The Lawsuit charged the Mormon Church with copyright Infringement of the Alexander Scourby narration of the King James Bible, owned by Litchfield Associates

 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”. Galatians 6:7” — The Apostle Paul

TAMPA, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES,
November 16, 2017

/EINPresswire.com/ — The Chicago Tribune wrote that “Alexander Scourby is reputed to have been the World’s best audio book narrator, Bar none, and is heralded as having the Greatest Voice ever recorded”.

According to Litchfield Associates, in 1988 the Quorum of the Twelve, the board of directors of the Mormon Church headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, thought the same. The Quorum informed Church management that the Alexander Scourby narration of the King James Bible is the best narration in the World, and wanted to make that narration available to Church members as the Church’s official Bible narration; and directed Church management to acquire the necessary rights to make that happen.

According to Litchfield Associates, in 1988, following the Quorum’s directive, Church management contacted Alexander Scourby Bible Recordings,(ASBR) owners of the Scourby Bible narration. The Mormon Church entered into an agreement with ASBR to produced Cassette Tapes of the Scourby narration for the Mormon Church. ASBR sold Millions of copies of the narration to the Mormon Church from 1988 to 1994. In 1994, the Mormon Church entered into an Agreement with Litchfield Associates, who had since purchased the Copyrights from the Alexander Scourby estate, to sell the cassette duplication rights in the 1988 duplication Agreement, to the Mormon Church.

According to Litchfield, in 2014, the company discovered the Mormon Church was in breach of their 1994 agreement and was illegally selling a Bible App narrated by Alexander Scourby in the iTunes and Google Play stores. Litchfield wrote the Mormon Church a cease and desist letter, advising them they were in breach of their 1994 agreement and were infringing on Litchfield’s Copyright. However, even though Litchfield gave the Mormon Church an opportunity to do the right thing, the LDS Church refused to stop their infringement activities. Litchfield was then forced to file a lawsuit against the Mormon Church for Copyright infringement, in Federal Court in Tampa, Florida.

ACCORDING TO THE LAWSUIT…

“the Mormon Church improperly sub-licensed the copyrights with Intellectual Reserve, the corporation that enforces the church’s intellectual property rights, and its for-profit affiliate, Deseret Book”,

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“The Morman Church was selling the Scourby Bible App for $14.99 through the iTunes store, Google Play and other outlets, which says the apps contain the entire Scourby Bible narration, with chapter headings and footnotes created by the church”.

“The Mormon Church is either sanctioning the sale and distribution of these infringing apps and sharing in the financial fruits or willfully neglecting its duties to prevent the multiplication of its own infringing product”

According to Litchfield, In 2015, the Mormon Church settled the lawsuit and paid Litchfield substantial money damages for Copyright infringement. The settlement agreement also striped the Mormon Church of all future rights to use the Scourby Bible Recordings in their Mormon Church community. Since that time, Litchfield has been contacted by numerous Mormon church members expressing their disappointment that the Alexander Scourby narration is no longer available in their Church Community. We shared the Good news that even though it was no longer available in the Church community, it was still available in our community and directed them to our website and the play stores where they could still get the Scourby narration.

According to an article that appeared in the Tampa Tribune in 2014, it stated, “the church had a copyright page on its website as well as a page dedicated to the Eighth Commandment, thou shalt not steal, conveying what it calls the positive side of the commandment: “Respect the rights and property of others.” The author of this article could not find the above statement on the LDS Church Copyright page prior to this publication, and it appears to have been taken down.

Litchfield stated, “We just didn’t file a law suit against the Mormon Church, we reached out to the Mormon Church to find a reasonable and Biblical solution, but were rebuffed and immediately turned over to Church attorney’s, who abruptly rejected Litchfield’s copyright infringement claim. That was strange in light of their above statement in 2014 on the Churches Copyright page. It’s even more strange they didn’t follow the advice of Jesus in Matthew 5:25, “Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge”… which is exactly what happened. Again very strange since Jesus Christ in part of the Mormon Church name, and one would thing they would want to follow the teachings of Jesus. It’s obvious, in looking at subsequent events, the Church erred in their decision not to follow Biblically principles and reason, for which they are paying a far greater price than money. We sincerely hope the Mormon Church Leadership has learned a sound Biblical lesson. Perhaps the above scripture by the Apostle Paul, in Galatians 6:7, is a guiding light for all to follow who have read, or was involved in, this Bible Story.

Litchfield Associates is proud to offer, “The Authorized and Lawful”, Alexander Scourby narration of the King James Bible, to all believers. We want all Bible loving Mormons to know, that even though you can no longer get this treasured Alexander Scourby narration from the Mormon Church, you can still get it in the following places. The Bible App for iPhone is offered on the iTunes store, the Bible App for Android is offered on the Google Play Store. (SEARCH FOR SCOURBY BIBLE) The Desktop App for Windows and MAC, the Android App and Audio Bible Mp3 Downloads are all offered on our website.

Start listening to the Greatest Voice Ever Recorded ONCE AGAIN. In 1988 the Quorum of the Twelve wanted the best Bible Narration in the World for their membership. In 2017, it’s still the best in the World, and you can still get it today at our website and on the iTunes and Google Play store. Don’t settle for second best. Go download the Ultimate Bible App from www.scourby.com or on the Play Stores today! Listen to best below, or on scourby.com.

Kenny France
Litchfield associates

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