Page:Penguin Books v. New Christian Church of Full Endeavor.pdf/44

 There is a genuine issue of material fact whether a general distribution of the Course occurred during the summer of 1975. As Skutch's rewriting of potentially damaging material from his book, "Journey Without Distance," suggests, the circumstances of the pre-publication distribution of copies of the Course in the San Francisco area are unclear. There is an issue as to exactly how many copies were distributed, to whom, and under what conditions. The same questions apply with regard to the possibility of a distribution in North Carolina. In that instance, however, there are complex evidentiary issues: much of the testimony in the affidavits supplied by Defendants contains potentially inadmissible hearsay, and Defendants did not properly notify Plaintiffs of the existence of many of these potential witnesses, who were not deposed by Plaintiffs. Still, even discounting this evidence for these reasons, a genuine factual question still exists regarding the extent and the nature of a North Carolina distribution. The evidence does not unambiguously support a finding of either a limited or a general publication. At most, Skutch-Whitson may have encouraged the distribution of a couple hundred copies of the manuscript. It can be inferred from the testimony and the documentary evidence, however, that her enthusiasm for spreading the word about the Course may have encouraged others to make copies from copies. On the other hand, the distribution may have been quite small. The question, however,