Legal stuff
There is nothing like experience in publishing to develop a sensitivity to copyright concerns. In the late 1980s and early 1990s we (Marpex Inc.) sold computerized FindIt bibles, most of them under royalty contracts with Bible copyright holders. The exceptions were public domain works such as the Douai-Rheims, King James Version, and Spanish Reina Valera.
The explosive growth of the Internet has brought with it a rather puzzling change in the way people view copyright. Traditional restraints were worded something like this: "All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher..." Yet it is easy to find copies of copyrighted works, for example, the New American Bible or the Revised Standard Version, posted in their entirety on a large variety of Internet sites.
Here are some current issues concerning copyright and the Internet:
- Posting without permission: What portion of web masters bother to ask permission before posting copyrighted stuff? Does the presence of a work on other sites somehow legitimate copying in the public mind?
- Meaning of copyright when an owner posts a work: The moment a web page is received by an Internet browser, the content has been reproduced, and has been stored in cache memory of that computer. So much for "may not be reproduced...", "may not be stored...".
- Spurious claims: At the other extreme are sites that take public domain works and post them with copyright notices. If value has been added (for example, a new translation) since 1923 , that may be okay. But we see terms of use such as this: "The information and materials contained at this site may not be copied, displayed, distributed, downloaded, licensed, modified, published, reposted, reproduced, reused, sold, transmitted, used to create a derivative work or otherwise used for public or commercial purposes without the express, written consent of [organization name]."
In this context, we are feeling our way. With the one exception of Ecclesia de Eucharistia, papal and Vatican II documents were downloaded from the Vatican site before copyright notices were added in late 2003. As of 2005, the other works at CatholicFind.com are public domain.
We will seek permission before posting publicly a work covered by a legitimate copyright. We may from time to time format selected works, add our search capability, and place them temporarily on private pages not accessible to the public, then draw the attention of copyright holders. We ask that they evaluate Words CloseTogether in combination with their content, and request permission to post the work publicly.
CatholicFind.com is a service offered without charge for the benefit of anyone interested in better access to the content of the Christian faith.
Why another search engine? Here is why.
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