Page:Urantia Foundation v. Maaherra.pdf/2

 Gordon Dean Booth, Jr., Booth, Owens & Jospin, Atlanta, Georgia, and Robert S. Venning, Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe, San Francisco, CA for plaintiff-appellant.

Joseph D. Lewis, Cleary, Komen & Lewis, LLP, Washington, DC, Robert C. Lind, Los Angeles, CA, for defendant-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona; Warren K. Urbom, Senior District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-91-00325-SMM.

Before DONALD P. LAY, GOODWIN, and SCHROEDER, Circuit Judges.

SCHROEDER, Circuit Judge:

This is a copyright dispute between parties who believe the copyrighted work, the Urantia Book, was authored by celestial beings and transcribed, compiled and collected by mere mortals. In this litigation, the plaintiff-appellant Urantia Foundation claims that the defendant-appellee Kristen Maaherra infringed the Foundation’s copyright when she distributed a computerized version of the Book on disk. Maaherra concedes copying, so the only issue before us is whether the Foundation owns a valid copyright in the Book.

The district court granted summary judgment to Maaherra on the ground that the