I was thinking of making a commentary module from Ray Stedman's "Adventuring through the Bible".
(See http://www.pbc.org/dp/stedman/adventure/index.html). I've read the instructions on using the
module-making tools, and that all seems pretty straightforward, but I had some questions on copyrights.
The copyright on all Stedman material allows copying for free distribution under the normal conditions
(no modifications, distributed in full with copyright intact, etc), so as far as I (a non-lawyer) can tell,
I'm perfectly welcome to package this material up in a module and give it away. However, I would
be inclined to ask for permission anyway, just to be sure everyone is happy. Is this generally done?
Are there any sample letters that people have used? What kind of documentation does crosswire.org
need to have before a module goes on the website?
What about more challenging modules, such as old books that are presumably in the public domain?
For example, Seiss "Apocalypse" was copyrighted in 1865, but is still in print today (and claimed to
be under copyright). Let's assume I feel like scanning and OCR'ing 800-some pages. Is it legal?
Would I have to scan an old copy whose copyright has expired? And would I need to keep some
sort of proof that that's what I did?
Sorry for so many question marks. If anyone has any ideas, they'd be welcome.
Thanks! -- Perry
