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Trial News Update June 12, 2001

Dear Friends,

Today, the jury was selected, the attorneys for both sides gave 30-minute

each opening arguments, and as the plaintiff we called our first witness,

Richard Keeler. There was a little drama involved in that: We had

subpoenaed Richard during the court-mandated settlement conference last

Tuesday, and late yesterday afternoon UF filed a motion to quash our

subpoena on the basis that it had been improperly served. A brace of our

lawyers work to file a response brief, and then this morning UF withdrew

its motion to quash. (Whether on the basis of our briefs or some other

basis is unclear.)

So far, Richard has testified to his belief in the following points, which

we believe to be important to our case:

1.      What constitutes the entirety of the Urantia Papers had its first

tangible expression in a manuscript written in the handwriting one

individual, a man who was a patient of Dr. Sadler.

2.      No one saw the patient write the manuscript.

3.      No changes were made in the patient's manuscript to produce what

is now the text of The Urantia Book.

4.      Part IV all arrived at the same time in 1935.

#1 goes to the authorship issue, and whether the work has the requisite

multiplicity of authors required for it to be considered a composite work

capable of renewal by a proprietor.

#2 goes to the issue of whether UF can prove that the "writer" of the

Papers was not the "author."

#3 goes to whether UF did any work with respect to the patient's

manuscript to entitle it to a copyright interest as proprietor.

#4 goes to the issue of whether P4 is a "single revelation", which even

under the Maaherra Appeals Court ruling is not copyrightable.

Richard will continue his testimony tomorrow.

Getting closer (I think!)..

 

Harry