Page:Penguin Books v. New Christian Church of Full Endeavor.pdf/18

 prove detrimental, and would alter the very essence of the Course both as a theoretical thought system and a process of spiritual development. Yet we did not recognize the need to intervene at that point.

It was not until the early 1980s that we began to appreciate the wisdom behind Jesus' insistence on obtaining a copyright. At that time a number of unauthorized translations of "A Course in Miracles" were beginning to appear worldwide. Many of these were, to say the very least, inaccurate, leading to unacceptable distortions of the Course's central teachings. Because [FIP] held the copyright to the Course, we could closely supervise the process of translation to ensure that the Course's message was preserved intact for foreign readers. …

… [W]e were gradually led to reconsider our policy regarding enforcement of the copyright… Should we continue our lenient policy with regard to excerpts and quotes, and risk a continuing and serious dilution and distortion of the Course's message? …

After several years of conferring with each other, and much prayer, we received very clear guidance from the Holy Spirit to adhere to the prevailing practice of the publishing industry regarding permission to quote. This meant a significant tightening of our policy.

The Article goes on to discuss in greater detail the nature of the new, more restrictive policy. It also indicates that FIP had received permission from the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("PTO") to use the title "A Course in Miracles" as a service mark, and that FIP would thereby limit public use of the title.

The Article goes on to state:

If [FIP] erred in the past, it was in relying on our own reasonableness, disregarding Jesus' guidance. It seemed less reasonable to us somehow, certainly less