dpbsmith(a)verizon.net wrote:
Date: Thu, 21
Jul 2005 05:56:05 +1000
From: Skyring <skyring(a)gmail.com>
That whole King James Bible issue was way outside my comfort zone!
--
Peter in Canberra
It's already been long enough that I've forgotten the issue... all I know
is
that the King James Version of the Bible was among the earliest works
released by Project Gutenberg--in 1989. (In 2004 they released an English
version of the Douay-Rheims).
I have to believe that Project Gutenberg knows is or is not in the public
domain, that after sixteen years the odds are that the British Crown knows
that Project Gutenberg is doing it, and if they haven't complained there is
probably a good reason.
The Crown Copyright issue here relates to an eccentric element in UK
law, and would not be applicable anywhere else. If it has stood up
unquestioned for 16 years the doctrine of laches would likely apply.
It's hard to conceive of how the notion that the British had a copyright
on the Word of God would play out in the American Bible Belt. :-)
Ec