The Watchtower and copyrights

RR

With ALL the publications the Society publises, one wonders if they actually do copyright EVERYTHING. Let's face it, that's a lot of money to LEGALLY copyright four issues a month. I say legally, because anyone can wriote "copyright" on something, but it may not be protected under the copyright laws.

I've notice also that the Society has trademarked "Watchtower", actually they have trademarked "The Watchtower announcing Jehovah's Kingdom," [I don't want MA accusing me of spreading lies]

Interestingly, there are plenty of "Watchtower" organizations out there having nothing to do with the Society. For instance there is a Watchtower Security systems, Inc. in New Jersey. They act as if they were the first ones to use the word Watchtower in print. I know that during the same time that the Society was publishing their Watch Tower magazine, the Adventist also had a Watch Tower magazine.

Yet the Society has not trademarked "Jehovah's Witnesses," or "Kingdom Hall."

In a town I lived in there was written on a church building "Kingdom Hall of the Witnesses of Yahweh." They claimed not be affiliated with the Watchtower.

____________________________
"Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional."

MadApostate

[I don't want MA accusing me of spreading lies]

Thanks for trying to get paragraph #2 accurate.

Now, maybe you can go back and straighten out paragraph #1.

JT

i would have to say i think so- other bethelites can comment on this as well-

Harold Corken who is now a VP or Pres of one of the new corp- used to be my overseer when at bethel

he used to come around each time we ran a new issue of the publications

he would get 4-6 samples and they had to be PERFECT no nicks, oil, etc

so we asked him what they used them for- they store publications in a book repostitory room at bethel all printed matter- he told us it was to comply with copyright and library of congress requirements for those book numbers that go in most books

in my view i would have to lean on the side that they do- they are pretty good at stuff like that- in fact those are Gravy jobs to have at bethel when you get to leave and go to gov offices representing the wt be it permits , licenses etc..

just my 2

james

Erich

Watchtower, copyrights, intellectual property rights and so on...

I have a special question to all of you:
Who can tell me, whether the Watchtower Tract & Bible Society is patent holder of their MAPS-System or not ?
Did they claim other intellectual property rights at the United States Patent Office anytime?

Kind regards
erich

NeonMadman

With ALL the publications the Society publises, one wonders if they actually do copyright EVERYTHING. Let's face it, that's a lot of money to LEGALLY copyright four issues a month. I say legally, because anyone can wriote "copyright" on something, but it may not be protected under the copyright laws.

Before I start this, let me say that I'm not a lawyer, and that what I say below should be taken with a shaker or two of salt.

It's my understanding that an intellectual work is considered to be under copyright at the time of its creation, and that such copyright is enforceable in a court of law. The hitch, of course, is in proving that you are the creator of the work in question, and that it was created on such-and-such a date (presumably before the date of publication by the alleged violator). For this reason, the government allows the registration of copyrights, so that there is no problem in proving who the actual creator of a work is. But the registration process only provides legal backup for a copyright that already exists. That is why some people advocate use of a "mail copyright". In this process, you mail a copy of the work to yourself. Upon receiving it, you hold the still sealed envelope against any future infringement. If the copyright is infringed at a later date, you bring the sealed envelope into court and open it at the trial in front of the judge. The postmark on the envelope will prove that your copy was in existence before the date of the infringing publication, and that therefore the copyright rightly belongs to you. I don't think I'd want to rely on that method if I were the creator of a really valuable work.

One who creates a work and publishes it can indeed state on the work that it is copyrighted, without necessarily having registered that copyright. Unless some other party can establish an earlier copyright than the date of publication of that work, the claimed copyright is both legal and valid.

Tom
"The truth was obscure, too profound and too pure; to live it you had to explode." ---Bob Dylan

RR

Neon, yes, you're right, but it is a risky way of protecting oneself. I know of a few who actually use this method of mailing their finished writings in themselves.

____________________________
"Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional."

Sage

RR wrote

I know that during the same time that the Society was publishing their Watch Tower magazine, the Adventist also had a Watch Tower magazine.

You mean that at one time there were two 'Watch Tower' journals published and distributed at the same time? How can this be? What proofs have you?

RR

You mean that at one time there were two 'Watch Tower' journals published and distributed at the same time? How can this be? What proofs have you?

Yes, The Society was not the first to use the name "Watch Tower." My research showed that in the 1800s, there were several journals and newspapers that were called "Watch Tower." None of these were affiliated with the Adventist groups at the time. These were just jouransl and papers. About the same time that the Russell started publishing "Zion's Watch Tower" one of the Adventist groups began publishing a journals called "The Watch Tower." Even after the name of "Zion's Watch Tower" was chnaged to "The Watch Towers" both the Bible Students and the Adventist had a journal with the same name, except for Russell's ".... and Herald of Christ's presence."

In fact the Seventh Day Adventist use to publish under the name of "Bible Students" and had a series of tracts and booklets titled "Bible Students."

____________________________
"Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional."

The Watchtower and copyrights

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