[sword-devel] Has the Russian Synodal Translation been removed?

[Benjamin Misja]

Hi Pypsik,

if these two processes are copyrightable should depend on the country.
There were no statements made as to where that company sits. In the
European Union, only /creative acts/ are copyrightable. You don't have a
copyright just because you put a lot of work into, say, digitalizing a
text (this is why the German Bible Society doesn't have a copyright on
the e-text of the German Menge bible, but that's a different story).

>From what I have gathered about international copyright, it doesn't
matter much what the copyright situation is like in the country of
origin, it matters what the law says in your country. This is why so
many Linux distributions can't offer DVD support - because in some
countries, there are patents or laws against working around a copy
protection. So they offer additional semi-official package sources.

I am not sure how copyright is applied internationally. The EU laws
should be a pretty good standard to measure by, but then there could be
countries where things are handled entirely differently. I would think
Crosswire will probably not face any difficulties if they provided the
module with a disclaimer that the module might be illegal in your
country to use.

It might be a good idea to to check where a copyright can be applied at
least in the major Russian speaking countries first though. If Russia is
like Germany, you should be able to find the relevant laws online, or at
least an article on Wikipedia.

Hope that helps!

Ben

Am 28.03.2011 18:41, schrieb Pypsik Pypsik:
> Chris,
>
> per our discussion via e-mails, there were TWO reasons for removal of RST.
>
> Reason 1:
>
> RST module having KJV versification  -  meaning that in a printed copy
> of Russian Bible some verses are combined, where in KJV they are split
> into two separate verses, etc. Sounds like some front-ends crash and
> NOT able to present/consume RST versification.
>
> So, for years the RST Bible that was out there, used the KJV
> versification with no problems. I've used it in Windows Sword, iPod
> Touch, Android phone with no problems.
>
> Per our latest correspondence you've told me the following:
>
> " 1) The KJV and its versification system are in the public domain,
> due to
> their age. The Synodal Bible and its versification system are also in
> the public domain, due to their age.
>
> The act of mapping the Synodal Bible onto the KJV versification system
> is a complex procedure that was done by hand, and the company that
> commissioned it claims copyright."
>
> Yes, both are in public domain, but conversion from Synodal to KJV,
> can't it be done with something like this of a command with utils out
> there?
>
> osis2mod rsto RST_My_Bible.xml -z -v KJV
>
> I'm at a loss as to why this "conversion" would be copyrighted. It's a
> relatively a simple process. If anyone can please explain, shed more
> light on this, I'd greatly appreciate it...
>
>
> Reason 2:
>
> Strong Numbers being present in the RST that was removed. Per our
> discussion you've mentioned:
>
> "Strong's numbers aren't themselves copyrighted, but their assignment
> to particular words in a text generally requires hand tagging. The
> company that commissioned the Strong's tagging claims copyright on them.
>
> Further, the company that holds copyright on this particular Synodal
> Bible text is not interested in licensing it."
>
> I'd like to know WHO is this company, perhaps I or others can try to
> contact them and work thru this and reach an agreement. Some of the
> apps that use RST module out there with Strong Numbers have this line:
>
> "Strong's coding copyrighted by Bob Jones University, 1996"
>
> So is it a matter of contacting BJU (I'll fly out there if I have to!)
> or the russian app owners and ask permission?
>
> Again, brethren, what are you thoughts on this item/reason #2?
>
> ---------------
> In summary, I wholeheartedly agree...removing the RST module and
> leaving Slavic speaking users without any FULL russian Bible is not a
> good thing at all.
>
> What I don't get, is:
>
> After years of RST being out there, (with thousands of mistakes of
> spaces missing between words..which we've set out to correct)...if
> there were formal/informal complaints lodged against Crosswire that we
> are in fact violating #2 reason, why have we not been given a chance
> to review those complaints, STRIP OUT Strong Numbers for the time
> being, as we work on some agreement and have non-Strong RST Bible out
> there in the meantime?
>
> However, contrary to this, no recourse or chance to correct was
> presented to us, instead...** poooof ** and the Bible disappeared.  In
> all due respect, this is NOT how this should have transpired and how
> WE should operate.
>
> Personally, I agree that Strong numbers maybe an issue, but KJV
> versification...?
>
> In regards to RST in experimental repo, the last I knew, the one out
> there is old and dull, and doesn't have the corrections.
>
> For that very reason, Wjatscheslaw has submitted a corrected RST a
> year ago. My and other folks inquiry as to the status of this correct
> RST - resulted in the existing RST-with-mistakes being removed. But,
> submitted corrected RST....is a whole different story...for another
> day....
>
> for the time being....
>
> What needs to be done get this RST-with-spaces-missing that was out
> there for years back in the Sword Repository..so that users have
> something!?? Remove Strong numbers?
>
> Please Chris, Troy, Peter, David, anyone....let me know.
>
> Thank you and God Bless~
>
> - Pypsik
>
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