[sword-devel] Legal ?

[Troy A. Griffitts]

> -How can get users of BibleTime access to the encrypted texts? Or are the
> ciphered modules only for testing? Or is this impossible?

If we had permission to publicly distribute, the modules would no longer
be enciphered :)
This is the best way to allow people to use the modules-- have someone
plead our case to the publisher seeking some sort of permission-- 'for
personal use', 'if they state that they own a printed copy', etc-- for
us to distribute.

We especially need people who speak OTHER LANGUAGES (hint, hint) to
contact publishers in their native tongue.  I'm sure we can get the same
permission the OLB guys have obtained for many of these texts if we
could get some people to invest some time emailing around.  (The German
Bible Society has been exceptionally unfriendly to us).

My understanding of 'legal' is that if you own a printed work for which
you paid royalty to the copyright holder, you own the right to use that
work from any media you desire.  Thus, if I have an NASB Bible sitting
on my shelf, I have every right to scan that work to electronic media
for my personal use.

You are NOT legally able to 'distribute' that work to others, but they
may also use an electronic copy if they own a printed copy, or
viceversa.

The reason they exist on our site is to TEASE people :)

Actually, that's partially true.  I'm hoping someone will be encouraged
to contact the copyright holders.  I began efforts, but don't have time
nor the language ability to follow up.

troy


PS.  Thanks for the VerseKey::UpperBound fix.  I just committed it to
CVS. :)


> 
> -It is legal to use the ciphered modules at home (I'm developer of BibleTime)?
> 
> Thanks!
> --Joachim
> 
> >At 00:12 11/19/1999 +0000, you wrote:
> >>Hi!
> >>
> >>I want to add a mail to the traffic ;-)
> >>
> >>Is it legal to suppose users of BibleTime (who asked for the cipher keys) to
> >>supscribe to the devel list to get the keys?
> >
> >Probably not.
> >
> >>It is legal to have a copyrighted modul (with key) without a printed
> >>version at
> >>home?
> >
> >Yes, if the copyrighted module has been copied with the copyright owner's
> >permission (which usually means royalty paid).
> >
> >>Am I right that a binary distributed BibleTime (with static linked sword) with
> >>linked  sapphire is legal to export?
> >
> >Yes. In fact, you can legally export the source from Germany, as far as I
> >know. I don't know all of the German laws, but there are a lot of publicly
> >accessible cryptographic programs published on German servers. It is also
> >perfectly legal to import strong cryptographic software into the USA, so
> >there is no problem posting it there (as long as you don't get your copy
> >directly from the USA or Canada to post).
> >
> >
> >
> >_______
> >
> >Michael Paul Johnson
> >http://ebible.org/mpj
> --
> BibleTime - the bible study program for KDE
> http://www.bibletime.de/
> info@bibletime.de