Since they left the Mormon Church, Jerald and Sandra Tanner have spent
some four decades challenging the beliefs of their former faith.
Since they left the Mormon Church, Jerald and Sandra Tanner have spent
some four decades challenging the beliefs of their former faith.
Part of that battle led the couple to post 17 pages of a Mormon
handbook on a website. The pages were from a closely-guarded book that is not
available to the public or even general church membership. They deal with church
disciplinary procedures and how people can get their names removed from Mormon
church rolls.
In turn, that led Church of Latter-day Saints officials to
sue the couple. Mormon officials claimed the couple violated copyright laws.
The case now has been settled – pending court approval.
Reports say the Tanners have agreed to a Latter-day Saints
proposal to destroy copies of a Mormon handbook they posted on their www.utlm.org
website, which is part of the Tanner’s Utah Lighthouse Ministry. The couple
also has agreed to remove links to – or any mention of – websites
carrying the Mormon Church Handbook of Instruction.
In exchange, the church has agreed to drop its claims for damages
and attorneys fees, reports indicate.
All that remains is for U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell to
sign off on the settlement. Spokesperson on both sides of the issue said they
expect her to do so soon.
Following the announcement, both of the Tanners stressed that
they do not believe they violated copyright law. Jerald Tanner said they entered
into the agreement “only to end unnecessary, prolonged and expensive litigation
and not because we did anything wrong.”
The legal battle began last fall when Latter-day Saints officials
sued the Tanners through a publishing subsidiary, alleging copyright infringement.
As ruling judge, Campbell issued a temporary restraining order,
which required the Tanners to remove the pages from their Internet site. However,
the couple later posted an e-mail message from a reader that contained Internet
addresses where the entire handbook could be viewed.
Mormon officials then asked Campbell to order the Tanners to
remove the addresses, or “links,” alleging they were encouraging others
to view and make illegal copies of handbook pages. Campbell issued a preliminary
injunction against the posting of the links and ordered them removed.
The Tanners appealed as the ruling set off an explosive chain
reaction throughout cyberspace. Supporters of free speech and cyber groups decried
it as threatening the free exchange of ideas and information on the Internet.
The ruling could have had a devastating effect on the Internet
by limiting the posting of links that may contain copyrighted materials, noted
Brian Barnard, attorney for the Tanners. However, the announced settlement would
remove the portion of Campbell’s ruling about posting of Internet addresses.
“That opinion … had to be removed either by an appeal or by this agreement,
…” Barnard said. “We wanted to get it off the books.”
Beyond that issue Barnard emphasized the Tanners did not violate
copyright law and criticized the Mormon church for targeting the couple. “The
New York Times put up URLs (Internet addresses) with links to the same information
as my clients put up,” the attorney noted. “The Salt Lake Tribune
published the same URLs, and neither The Tribune nor The New York Times is being
sued. So, it appears this litigation is based more on a theological dispute.”
Indeed, the handbook still can be found by typing it into Internet
search engines.
Sandra Tanner said the Utah Lighthouse Ministry website posted
the pages from the handbook because the couple was receiving a lot of inquiries
about how persons could terminate their Mormon church membership.
“The Mormon Church never drops you from the rolls no matter
how inactive you have been,” Sandra Tanner explained. “I have people
writing us all the time, asking what they have to do to get (the church) off
their backs.”
Indeed, Mormon officials were criticized last year after some
people claimed they received harassing phone calls from the church as a result
of writing letters to request they be removed from church rolls.
Tanner said there has been a significant increase in traffic
at the Utah Lighthouse website since the legal wrangling began. “For the
first time people realized there was a handbook,” she explained. “Suppressing
something creates more interest. I don’t understand why the church didn’t
have an open policy to begin with.” (BP)