You know… I’m ashamed to admit… one of the most helpful websites for me, in regard to understanding copyright law, has been
… in that it provides sample letters and destinations where we will need to write. And the site works! I’ve already prepared my first “request letter” for a music video sound track. Wish me luck! :-)
Want to read more about copyrights? An earlier item…
https://brigada.org/2009/01/3.html
has turned up a *lot* of good discussion on copyright law in the comments. Check it out!
The whole area surrounding copyright is one which most people in my area, (Christian drama), find very confusing and full of gray and fuzzy information. When I write Christian drama I do copyright it, even though I realize that it will be pirated from time to time. It is a fact of life that drama scripts, (in hardcopy or electronic format), are reproduced illegally, and likely that will always happen, I don’t like it but it’a a fact of life. I have to chuckle a bit when I find a script on someone’s website that looks incredibly like something I have written, (pronounce this “a carbon copy”), and the thought hits me that surely the person could at least change a word or two here and there to make it somewhat unique. And I also am saddened when I see on a church website that they are performing a script which I have written, one they have used illegally.
I guess we always think that the suppliers of these scripts are some faceless huge corporation with an enormous bottom line, but the fact is that large as DramaShare has grown, we stay alive through membership and script purchase support. My wish is that if your church truly can not afford the small price for a script please call me, (it’s toll-free so even that is covered), and perhaps I will send it to you. Much better than pirating methinks.
John Alexander
DramaShare
Within the western world, the need for copyright and attribution of credit is entirely necessary and needed.
May I ask a question though? How many Christian resources have not been published or reproduced for ministry purposes, outside of North America because of copyright issues?
Three years ago, I sat down with the head of a Bible Society in an unnamed country, who shared with me that they are just finishing up the first modern study Bible for a country of 70 Million people, using the NIV study notes with special permission from Zondervan.
Will we do our part in enabling additional resources to be produced such as commentaries, lexicons, and Bible dictionaries in more than just the Romance languages? Opensource Mission (http://www.opensourcemission.com/)is attempting to bridge this gap, and thank God for all of those publishers which have granted copyright permission for them, but there is still much work to be done.