SOME OF THE COPYRIGHT CLAIMS BY THE FOUNDATION

SOME OF THE COPYRIGHT CLAIMS BY THE FOUNDATION
by Kristen Maaherra

Works authored by superhumans aren't copyrightable under US copyright law. The following are legal statements made by Urantia Foundation in official documents. If you believe that the Papers are authored by superhuman revelators, you will be appalled by the following Foundation claims - some of which have been finding their way into Dictionaries and Encyclopedias recently. (I've only added comments about the claims they are making about the contact commission in the Appeal.)

A. Urantia Foundation is the author of the Urantia Papers. Original Copyright Registration, October 12, 1955: Urantia Foundation listed as, "Author."

B. Contact personality (or sleeping subject) is the author of the Urantia Papers. Bob Burton Lawsuit, 1975: (Since the Foundation can't get a renewal from the contact personality, the Burton arguments have been subsequently abandoned.)

    1. Plaintiff s Brief in Reply to the Defendant's Main Brief, page 14: "...the spirit originator of the text of The Urantia Book gave the subject matter thereof to the world through the subject who wrote the text as a conduit. Thereafter said "subject" had possession of and owned the manuscripts and the common law copyright therein."

    2. Affidavit of Foundation lawyer, Lloyd C. Root, February 11, 1980, Page 2: "That the Urantia Book is not a collective work since the material therein was not in existence before the arrangement of it was placed in tangible form, and it was in existence prior to publication thereof only in manuscript form; That there was a common law copyright in the said manuscript which was owned by the person who wrote it; That the transfer of ownership in a common law copyright did not have to be in writing, but could be made orally; and That Urantia Foundation, through its trustees, owned the common law copyright in the Urantia Book by reason of such oral transfer from the owner thereof, and thus had the right to obtain the statutory copyright therein."

C. Urantia Foundation is the author of the Urantia Papers. The Urantia Book is a "work made for hire."

    1. Certificate of Renewal, January 3, 1983: Urantia Foundation listed itself as, "Proprietor of copyright in a work made for hire."

    2. Hearing in Arizona, March 15, 1991: Page 23, line 2, Craig Fochler: "The Urantia Book is a work for hire, it is also a joint work." And page 27, lines 1-3, Craig Fochler: "First of all, it is a work for hire. It can be renewed. The work does qualify as a work for hire, part of work by the author, who's discussed in the Burton case."

D. Bill Sadler, Jr., is the author of the Urantia Papers.

    1. Hearing in Arizona, March 15, 1991, page 27, lines 8-12, Craig Fochler: "There was a trustee of the Urantia Foundation, William Sadler, Jr., not senior, who wrote, authored, however you want to look at it, parts of the Urantia Book. And that was part of the work, and it was clearly work for hire, also a joint work. And that was also a basis for the renewal."

    2. Plaintiff's Responses to Defendants Requests for Admissions, April 25, 1994, request 49: "Urantia Foundation does not contend that any person other than William S. Sadler, Jr. created any portion of the URANTIA Book as an employee for hire."

E. The forum is the author of the Urantia Papers.

    1. Plaintiff's Responses to Defendants Requests for Admissions, April 25, 1994, Request 8: "Therefore, because of the acknowledgment by the listed authors of the numerous human sources or originators for the text of the Urantia Papers, as well as the active participation of the contact personality, the Contact Commission, and the Forum in the originating process of the material . . . "

    2. Plaintiff's Responses to Defendants Requests for Admissions, April 25, 1994, Request 32: "...because of the acknowledgment by the listed authors of the participation in the origination of the content of the Urantia Papers by the midwayers, who are not defined in The URANTIA Book as "superhuman beings;" the acknowledgment of some 3000 human sources or origins for the text of the Urantia Papers; as well as the active participation of the contact personality, the Contact Commission, and the Forum in the originating process of the text of The URANTIA Book . . ."

    3. Plaintiff 's Responses to Defendants Requests for Admissions, April 25, 1994, Response 49: "Any person who served as a conduit through whom the text of The URANTIA Book was transmitted by the anonymous authors described therein, including the "Contact Personality," was a person who is an "employee for hire" within the meaning of the Copyright Act. The contributions of the individual members of the Contact Commission and the Forum described in response to Request No. 3 above also were made as "employees for hire" within the meaning of the Copyright Act."

    4. Plaintiff's Answers to Defendant's Third Set of Interrogatories, September 27, 1994: "...the Foundation contends that members of the Contact Commission and the Forum are included as "authors" (within the meaning of 17 USC 201) of the Copyright Act..."

    5. Plaintiff 's Second Supplemental Answers to Defendant's Third Set of Interrogatories, October 24, 1994: "Members of the Contact Commission and the Forum are also "authors," as the term "authors" is used in 17 U.S.C. 201, (within the meaning of 17 U.S.C. 201) of various Urantia Papers by virtue of their contribution of questions and input during creation of consecutive versions of individuals Papers culminating in the publication of the Papers in their final form as the Urantia Book."

F. The contact commission is the author of the Urantia Papers. Appeal Motion, US District Court of Appeals: (Also see under "forum," above).

    1. Page 1, para. 1. "...the Urantia Papers were created at the instance and expense of the Foundation's predecessor (a group known as the Contact Commission)..." (Comment by Kristen: On page 865 of the Urantia Papers, it is made clear that the secondary midwayers (superhumans) induced the planetary celestial supervisors (superhumans) to initiate those petitions which resulted in the granting of the mandates (from the Ancients of Days) making possible the fifth epochal revelation. The Papers were not created at the instance of the contact commission, the Sadlers, the forum, the Foundation, the human contact personality, or any other human agency or person. Also, Bill Hales' Deposition identifies the Foundation's tax statement where Hales (as the Foundation's first President) marked the box claiming the Urantia Foundation had NO PREDECESSOR ORGANIZATlON - and that includes the contact commission.)

    2. Page 3, para. 2: "The Contact Commission subsequently began to devise, solicit, compile and submit questions about a wide variety of topics to these entities." (Comment by Kristen: What the Foundation neglects to add to this sentence is "at the suggestion of the revelators". The revelators are the authors who answered the questions. Doc's History, Page 6: "The first group of papers numbered 57. The revelators then suggested that since the forum could now ask more intelligent questions, they would undertake to enlarge the revelation and to expand the papers in accordance with new questions.")

    3. Page 3, para. 2: "The text of the initial versions of the Urantia Papers were created in tangible form in response to those questions." ... (Comment by Kristen: On page 18 of Doc's history, it says, The first group of Papers numbered 57. We then received a communication suggesting that since we could now ask many and much more intelligent questions, the superhuman agencies and personalities responsible for transmitting the 57 Papers would engage to enlarge the revelation and to expand the Papers in accordance with our new questions.")

    4. Page 4, para. 1: "The only available evidence shows that but for the questions posed by the Contact Commission, and the Contact Commission's continuing participation, there would be no Urantia Papers." (Comment by Kristen: The contact commission isn't even mentioned in the Papers; nether are any "questions". identified or discussed.)

    5. Page 16, para. 4: The Contact Commission "posed the questions which caused the initial and revised versions of the Urantia Papers to be created."

(See below for Dictionary definitions of the Urantia Book based on the Foundation's false statements).

The Harpercollins Dictionary of Religion-
    Urantia Book
...the 1955 collection of the American, Spiritualist-influenced teachings of Bill Sadler, redefining Jesus' role in human salvation and cosmic history.

Cults and Religions, William Watson-
    Urantia Book
...Sacred writing published in 1955 after it was channeled to Bill Sadler by seven celestial beings. Includes a section called "The Life and Teachings of Jesus", an adulterated retelling of the biblical account. See Urantia Brotherhood.

    Urantia Brotherhood
    Based on the Urantia Book supposedly written by seven celestial beings and communicated to Bill Sadler by automatic handwriting. It includes a section called "The Life and Teachings of Jesus", an adulterated retelling of the biblical account. Background is UFO cults, Spiritualism, and the occult.