Copying copyrighted prayer book a sin?

[Oumashta]

Recently, a good Catholic friend of mine lent me a photocopied edition of a booklet by the Apostleship of Prayer titled “The Holy Hour”. The book has been out of print for more than 20 years. The booklet itself says something like “All rights reserved to the Apostleship of prayer to copy, etc… unless written permission is obtained” or something like that. I tried to look online for the book but could only find a copy of the text of the prayerbook online- a website without affiliation to the Apostleship of Prayer. So I copied all of the text that I saw on the website and pasted it into a word document. Would printing it out be considered immoral or a sin? I really want to use this booklet during Eucharistic Adoration, since the meditations inside are extremely thought provoking.

GAH, I don’t know what to do… My friend’s parish seemed to have no qualms about photocopying the booklet and distributing it to everyone, but I’m afraid that I would be sinning by copying copyrighted prayers… What should I do ?

Thanks and God bless!

 

[dean24us]

What you seem to be describing is a concept termed “orphan work” in copyright law. In short, orphan works occur when a work (usually a book) is technically copyrighted, but the rightful copyright owner cannot be found (e.g., they died, have gone out of business, etc). Do a quick Google for “copyright orphan work” for many in-depth discussions on the subject, but suffice to say that it is a legal (not to mention moral) gray area at present.

Now, as to your situation, I think that you are okay in what you are doing, so long as you do it for personal use and (this is the key part) NOT for any type of profit.

God bless,
Dean

 

[chaela_may]

your intent seems to be that you want to pay for it, but can’t. you can’t seem to find copies either new or second-hand. in that light, it makes sense to get it in the only way that you can. take a note from your friend’s parish. if it was wrong, would the priests and other leaders of that church allow it?

the best thing to do, imho, is to use what you can now. it doesn’t make sense to throw something away like that if it brings you closer to Him. then, write to the publisher and tell them that there is at least one parish that would love for these books to be released into print again. if it does get a reprint, just be sure to buy a copy.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

I think a copyright expires after some period of time. I don’t know details and think the period has varied over the years.

 

[Oumashta]

Thanks guys!

I asked my priest-spiritual director, and he told me it’s fine to copy the booklet since I’m not making a profit, it’s considered fair use, and because prayers are meant to be distributed to others.

Thanks and God bless.