dpbsmith@verizon.net wrote:
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 05:56:05 +1000 From: Skyring skyring@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