[sword-devel] NA27 module question

Tue, 11 Mar 2003 14:33:42 +1000

--=====================_23178989==_.ALT
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

At 15:04 11-03-03 +1100, you wrote:

>A question for the curious about the NA27 UBS4 module... Why is it subject to copyright restriction?  Obviously the editors would claim that every effort has been made that it should be identical to the original 2000 year old writing. If they claimed copyright they'd also have to claim and show that the edition is not the same as issued 2000 years ago.

They can make more money on it if they claim a copyright and enough people believe their claim. Never underestimate the power of profit motives in Bible publication. (I prefer a prophet motive, myself.)

Their actual claim is that there is substantial "creative work" in the selection of manuscripts based on their ages to get close to the original, and that the results of their effort is therefore copyrightable. NA27/UBS4 includes substantial comments and footnotes that are copyrightable according to my understanding of the U. S. copyright law (IANAL), but the claim of copyright on the main text is weak at best.

I like Dr. Robinson's attitude better, and I believe that the Robinson-Pierpont Public Domain Greek Majority Text is actually more accurate than NA27, anyway. He is probably one of the best arguers against Bible copyrights that I know.

Rev. Michael Paul Johnson
Servant of Jesus Christ
mpj@eBible.org
http://eBible.org/mpj/

--=====================_23178989==_.ALT
Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii"

<html>
At 15:04 11-03-03 +1100, you wrote: 
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>A question for the curious about
the NA27 UBS4 module... Why is it subject to copyright restriction?&nbsp;
Obviously the editors would claim that every effort has been made that it
should be identical to the original 2000 year old writing. If they
claimed copyright they'd also have to claim and show that the edition is
not the same as issued 2000 years ago.</blockquote> 
They can make more money on it if they claim a copyright and enough
people believe their claim. Never underestimate the power of profit
motives in Bible publication. (I prefer a prophet motive,
myself.) 
Their actual claim is that there is substantial &quot;creative work&quot;
in the selection of manuscripts based on their ages to get close to the
original, and that the results of their effort is therefore
copyrightable. NA27/UBS4 includes substantial comments and footnotes that
are copyrightable according to my understanding of the U. S. copyright
law (IANAL), but the claim of copyright on the main text is weak at
best. 
I like Dr. Robinson's attitude better, and I believe that the
Robinson-Pierpont Public Domain Greek Majority Text is actually more
accurate than NA27, anyway. He is probably one of the best arguers
against Bible copyrights that I know. 
 
<x-sigsep></x-sigsep>
Rev. Michael Paul Johnson 
Servant of Jesus Christ 
mpj@eBible.org 
<a href="http://ebible.org/mpj/" eudora="autourl">http://eBible.org/mpj/ 
</a></html>

--=====================_23178989==_.ALT--