The Quad in other languages?

hypothetical: I'd like to have each page of the quadruple combination scanned, with a few words highlighted or an unique graphic (i.e. squiggly line) added to each page; then each page would be uploaded to a free blog searchable by anyone with a mobile device or desktop or PC. This blog would explicitly state that said blog was not part of the LDS Church, etc.

This was not my idea but many members have asked me when scriptures in certain languages will be on LDS.org; in particular, some versions of the Book of Mormon (like the triple columned Mandarin / Pin-ying / English cost anywhere from $30 to $47 per copy; the Holy Bible in Mandarin to my knowledge hasn't been translated by Church HQ but there are other translations of the KJV for about $100 per copy).

In anticipation of the experts on this forum copyright infringement concerns, the highlighted text and unique graphics on each page constitute a new product, according to existing case law.

Has this been tried before by anyone?

jeremybates wrote:In anticipation of the experts on this forum copyright infringement concerns, the highlighted text and unique graphics on each page constitute a new product, according to existing case law.

You should consult a lawyer who is an expert on copyright law before relying on that. I'm not a lawyer but I have studied fair use quite considerably and just some highlighted text and additional graphic elements is very unlikely to met that 'transformative' test for fair use.

Oh and the Mandarin Bible is in characters only; no phonetic pinying and no English like the triple columned Book of Mormon.

and I forgot to say also, the blog would have no advertisements and would not be commercial and would not make money in any way.

jeremybates wrote:In anticipation of the experts on this forum copyright infringement concerns, the highlighted text and unique graphics on each page constitute a new product, according to existing case law.

I think you'll find that while it may create a new copyright, it doesn't remove the existing copyright. Yes, a given product can be covered by more than one copyright held by different people.

jeremybates wrote:and I forgot to say also, the blog would have no advertisements and would not be commercial and would not make money in any way.

Doesn't matter. Copyright isn't about profit, it's about distribution. When you copy nearly the whole product and adversely impact the sales of the copyrighted product by republishing it on the internet, you should expect to end up in court. Furthermore, since the web is international, you may find yourself charged with violation of copyright in other countries. Their exceptions may be different than the US Federal copyright exceptions. So what may be legal in one country may not be legal in another.

If the loophole was really that simple, another church would have done it already.

Standard disclaimers apply: I am not a lawyer. Proceed at your own risk. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily represent the Church's view.

jeremybates wrote:I'd like to have each page of the quadruple combination scanned, with a few words highlighted or an unique graphic (i.e. squiggly line) added to each page; then each page would be uploaded to a free blog searchable by anyone with a mobile device or desktop or PC.

It is not the actual text, in the case of most scriptures, that is copyrighted. It is the footnotes and their system of presentation, the layout of the text, the chapter headings, and those kinds of things that make it inadvisable to scan a set of scriptures and give it to the world.

I am positive that the Church is doing all it can to provide translations of the standard works in every possible language.

You can find information about which books of scriptures are available in various languages at this page:
http://scripturetools.net/availability
Lots of PDFs are linked. Unfortunately, the 3-column Book of Mormon PDFs aren't available at LDS.org yet, but they should be soon.

You're correct that the Church hasn't produced an LDS edition of the Bible in Chinese – only in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. But at the above page it also lists which version the Church recommends and you may be able to find a digital version online.

Awesome! Thanks for your help, all!

Let the hacking begin