Rights to publish liturgical texts

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Does the company that publishes liturgical texts (e.g., the Sacramentary – Catholic Book Publishing) have an exclusive right to it. Or, are the rights free?

Could anyone publish a text (say the Sacramentary or Lectionary), and would that be allowed used in the Catholic Liturgy (assuming it is the approved text)?
 
As far as I know, most of the US liturgical texts are copyrighted versions.

For example, the new translation of the Mass that is being prepared is copyrighted and so the USCCB, through whatever publisher, has exclusive rights to its distribution.

From what I understand, this is not the case in many places, but it is here in the US.
 
JMJ_coder said:
Does the company that publishes liturgical texts (e.g., the Sacramentary – Catholic Book Publishing) have an exclusive right to it. Or, are the rights free?

Could anyone publish a text (say the Sacramentary or Lectionary), and would that be allowed used in the Catholic Liturgy (assuming it is the approved text)?
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I can’t answer that specific question, but for your information I’ll point out relatedly this provision of canon law:

826 §2: To reprint liturgical books, their translations into the vernacular, or their parts, an attestation of the ordinary of the place where they are published must establish their agreement with the approved edition.
 
MarkThompson said:
I can’t answer that specific question, but for your information I’ll point out relatedly this provision of canon law:

826 §2: To reprint liturgical books, their translations into the vernacular, or their parts, an attestation of the ordinary of the place where they are published must establish their agreement with the approved edition.
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Interesting, though that sounds basically like an Imprimatur (which I assumed was needed to verify authenticity of the translations and texts).
 
SenorSalsa said:
As far as I know, most of the US liturgical texts are copyrighted versions.

For example, the new translation of the Mass that is being prepared is copyrighted and so the USCCB, through whatever publisher, has exclusive rights to its distribution.

From what I understand, this is not the case in many places, but it is here in the US.
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Hmmm. Where can I find the USCCB’s guidelines on the usage of those rights?
 
JMJ_coder said:
Does the company that publishes liturgical texts (e.g., the Sacramentary – Catholic Book Publishing) have an exclusive right to it. Or, are the rights free?

Could anyone publish a text (say the Sacramentary or Lectionary), and would that be allowed used in the Catholic Liturgy (assuming it is the approved text)?
Click to expand...
No, they are granted the permission by the Holy See I believe.
 
JMJ_coder said:
Hmmm. Where can I find the USCCB’s guidelines on the usage of those rights?
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I believe that the mass parts are copyrighted by the ICEL. Here is their permissions page. The USCCB holds the copyright for the New American Bible texts. Here is their general permissions page. But this is the link to their guidelines for using the NAB.
 
funny thing is, in all the bibles and other texts, you never see,
CopyRight - GOD
 
FrCorey said:
funny thing is, in all the bibles and other texts, you never see,
CopyRight - GOD
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Copyright only lasts a few years (presently less than 150 years) so God’s copyright has expired unless He is continually changing the text of revelation. In that case, can I choose which inspired version I want to base my life on?

I know when I got my doctorate, the rule was that I could use the requirements published in any of the years I was studying for my degree.

Following this logic, I could base my life on any set of teachings revealed during my lifetime and God would have to accept them for my salvation.
 
Most of the liturgical texts carry a combination of copyrights, with the chief copyright holder being ICEL. The NAB, which is used in the US, is copyrighted by the USCCB, but it should be noted that the lectionary does not completely correspond to the NAB – the responses for the psalms are copyrighted by ICEL (I believe) and the verses have yet another copyright holder.

You are generally free to use excerpts of liturgical texts for non-commercial use within your own parish, but the different copyright holders have different requirements.

There are actually several different companies that publish official liturgical texts, but I would presume that they have some sort of royalty contract with the copyright holders.

The rationale behind the copyrights is a) to protect the texts from unauthorized changes and subsequent distribution and b) to provide funds for ongoing translation work (through the charging of royalties).
 
Prometheum_x said:
Most of the liturgical texts carry a combination of copyrights, with the chief copyright holder being ICEL. The NAB, which is used in the US, is copyrighted by the USCCB, but it should be noted that the lectionary does not completely correspond to the NAB – the responses for the psalms are copyrighted by ICEL (I believe) and the verses have yet another copyright holder.

You are generally free to use excerpts of liturgical texts for non-commercial use within your own parish, but the different copyright holders have different requirements.

There are actually several different companies that publish official liturgical texts, but I would presume that they have some sort of royalty contract with the copyright holders.

The rationale behind the copyrights is a) to protect the texts from unauthorized changes and subsequent distribution and b) to provide funds for ongoing translation work (through the charging of royalties).
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that is true. when you see the mark of approval on the texts you know it’s genuine to the churches writtings.
 
Thanks for the replies. I’m once again looking into starting a small liturgical press, so I needed to know if companies like Catholic Book Company had an exclusive right to be the only publishers of say the Liturgy of the Hours.
 
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