The British Crown has Royal Patent on Bible in UK

I have heard various people argue that the KJV Bible is the TRUE word of God because it has no copyright or patent on it.

Until tonight I never really thought too much about this argument, one way or the other.
Apparently, however, this argument is not based in reality, and I suspect most people who use it, are merely repeating what they have been told.

The truth is that the rights to the 1611 KJV are held by the Crown in Britain, and while it is not under copyright outside of the UK and the British Commonwealth Nations, the patent is still in force in Great Britain, and all Authorized Version Bibles printed in Great Britain are printed under the patent agreements.

...there are currently four license holders with legal authority in England to publish the KJV: the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, as well as William Collins Sons & Co., Ltd, and Eyre & Spottiswoode.

...a 1986 printing of the Eyre & Spottiswoode KJV, it says:

"All rights in respect of the Authorized (King James) Version of the Holy Bible are vested in the Crown in the United Kingdom and controlled by Royal Letters Patent. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, or stored in any retrieval system of any nature without written permission."
www.catholicapologetics.net...

In the front of The Cambridge edition of the KJV, we see still see the words Cum Priveleo. We also see on the opposite page "Rights in the Authorized (King James) Version of the Bible are vested in the crown." Then we see a symbol. then we see "The Bible is published by Cambridge University Press, The Queen's Printer, Under Royal Letters Patent."
www.catholicapologetics.net...

I find it curious that the Crown deemed it necessary to patent the infallible Word of God indefinitely, and am curious what the rest of you think about this?

Upon publication of the Authorized Version in 1611, King James I of England assigned to that great work a "Cum Privilegio" (Latin: with privilege). The Cum Privilegio was issued in the form of a "Patent" which is very much like our copyright. However, the King realized that patent (copyright) law stated that a patent or copyright was only good for the life of the person holding the copyright, plus 50 years, so, instead of placing the patent in his name, or the names of the translation committee members, he issued the patent in the name of the Crown (a "Royal Letters Patent in Perpetuity"). In this way, he was able to secure the patent for the duration of the British Crown, plus 50 years. This means that it will never come into the public domain unless HM the Queen or one of her successors releases the patent.
www.baptistpillar.com...

The British crown owns the Bible as we created the COE (church of England which i THINK is also refered to as the prodastant )

The basic story is Henery the 8th wanted to divorse one of his wife's (can't remember which) but the pope Said he couldn't do it So henery VIII stuck two finger up at rome and created his own church the COE. the rest is history.

I presume King James at some pointed edited the bible to match with our own views

If im wrong please don't flame me just correct me in a nice way

[edit on 22/12/2004 by Flux Wilde]

No thoughts or opinions on this?

Does the fact that the Royal Crown makes money off of the Bible compromise its integrity at all?

Do you think the retention of the Crown copywright served/s to protect the accuracy of the Bible or enable royal censorship?

Under Elizabeth the Star Chamber assumed the right to confine printing to London, Oxford and Cambridge, to limit the number of printers and presses, to prohibit all publications issued without proper licence, and to enter houses to search for unlicensed presses and publications (Order of 1585, Strypes Whitgift, app. 94). The search for unlicensed presses or publications was entrusted to an officer called the messenger of the press.
www.1911encyclopedia.org...

Under Chancellor Wolsey�s leadership (1515�29), the Court of Star Chamber became a political weapon, bringing actions against opponents to the decrees and edicts of Henry VIII. Wolsey also encouraged petitioners to use the Court of the Star Chamber as a court of original jurisdiction, not as a last resort after the common-law courts had failed. Depositions were taken from witnesses, but no jury was employed in the proceedings. Although its sentences included a wide variety of corporal punishments, including whipping, pillorying, and branding, those convicted were never sentenced to death. The court remained active through the reigns of James I and Charles I. The traditional hostility between equity and common law was aggravated by the use made of the Star Chamber by the Stuarts as a vehicle for exercising the royal prerogative, particularly over church matters, in defiance of Parliament. It was abolished by the Long Parliament in 1641. In its later period the court was so reviled that Star Chamber became a byword for unfair judicial proceedings.
www.bartleby.com...

Jezebel,
I'm not one hundred percent certain on who makes 'money' off the sale of the King James Version of the Bible, but does the patent cover all printed versions outside the confines of the UK (England)...?
Have you seen this?

And you also write:
>>OK, Dr. Holland, if you wish to make the exception of the universities an "error," fine, do so. Will you at least admit that the universities fell under royal oversight?

I think it is more likely that they copyrighted the KJV in order to stop anyone changing it. Of course you can get a copy on the net anyway and I've never heard of anyone being charged with copyright violation of the KJV.

Perhaps I'm wrong but I still think everyone may be missing a more hidden message here. Seekerof and Pisky both seem to hint at it maybe, but I personally expected for someone to come right out and say it, which hasn't happened.

Maybe this will help:

Under Elizabeth the Star Chamber assumed the right to confine printing to London, Oxford and Cambridge, to limit the number of printers and presses, to prohibit all publications issued without proper licence, and to enter houses to search for unlicensed presses and publications (Order of 1585, Strypes Whitgift, app. 94). The search for unlicensed presses or publications was entrusted to an officer called the messenger of the press.
www.1911encyclopedia.org...

Under Chancellor Wolsey�s leadership (1515�29), the Court of Star Chamber became a political weapon, bringing actions against opponents to the decrees and edicts of Henry VIII. Wolsey also encouraged petitioners to use the Court of the Star Chamber as a court of original jurisdiction, not as a last resort after the common-law courts had failed. Depositions were taken from witnesses, but no jury was employed in the proceedings. Although its sentences included a wide variety of corporal punishments, including whipping, pillorying, and branding, those convicted were never sentenced to death. The court remained active through the reigns of James I and Charles I. The traditional hostility between equity and common law was aggravated by the use made of the Star Chamber by the Stuarts as a vehicle for exercising the royal prerogative, particularly over church matters, in defiance of Parliament. It was abolished by the Long Parliament in 1641. In its later period the court was so reviled that Star Chamber became a byword for unfair judicial proceedings.
www.bartleby.com...

So in short. Some 'Elitist' type people got together and came up with an alternative set of 'Rules for Society' and People in general. This was completely outside the Standard and Accepted system of Law and Justice at the time. It provided a very effective means of subverting the entire populous and Ruling them while using the guise of an established, accepted, fair/just system which it was in fact NOT and eventually was exposed for what it was.

Is anyone, using a little imagination and mixing things around a bit, starting to come up with any interesting ideas???