Re: Disputes on this and other RISCOS Groups


On 14-May-2007, Adrian Crafer <acrafer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I have been advised by the Bible Society, and they should know, that
the King James is Crown copyright in perpetuity. I am expecting a full
list of who owns what translation later today.

This is indeed the case in the UK. The copyright was owned by the Crown (who
commissioned it) and a law was passed extending that copyright indefinitely.
Since this law is an English law it follows that it can only be applied in
the UK (I'm presuming that this law also applies in Scotland).

Personally I've always thought the whole idea of copyright applying to the
bible somewhat amusing. If, as some zealots insist, it's the Word Of God
then surely God holds copyright? After all, if I translate/plagiarise
someone else's words I can't claim copyright so why should the various
re-writers/translators of the bible be able to do so? In that case it's
'publish and be damned ' (perhaps literally) since the only person who could
legitimately sue would be God.

Of course, if a mere mortal claims copyright then that rather indicates it's
not the word of God, doesn't it. So it's just the writings of various
'ordinary people', which somewhat undermines its Divine Authority. Unless
they're claiming that they had Divine Guidance, in which case it was merely
dictated so we're back to the dictator owning copyright.

:-p

--
David Holden - APDL - <http://www.apdl.co.uk>
.

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