I'm going to create a website telling the truth about Mormon history, etc. and I would like to use Mormon images particularly ones used by the LDS church such as pictures of the apostles, prophets, temples, historic images, and ones you often see in church manuals.

However, I don't know much about copyright issues particularly with images used on the internet.

For example can I use the images below on my website or do I risk the LDS church coming after me?

https://www.lds.org/church/leaders?lang=eng

https://www.lds.org/liahona/2017/01/insights-from-the-doctrine-and-covenants-about-the-father-and-the-son?lang=eng&_r=1&cid=HP_TH_23-2-2017_dPFD_fLHNA_xLIDyH-2_


What kind of copyright issues are there?

How do I go about figuring out which LDS images on the internet are safe to use vs copyrighted?

How do I know which LDS/Mormon images are copyrighted and owned by the LDS Church vs free for the public to use?

I believe one can ask permission of the LDS Church to use their images but won't they ask what my purpose for them is and deny me access if they think my website is critical of the church?

Thanks!

You need to consult an attorney who specializes in copyright law about these matters. We cannot provide you with legal advice here.

The easiest and cheapest thing to do would be to contact the church's sub-corporation, Intellectual Reserve. They own the copyrights and can provide you information about which they claim to hold rights on and which are now in the public domain.

All copyrightable works published in the United States before 1923 are in the public domain, but there's a gotcha with the term "published". The church recently claimed copyright protection on some writings of Joseph Smith that were supposedly not published before. Their claim is almost certainly illegitimate because CoJCoLDS (SLC) is not the legal heir to the items, and not the same organization that Joseph Smith founded -- despite SLC's protestations to the contrary.

It's a legal quibble that the church is unlikely to press, and about which no one else is really interested. But it might make a great law review article for any of you eager beaver law students out there.

CZ (admin)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/2017 01:01PM by Concrete Zipper.

They won't give you permission.
However, you might not need it.
This might help:

http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/what-is-fair-use/

C.Zippers advice was correct, as far as it went; but the copyright laws are shaped around the rights of a publisher to Profit (prophet, ha ha) from their products.

A secondary goal is to protect the integrity of their product.


Uses for education, including sarcasm/SATIRE, are generally exempt, BUT CONSULT AN ATTORNEY!

So if you are presenting the images as evidence of how LDS Inc has taught about the first vision and discussing the images then fair use should apply, whereas if you were just using them as random illustrations, it might not be OK. You could provide links as you did in this message, however, you run the risk of them changes the URL or the content of the pages on you.

I was creating a book of leaded glass windows, wrote to the church and asked if I may adapt a painting that I found in one of their books. They required $75. for that. I ended up not using it.

That was 30 (geesh!) years ago.

Weblog/ website educating the public on Mormonism? They'd like that. They may even be able to gain some truth and insight along the way... though they probably wouldn't use it (to educate and inform themselves or their adherants).

When in doubt, information/ legal advice is your best advice.