By Ralph K. Helge
PASADENA--As most of you know, the Worldwide Church of God has been involved in litigation against the Philadelphia Church of God (PCG), because they produced at least 55,000 unauthorized and unlicensed copies of the entire Mystery of the Ages (MOA).
The only modifications they made from the book published by the WCG were that they deleted the name of the WCG from the copyright notice, deleted a notice that prohibited copying of the book and deleted a suggested reading list of booklets that could be requested from WCG.
From the very outset, the federal trial court held what, in my opinion, was an erroneous view of the law. In order to bring the matter to the quickest resolution possible, we filed a motion for what is called a summary judgment. This is a procedure whereby it is contended that there are no factual issues, only legal ones, and that the legal issues were in favor of WCG. PCG filed a cross motion.
On Feb. 8, 1999, our apprehensions came to pass, and the court granted PCG's motion for summary judgment, which authorized PCG to copy MOA for the time being. We filed an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in order to correct the erroneous ruling.
Now our contentions have been justified. On Sept. 18, the Court of Appeals issued an opinion upholding WCG's contentions on every point at issue.
One of PCG's issues was the claim that what they had done constituted fair use. The court's opinion included an interesting quote from a U.S. Supreme court case which stated: "The fair use doctrine is not a license for corporate theft."
The opinion then went on to state that WCG was to be granted a permanent injunction against PCG's printing or distributing MOA, as well as a preliminary injunction pending the time until the trial court assesses damages and attorneys fees against PCG.
PCG does have certain limited rights to request the court to modify the opinion and for some other procedural matters, and we assume they will petition for such relief. However, for all practical purposes, it would seem to be final in all material respects.
We will keep readers advised as the matter progresses.
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 2000