned the US
publishing rights, but not the copyright, which is own by International
Bible Society. (I don't know if he owns, Hodder Headline Plc., which has
the publishing rights outside the US). If he does not own all the rights
then it could be a case where one could get rights in one country and not
in another.

Jerry