A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the legal copyright holder of LDS Church material against a couple who posted portions of a church procedures handbook on their ministry Web site.
In a ruling released Friday, U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell denied a motion by Utah Lighthouse Ministry and Jerald and Sandra Tanner to dismiss a lawsuit filed against them by Intellectual Reserve Inc.The Tanners argued that the 17 pages of the "Church Handbook of Instructions, Book 1, Stake Presidencies and Bishoprics," which they posted on the Utah Lighthouse Ministry Web site, came from a 1989 version of the handbook. The Tanners said the lawsuit does not allege copyright infringement of the 1989 version, and the suit also does not claim that IRI has a registered copyright on the 1989 version.
Attorneys for IRI argued that the 1998 handbook was a "derivative" of the original work which provided copyright protection to the original pre-existing manual.
The Tanners disagreed that the 1998 manual was a "derivative" work because it was not substantially changed from the 1989 manual. They claimed the 1998 manual was a rewrite of the original manual.
Campbell ruled the 1998 manual was a "derivative" work, and because IRI has a registered copyright on the new manual that it does not have to separately register the pre-existing work.
Last summer IRI, copyright holder of publications for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, filed a lawsuit when it learned the Tanners had posted portions of the bishops procedures manual on their Web site. The Tanners removed the manual from the Web site prior to the lawsuit being filed but then added links to other Internet sites where the material could be found, one of which posted the entire 160 pages of the manual.
Friday's ruling keeps in place an injunction issued by Campbell in December that prohibits the Tanners from posting copyrighted church material on their Web site and from using the Web site to direct others to Internet locations where copyrighted church material might be found. The Tanners have appealed that injunction to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
In the ruling, Campbell also orders IRI to post a security bond of $1,000 in case the injunction is later determined to be issued wrongfully. The Tanners requested a bond of $100,000.