Toronto68

I try to put messages in the right place, but I don't know where else to put this one.

I see a lot of people using that phrase (Quotes from the First Edition) in their signatures. Obviously the Big Book for AA is meaningful, but there is some kind of special meaning about the First Edition there for people (and I am aware that there have been stories added, deleted, etc since the 1930s), and I am curious about that. What is behind this? Is there more than one reason for being attached to that phrase?

Taking5

AA World Services first published the big book in 1939. They did not renew the copyright on it and this edition fell into the public domain. In fact I could reprint the entire big book from 1939 if I wanted. AAWS for whatever reason has brought pressure to bear on SR and other sites to have any quotes refer to "big book edition 1", there is obviously a legal reason behind this but I do not know what it is.

Even then, you can take small snippets of the book or paraphrases of the book, even the newest edition from 2004, post them and it is not a copyright violation. It is completely legal under the fair use doctrine which has been all the way to the US Supreme Court.

It is a good thing I don't run this website, I would not comply, but I when I post here and quote the BB, I do.

Toronto68

Thanks Dgillz

CarolD

I moved this thread to our SR
Alcohlism 12 Step Support forum

because we have a sticky post on this Forum
that explains why SR members must follow our guidelines
when posting from our BB.

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...opyrights.html

Because some members quote often
they choose to keep it in their sig line


Thanks for bringing this up....I'm certain some
of our newer members are not aware of this
important SR posting guideline.

onlythetruth

I'm a lawyer and do a bit of IP work (copyrights and trademarks)--maybe I can help with this question.

The problem actually isn't that the copyright on the first edition wasn't renewed (although it wasn't); AA never had a copyright on that edition in the first place. Back in the 1930s, you couldn't get a copyright on a work that was placed in the public domain before you applied for the copyright; Bill W sold some preliminary copies before the application was ever submitted and therefore all possibility of there being a copyright on that edition was forever lost. Apparently, Bill then tried to fix the problem by filing for the copyright in his own name (trading as "Works Publishing Co.") but this, too, failed. This is why one can get the first edition online and why one is allowed to quote it. Later editions do have copyright protection and the 12&12 and all other literature has always been copyright protected.

Hope this helps.

OTT

CarolD

OTT.....

Boleo

Thanks OTT for Clarifying that for us.

I have heard that the Original Manuscript (aka Multi-Lithographic Edition) never was copyrighted as well.

Do you know if this is true?

onlythetruth

That's right. The lithograph wasn't copyrighted, and under copyright law was considered the "first printing" of the book (even though it wasn't the bound version that came out later). I'm not clear on whether Bill actually sold copies of the multilith or gave them away (or both), and AA Comes of Age claims that he printed "Loan Copy" on them in an effort to protect the copyright, but AA historian Mitchell K has seen copies of the multilith and says they had no such notice on them.

OTT