Tanners ask court to dismiss LDS Church lawsuit (For the Record: Couple want LDS suit dismissed)
Salt Lake Tribune 16Nov99 N1
Tanners ask court to dismiss LDS Church lawsuit (For the Record: Couple

Jerald and Sandra Tanner, targets of a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by the LDS Church, are asking U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell to dismiss the Church's lawsuit against them, claiming that the 17 pages of the Church Handbook of Instructions that they posted on their website are not copyrighted. "If there is a copyright somewhere [on the material], then we do not know about it yet," said the Tanner's attorney Brian Barnard.

Barnard bases his claim on the Church's court filings, which indicate that the handbook is a compilation of earlier works, but don't specify what works or when they were written. Barnard is therefore claiming that the Church hasn't shown that the material is covered by the copyright law.

The Church filed suit against the Tanners in early October for posting the pages, which describe Church disciplinary procedures. The Tanners say that they posted the material to aid those seeking to remove their names from LDS Church records.

Attorneys for both sides are scheduled to argue the case before Judge Campbell later this week.