LDS Wikimedia Copyright Complaint
Intellectual Reserve Claims Wikimedia Posted Copyrighted Material
When Wikinews posted a link to the Mormon Church's Handbook of Instructions, the foundation received a letter asking the free online news service to remove the link.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has long been protective about the material in the Church Handbook of Instructions. The handbook is a two-volume guide for Mormon ecclesiastical leaders that has appeared on the Internet from time to time. Representatives from the Mormon church have asked Wikimedia to remove the link to their intellectual property, but the church has not yet filed suit against the organization that posted the document, Wikileaks, which is not connected to the Wikimedia foundation.
Mormon Legal Cases against People Who Post the Church Handbook of Instructions
Parts of the Church Handbook of Instructions have been posted online before. In the late 1990s, the Utah Light House Ministry posted 16 pages of the document online and then was asked to remove them when the Intellectual Reserve requested that a link to the book that appeared on Wikinews be deleted on the grounds of copyright infringement. The Mormon church has not filed a Digital Millennial Copyright Act complaint against the Wikimedia foundation.
The Tanners agreed to quote no more than 50 words of the document at a time in any of their articles when the legal suit of Intellectual Reserve against the Utah Lighthouse Ministry ended in 2002. Sandra Tanner posted a response that can be found on Utah Lighthouse Ministry's website.
The Church Handbook of Instructions Makes it to Wikileaks
Wikileaks is a site for whistle blowers, according to spokespeople for the Wikimedia foundation. In April, someone sent the foundation a copy of the Church Handbook of Instructions. Wikinews reports that Intellectual Reserve, the agency that holds the intellectual property of the Mormon church, asked Jimmy Wales, the agent for the Wikimedia foundation, to remove the link.
The handbook, which is not available to the regular Mormon, is an instruction manual for branch presidents, bishops, and stake presidents on how to handle ecclesiastical affairs. The two-volume instruction manual contains little that would be shocking if the information became publicly available.
Intellectual Property and Religion
No one disputes the right of Intellectual Reserve or the Mormon church to protect its intellectual property, but threatening legal action only when some church documents are posted online makes the church look like it has something to hide. Intellectual Reserve and the Mormon leadership would be better served by posting the Church Handbook of Instructions on a site under the church's control.
The representatives for the Mormon church confused Wikileaks, a website dedicated to letting people post documents anonymously, with the makers of Wikipedia. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would be better served by releasing the information to the public on its own website, rather than trying to make intellectual property claims. The public that knows little about the Mormon church will view this as an attempt to suppress information that the church does not wish known.
Resources:
“Copy of Handbook for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Obtained by Wikinews.” Wikinews. April 19, 2008
“Mormon Church Handbook of Instructions.” Wikileaks. (The link to the document has not been provided to avoid unnecessary controversy.)
