Duncan Posted August 16, 2012 Posted August 16, 2012 I know absolutley nothing about Copyright laws either Canadian or American. I was wondering if the Church went after the BOM Musical fellas for the play?
Popular Post KevinG Posted August 16, 2012 Popular Post Posted August 16, 2012 Parody is fair game in the USA. Even if they had used music from the church (which I do not believe they did) they are within their legal rights. The images of Missionaries and other "churchy" things are not copyrighted to my knowledge.I think they are safe on all ground except good taste. 9
cinepro Posted August 17, 2012 Posted August 17, 2012 (edited) I know absolutley nothing about Copyright laws either Canadian or American. I was wondering if the Church went after the BOM Musical fellas for the play?If the Church asked you to put a legal argument forward, what would it be? The Book of Mormon is long out of copyright protection, so they could have an actor stand on the stage and read from it for 2.5 hours (+ intermission) and the Church couldn't do a dang thing. The actor could even change the words, add what they wanted, take away what they wanted, and publish it and sell it as "The Book of Mormon" and the Church couldn't do anything.As KevinG noted, parody gives wide latitude in copyright cases. The only case I could imagine would be based on slander or libel, but I can't imagine how those would apply (since they're most cruel to Joseph Smith, and you can't libel or slander a dead person). Edited August 17, 2012 by cinepro
ANACO Posted August 18, 2012 Posted August 18, 2012 If the Church asked you to put a legal argument forward, what would it be? The Book of Mormon is long out of copyright protection, so they could have an actor stand on the stage and read from it for 2.5 hours (+ intermission) and the Church couldn't do a dang thing. The actor could even change the words, add what they wanted, take away what they wanted, and publish it and sell it as "The Book of Mormon" and the Church couldn't do anything.As KevinG noted, parody gives wide latitude in copyright cases. The only case I could imagine would be based on slander or libel, but I can't imagine how those would apply (since they're most cruel to Joseph Smith, and you can't libel or slander a dead person).It should be noted that there can be regional statutes as well that may differ from the national norm. For example, in the United States, defamation is generally limited to the living. However, there are ten states (Colorado, Idaho, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah and Washington) that have criminal statutes regarding defamation of the dead.[16]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation
DH Posted August 18, 2012 Posted August 18, 2012 I don't think that a copyright suit against the authors of BoM the Musical would stand a snowball's chance in Uganda at noon in the middle of the summer. I haven't seen the musical, but even if they did quote some passages from the scripture, I'm fairly certain it would be considered "fair use."
Joseph Antley Posted August 19, 2012 Posted August 19, 2012 The Book of Mormon musical doesn't infringe on any copyrights owned by the LDS Church. The title "Book of Mormon" is not copyrighted, although "The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ," with the subtitle included, is. The latter probably wouldn't have made a good title for a musical anyway, though. 3
Antoni Posted August 20, 2012 Posted August 20, 2012 As an outsider I have to say I think the LDS have handled the whole "Book of Mormon Musical" extremely well.By simply laughing at it and saying "You've seen the show now read the book", I think the LDS have shown a greater maturity than most other faith groups who would have picketed it and some other faith groups would have threatened violence against the production/producers. The fact the LDS haven't resorted to those measures I think gives them huge Kudos. 2
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