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Summarized by Kent Larsen
"> Tanner Suit May Set Internet Law
Salt Lake Tribune 5Jan00 N1
By Steven Oberbeck: Salt Lake Tribune
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- The LDS Church's copyright infringement lawsuit
against critics Jerald and Sandra Tanner has caught the attention of
Internet and Free Speech advocates and may set copyright law on the
Internet, should it result in a final ruling. The case is receiving a
lot of attention from the press covering the Internet. The Tanners have
appealed a ruling by U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell to the 10th
Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, which would resolve the issue for
much of the Intermountain West.
"When this all began I never dreamed it might have such far-reaching
impact," said Sandra Tanner. "It is amazing to me this case has been
expanded to this degree." The Tanners are alleged to have infringed on
the LDS Church's copyright when they posted 17 pages of the Church's
Handbook of Instructions, Book 1, in an attempt to tell visitors to
their site how to remove their names from LDS Church records.
The Church, through its Intellectual Reserve Inc. subsidiary, which
holds its intellectual property, filed a lawsuit alleging copyright
infringement in October. The Tanners then removed the pages to comply
with a temporary restraining order, but later posted an e-mail message
with the URL (Internet address) of where the entire handbook was
available. In response to the Church's complaint, Judge Campbell then
ruled that the Tanners must also remove this address because they knew
the address linked to material infringing the Church's copyright.
It is this last action that caught the attention of Internet and Free
Speech advocates. "It has never been illegal for someone to say 'Go down
to Joe's warehouse. He has pirated CDs down there'," said Robin Gross,
staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "These
restrictions represents a huge leap (in the law)." Copyright lawyer
Jeffrey Kuester agrees, "The Internet is all about linking [Web sites
together]. [This result] is going have a chilling impact on anyone who
wants to tell someone else where something can be found on the Web."
These advocates fear that webmasters will stop linking to other pages,
fearing that they may be contributing to copyright violations. They also
fear that this lawsuit, and another filed against news websites linking
to DVD copy protection breaking software sites, will start down the
slippery slope to major restrictions on the Internet. "What if I link to
a page that links to a page with DVD secrets? Or if I tell you how to
find a renegade site through a search engine?" complains ZDNet columnist
Kevin Poulsen.
But LDS Church attorney Berne Broadbent argues for a more limited view.
He says that the restriction should simply be if the site is known to
contain copyright violations.
However, it is also possible that this lawsuit will never resolve the
question. Last week the Tanners asked Judge Campbell to dismiss the
lawsuit, saying that the material they posted came from a 1989 version
of the handbook, which was not covered by the copyright law. They say
that the 1989 version was never registered with the copyright office.
"Until such time as the 1989 General Handbook is registered with the
copyright office, the church can not sue the Tanners for displaying
portions of the 1989 work on their Web site," said the Tanners'
attorney, Brian Barnard.
Attorneys for Intellectual Reserve disagree, saying that the material
was from the newest (1998) edition. While much of the material is the
same, the newer edition included additions and editing, which was found
in the material that the Tanners posted. "They have not, in fact, just
copied from an earlier work," said IRI attorney Berne Broadbent.
But the Tanners' attorney Barnard disagrees. "It is not a changed work.
It is simply a rewritten version of the 1989 work," he said.
Judge Campbell took the matter under advisement.
See also:
Tanners ask judge to dismiss copyright infringement suit
Deseret News 5Jan00 N1
http://deseretnews.com:80/dn/view/0,1249,145016774,00.html
By Jim Rayburn: Deseret News staff writer
They say 1989 version of church handbook not under protection
What do the Mormon church and the movie
ZDNet 29Dec99 N1
http://www.zdnet.com/zdtv/cybercrime/chaostheory/story/0,3700,2412908,00.html
By Kevin Poulsen
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