Judge believes Tanners will lose
Deseret News 20Nov99 N1
By Joe Bauman: Deseret News staff writer

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- U.S. District Court Judge Tena Campbell continued her order restraining LDS Church critics Jerald and Sandra Tanner from posting the Church's Handbook of Instructions or including links on their website to third parties that have posted the material. She also indicated that the LDS Church seems likely to win its case claiming that the Tanners have violated the copyright law.

In addition to ordering that the Tanners remove the Church Handbook of Instructions from thier site, which she ordered on October 18th, and ordering the defendants to stop directing visitors to other sites with the material, Campbell called the Tanner's argument that the Church hasn't shown that it holds a copyright on the material unpersuasive, "First, the court considers whether there is a substantial likelihood that plaintiff will eventually prevail on the merits" Judge Campbell wrote in her order, "The court finds that plaintiffs have provided evidence of a copyright registration certificate. Based on the record . . . it appears that the plaintiff owns a valid copyright."

In her decision, Campbell also cited a federal court decision that someone who knowingly induces copyright infringement by another "may be held liable as a 'contributory' infringer." She also indicated that the Church "will suffer additional irreparable harm if defendants are permitted to direct others to Web sites containing the allegedly infringing material. The court is unaware of any remedial measures that could be taken to retrieve all the copies of the copyrighted material that are downloaded."