[pd-discuss] King James Bible and Eternal Copyright

[Jim Killock]

We tried to turn Michael Gove's gift of King James Bibles in the UK to some effect this weekend:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/nov/27/king-james-bible-eternal-copyright

Michael Gove and the government are making a gift of the King James Bible to every school in the UK (Report, 25 November) but continue to restrict how we use it. The crown has a perpetual copyright on the King James Bible, through "letters patent" originally issued to stop unofficial editions and then to protect the country from ranters, shakers, Quakers, nonconformity and popery. Thus today we can't freely reprint, circulate passages, write commentaries and draw upon the text in the way we might with other texts of the time, such as Shakespeare's plays. Bizarrely, these restrictions only apply in the UK. Gove could make a gift of the King James Bible to every UK citizen – with a simple legal change to revoke its perpetual copyright.

Jim Killock
Executive director, Open Rights Group



Jim Killock 
Executive Director
Open Rights Group
+44 (0) 7894 498 127
Skype: jimkillock
Email: jim at openrightsgroup.org
http://twitter.com/jimkillock
http://www.openrightsgroup.org/

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