For Immediate Release
Urantia Foundation
September 8, 1998
URANTIA FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES NEW
COPYRIGHT, INTERNET, AND TRADEMARK USAGE POLICIES
Urantia Foundation, a non-profit organization, today announced six new
copyright, Internet, and trademark policies pertaining to The Urantia Book.
The Trustees unanimously approved these policies after listening to the
concerns and desires voiced by readers from around the world.
Fortunately, Urantia Foundation's legal advisors found ways to meet readers'
needs while fully protecting the copyright and trademarks. "We hope that
these policies will facilitate the efforts of readers who desire to study,
teach, and share the revelation. These policies provide readers with step-by-step
guidelines for expanded usage of the copyrighted text of The Urantia Book
and the trademarks of Urantia Foundation while harmoniously coexisting with
the Foundation's legal rights," said the Foundation's president, Richard
Keeler.
These new policies reflect the needs of a growing and diverse readership
that wants to study and share The Urantia Book and its teachings. With five
new translations printed in the last six years, eleven more in progress,
and with the development of the Internet and other digital media, new thinking
is required to manage 21st century global dissemination opportunities and
challenges.
Three policies address commercial, educational, and "labors-of-love"
usage of text from The Urantia Book. Authors of commercial work may quote
up to 5,000 words from The Urantia Book without requesting permission from
Urantia Foundation. Furthermore, authors of non-commercial "labors-of-love"
may quote up to 25,000 words in secondary works of original authorship.
The educational copyright policy allows teachers and seminar instructors
to distribute free copies of up to one full paper of The Urantia Book per
classroom or seminar session. For a full understanding of the conditions
and provisions contained in each policy, please see the attached
Two other policies deal with Internet Web site licensing and downloading
of the copyrighted text. Urantia Foundation wants to make The Urantia Book
broadly and freely available to the global community via licensed Internet
Web sites. The procedure to receive a free-of-charge license to display
The Urantia Book on a Web site is described in complete detail in the policy
titled "License To Reproduce The Urantia Book on an Internet Web site."
In addition to the copyright and Internet policies, the Foundation adopted
a trademark policy regarding the Concentric-Circles Symbol and the words
"Urantia," and "Urantian." This policy provides readers with a list of "safe
harbors" that allow people a wide variety of non-commercial fair use of
the trademarks without constituting trademark infringement. "We recognize
that the Concentric-Circles Symbol and the words 'Urantia' and 'Urantian'
have personal significance to many believers of The Urantia Book. This policy
assures personal usage of the trademarks that will not create legal conflicts.
Urantia Foundation has embarked upon a new era of
proactive problem solving that will utilize the courtroom as the last
resort," Mr Keeler concluded.
Please direct questions about this press release, or any policy, to Urantia
Foundation headquarters, (773) 525-3319, or by e-mail at
Urantia Foundation is a non-profit foundation and the proprietor and
publisher of the copyrighted inviolate text of The Urantia Book. The Foundation
has offices in five countries and publishes in six languages. With sales
of over 400,000 books and hundreds of study groups worldwide, Urantia Foundation
also facilitates global reader and membership services.
I. PERMISSION-TO-QUOTE POLICY FOR COMMERCIAL WORKS
1. For purposes of this policy, "commercial" is defined as "relating
to, or being connected with, the exchange of value, or the buying or selling
of any article, goods, or property." Accordingly, a "commercial work"
is any work that is bought, sold, or exchanged for value.
2. Any person may quote up to 1,000 words from The Urantia Book in any
commercial work without the necessity of requesting or receiving permission
from Urantia Foundation.
3. Any person may quote between 1,001 and 5,000 words from The Urantia
Book in any commercial work without the necessity of requesting or receiving
permission from Urantia Foundation provided that:
a. No more than 1,000 words taken from The Urantia Book are quoted at a
time;
b. For every one word quoted from The Urantia Book in a commercial work, the
work has at least two words that are not quoted from The Urantia Book;
c. The commercial work displays the following acknowledgment: This work uses
quotations from The Urantia Book, © 1955 Urantia Foundation, 533 Diversey
Parkway, Chicago, Illinois 60614; (773) 525-3319;
http://www.urantia.org; all rights reserved. The views
expressed in this work are those of the author and do not necessarily represent
the views of Urantia Foundation or its affiliates. Please place the acknowledgment
on the copyright page or on one of the first few pages of any written or electronic
work and in the credits of any non-printed media; and
d. The person copying material from The Urantia Book does not revise, alter,
or amend the inviolate text of the portions of The Urantia Book that are quoted.
4. Any person who desires to quote more than 5,000 words from The Urantia
Book in a commercial work needs to contact Urantia Foundation for permission.
Please contact Urantia Foundation by telephone at (773) 525-3319, or by e-mail
at urantia@
www.urantia.org, or in writing addressed to Urantia Foundation,
533 Diversey Parkway, Chicago, Illinois 60614.
II. PERMISSION-TO-COPY POLICY FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES
1. For purposes of this policy, "academic" and/or "educational" means "pertaining
to institutional classroom teaching or learning."
2. Any person may copy and hand out various portions of The Urantia Book
amounting up to one full paper of The Urantia Book per each academic or educational
use without the necessity of requesting or receiving permission from Urantia
Foundation provided that:
a. The recipient of the handout(s) containing quoted material is not charged
money for the handout(s) over and above the cost of tuition or, in the event
of a conference, the fee for attending the conference where the quoted material
is handed out;
b. The person copying the material from The Urantia Book does not revise,
alter, or amend the inviolate text of The Urantia Book prior to copying and
handing out the quoted material; and
c. The handout containing the material quoted from The Urantia Book gives
the following acknowledgment:
This handout is for academic and educational purposes only. It contains
quotations from The Urantia Book, © 1955 Urantia Foundation, 533 Diversey
Parkway, Chicago, Illinois 60614; (773) 525-3319;
http://www.urantia.org; all rights reserved.
3. Any person who wishes to copy and hand out various portions of The Urantia
Book amounting to more than a full paper of The Urantia Book per each academic
and/or educational use needs to contact Urantia Foundation for permission.
Please contact Urantia Foundation by telephone at (773) 525-3319, or by e-mail
at urantia@
www.urantia.org, or in writing addressed to Urantia Foundation,
533 Diversey Parkway, Chicago, Illinois 60614.
III. PERMISSION-TO-QUOTE POLICY FOR LABORS-OF-LOVE
Urantia Foundation authorizes anyone to quote up to 25,000 words from The
Urantia Book in any educational work provided that:
1. Standard academic attribution is given to The Urantia Book where it
is quoted;
2. The following statement of copyright is prominently displayed in the
first few pages of the work: This work uses quotations from The Urantia Book,
© 1955 Urantia Foundation, 533 Diversey Parkway, Chicago, Illinois 60614;
(773) 525-3319;
http://www.urantia.org; all rights reserved. The views
expressed in this work are those of the author and do not necessarily represent
the views of Urantia Foundation or its affiliates.
3. The work in question is distributed free of charge by its authors and their
agents;
4. For every word quoted from The Urantia Book, the work has at least one
word that is not quoted from The Urantia Book;
5. The work uses no more than 5,000 words in a row from The Urantia Book.
If you use up to 5,000 words in a row from The Urantia Book, then you should
insert other written materials before using any additional quotations from
The Urantia Book; and
6. The work does not revise, alter, or amend portions of the inviolate
text of the Urantia Book that are quoted in the work.
IV. INTERNET DOWNLOADING AND PRINTING POLICY
You may print or download any portion or all of the inviolate text of The
Urantia Book to disk or hard drive from Urantia Foundation's Web site,
http://www.urantia.org, or from any other licensed Web site,
provided that:
1. The inviolate text is printed and/or downloaded for your own personal
use rather than for distribution or sale to third persons, unless such distribution
or sale is otherwise permitted by copyright law or by Urantia Foundation policies;
and
2. By printing or downloading this inviolate text, you agree not to revise,
alter, or amend any portion of the text of The Urantia Book that is printed
or downloaded.
V. LICENSE TO REPRODUCE THE URANTIA BOOK ON AN INTERNET WEB SITE
You may reproduce, free of charge, on your Internet Web site, the entire
copyrighted inviolate text of The Urantia Book from Urantia Foundation's Web
site,
http://www.urantia.org, provided that:
1. When you reproduce the text on your Internet Web site, you agree not
to charge money to permit others to view the licensed reproduction of the
text;
2. The reproduced text displayed on your Web site must keep the text inviolate.
You may not include any quotes from The Urantia Book or its authorized translations
that are revised, altered, or amended; and
3. The following notice pops up prior to the appearance of the reproduced
text of The Urantia Book.
You are about to view the inviolate text of The Urantia Book, © 1955 Urantia
Foundation, 533 Diversey Parkway, Chicago, Illinois 60614; (773) 525-3319;
http://www.urantia.org; all rights reserved. You may freely
print and/or download this text for your own personal use, but any other uses,
including distribution or sale, must be permitted by copyright law or by Urantia
Foundation policies. By printing or downloading this inviolate text,
you also agree not to revise, alter, or amend any portion of the inviolate
text of The Urantia Book that is printed or downloaded.
By accepting this license, you agree to display this notice exactly as
and where it automatically appears.
This license is not a license to reproduce or make any use of the trademarks,
service marks, or collective membership marks of Urantia
Foundation, unless authorized by trademark law, Urantia Foundation license,
or Urantia Foundation policies.
This is the entire and complete Web site licensing agreement. By
clicking on the download icon, you agree to its terms.
VI. POLICY REGARDING USE OF "URANTIA," "URANTIAN," AND THE THREE BLUE CONCENTRIC
CIRCLES SYMBOL
Articulated in this policy are the following uses of "Urantia," "Urantian,"
and the three blue concentric circles symbol set against a white
background to which Urantia Foundation consents as "safe harbors" for fair
use. Providing these "safe harbors" means Urantia Foundation has granted these
uses as ones that you can freely make without concern for violating any of
the trademarks, service marks, or collective membership marks of Urantia Foundation.
1. You may use "Urantian" or "Urantians" merely to refer to readers of
The Urantia Book or as inhabitants of planet Earth.
2. You may use "Urantia" merely as a reference to planet Earth.
3. You may use "Urantia," "Urantian," and/or the three blue concentric
circles symbol in weddings, funerals, and worship services, including the
program handout used at the particular calendar event.
4. You may make personal use of "Urantia," "Urantian," or the three blue
concentric circles symbol in jewelry or on clothing.
5. You may display the three blue concentric circles symbol on any page
of a Web site provided that: (a) The symbol does not appear on the front
cover of the Web page as an identifier of the Web site. (b) The symbol
is accompanied by words to designate it as the Banner of Michael or representing
the Trinity government or conveying other meanings associated with the symbol
described in The Urantia Book. You may depict the symbol on a pennant,
flag, or other visual representation of its meaning. (c) The use of
the symbol is not associated with any commercial activity. (d) The words
"This Web site is unaffiliated with Urantia Foundation" appear
somewhere on the front page.
6. You may use the three blue concentric circles symbol in any artwork
provided that the artwork contains other prominent elements besides the symbol.
If you have questions about this policy or other such uses, please contact
Urantia Foundation by telephone at (773) 525-3319, by e-mail at urantia@
www.urantia.org, or in writing addressed to Urantia Foundation,
533 Diversey Parkway, Chicago, Illinois 60614.