TIME
Charles M. Miller, of Vicksburg, Miss., has copyrighted The Lord’s Prayer. Ordinarily a man copyrights what he has written or what he buys from another man who has written it. Charles W. Miller did neither. He took The Lord’s Prayer as reported by St. Matthew, broke it up into phrases and, following each, placed a Biblical text culled from other Scriptural writers, and published it on the editorial page of Editor and Publisher. Not a word of his copyrighted work is he the author of except “(Mat. VI:9”), “(I Cor. XII:13),” etc. What he copyrighted was at best an arrangement. But it is all perfectly legal and proper.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- The Rise of a New Kind of Parenting Guru
- Ukraine’s Plan to Survive Trump
- The Young Women Challenging Iran’s Regime
- Ilona Maher TikToks Through the Olympics
- Can Food Really Change Your Hormones?
- Every Marvel Cinematic Universe Movie, Ranked
- Column: The Prosecutor Versus Felon Narrative Helps No One
- Get Our Paris Olympics Newsletter in Your Inbox
Contact us at letters@time.com