COPYRIGHT AND THE KJV AND THE KJV21

COPYRIGHT AND THE KJV AND THE KJV21

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June 11, 1998 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - In an e-mail dated June 5, 1998, from William D. Prindle, President, 21st Century King James Bible Publishers, I was told the following:

"You, and many of the ‘King James Only’ people, are entertaining a serious misapprehension in the matter of copyright: the publishers of the original 1611 King James Version obtained from the English Crown a perpetual franchise which amounted to a super copyright which would last forever and made it the most

sweeping copyright ever issued by any country on the face of the earth. However, no other modern nation pays any attention to it anymore. The copyright which we have obtained from the U.S. government for the 21st Century King James Version is markedly less extensive than the one held by Oxford and Cambridge Presses on the original King James Version."

Mr. Prindle is wrong in his accusation that I am entertaining misapprehensions about the copyright status of the King James Bible. Though I can’t speak for every "King James Only" defender, I can probably speak on this topic with as much authority as any man since I have researched and published the only extensive history of the battle for the King James Bible covering the past two centuries. And I can say that most KJV defenders that I know of are well aware of the copyright history and status of the King James Bible. Mr. Prindle is apparently speaking out of ignorance. We have personally published information on the topic of the copyright of the KJV for many years. In 1995, for example, we published an article entitled "Copyright and the KJV" in O Timothy magazine.

Mr. Prindle is correct in stating that the original KJV was copyrighted by the British crown and that its publication was controlled in Britain. His statement, though, makes me ask the question, so what? In fact, it appears to be a smokescreen to obscure the truth.

1. His statement does not answer the matter of whether or not the British government was right in so copyrighting the Word of God. He is attempting to use the British copyright of the KJV to justify his copyright of the KJ21, but just because the British government copyrighted the King James Bible does not mean that it is right to do so.

2. His statement fails to answer how a private American company today can compare itself with the 17th century British government. The Crown’s copyright of the KJV was secured in the historical context of a state church. This is comparing apples and oranges.

3. His statement passes over the significant fact that the KJV can be freely published today and effectively is not copyrighted. This is not true for the KJ21. It IS effectively copyrighted and even individual books cannot be reproduced without express permission of (and normally payment to) the publisher.

The modern secular Bible publishers have enriched themselves through this scheme, and it is well for KJV defenders to continue to point out this fact.