© 1986 Urantia Foundation
¶ Spanish Translation
Andite Corporation. the subsidiary of URANTIA Fountlation which has been established to produce a strongish translation of The URANTIA Book, has reported that it signed the contract with Euramerica, the translating company, in early April of this year. To date, a glossary of terms, tlte Foreword and the first ten Papers have heen translated and sent to Andite’s team of reviewers. The work has begun!
Over a period of the next twelve to fourteen months, the translating team and the reviewing team will work hard to complete the entire book. So far, the process is going well. Later this summer, some members of the reviewing team and a representative of Andite will travel to New York to confer with the translating team.
We can only thank again all those who contributed to make this translation possible - especially those who have unstintingly given us their steady encouragement and support for some time now towards the realization of this important project. We can all now look forward to the day when we can hold El Libro de URANTIA in hand.
¶ Derivative Works
In the December 1985 issue of our newsletter, we offered some tentative categories and guidelines for derivative works. We appreciate your responses. ln this issue, we wish to talk about another aspect of derivative works, i.e., their distribution.
Our basic policy has been and continues to be not to accumulate and distribute numerous derivatve works ourselves. The basic focus of the Foundation is to publish The URANTIA Book, its translations, and a few closely related dirivative works. For instance, we are considering completing the Index to The URANTIA Book which was started some time ago and are exploring several other publication efforts which are closely related to The URANTIA Book.
There are two main reasons the Foundation limits the number derivative works it is willing to produce and distribute. First, there is the practical reason of the time and money it takes to produce such works. Second, if the Foundation distributes all manner of derivative works, there is an impression given to the readers of The URANTIA Book and the public at large that all these works have been approved by the Foundation. Because derivative works can be highly personalized to reflect the style of the author and may contain personal opinions of an author, we believe it is wiser not to give this impression of endorsement.
However, we do not mean to imply that we are discouraging or preventing others from producing derivative works. To the extent that such works require copyright pemission, we must, of course, review and make some judgment about them. If a work doesn’t require copyright permission, the author is free to publish and distribute the work himself. Over the years we have given copyright approval for many works that we have not distributed ourselves.
We believe this approach is important in maintaining our identity and the integrity of The URANTIA Book, and at the same time we believe we are fairly meeting the needs of diverse viewpoints among the readers regarding derivative works.
¶ Copyright & Trademarks
This page is out of date. To see the latest policies, please go to https://www.urantia.org/urantia-foundation/urantia-foundation-copyright-trademark-policies
From time to time, the pages of this newsletter have been employed as a means to communicate information about legal matters associated with the work of URANTIA Foundation such as discussions of the use of our registered marks and matters impinging upon the copyright in and to The URANTIA Book and its translations. On this occasion we wish to address the reasoning behind our registered marks, i.e., the word URANTIA and the Concentric Circles Symbol, and the copyright.
lt is true that the word URANTIA and the Concentric-Symbol found within URANTIA Foundation’s publications are in The URANTIA Book. However, both the word URANTIA and the Symbol have through many years of continuous and exclusive use become well-established as badges of identifiication for the goods and services provided by URANTIA Fountlation and is licensees, URANTIA Brotherhood and its chartered URANTIA societies. Given the significance of the word URANTIA and the Symbol, and the identification function they have come to serve so well, they should be and are protected against misuse in some self-serving, commerical, or even degrading way by those not licensed to use them. For those licensed to use them, i.e., the Brotherhood and Its chartered Societies, a high degree of responsibility to use the marks in the best possible manner should be obvious because they are setting the example and tone of activities associated with the dissemination of the teachings of The URANTIA Book.
As ln the case with the word URANTIA, the use of the Concentric-Circles Symbol is restricted to URANTIA Foundation und its licensees, URANTIA Brotherhood and its Societies. The necessary Iimitations of the use of the Symbol by individuals or nonlicensed groups is difficult for some to accept because the design of the Symbol so easily lends itself to jewelry and other personal expressions of loyalty to these supemal teachings and to our universe. Although each person’s private use of the Symbol is not something we could ever hope or even want to control, we do ask that you do not display publicly your personal use of the Symbol, especially at large gatherings except, ofcourse, for the pins bearing the Symbol which are available to members of URANTIA Brotherhood. lt is important to those organizations licensed to use the Symbol that the Symbol not become so commonly used that it would become lost to us as an identifier which could then be used by any group for whatever purposes, some consistent with the teachings of The URANTIA Book and some not.
Regarding the copyright, the reason for having it is quite simple. lt is to prevent individuals from claiming authorship of the book and to prevent them from mixing in their own ideas and creating new versions of the book. Having several versions of The URANTIA Book available would confuse new readers as to which one was authentic.
We truly appreciate the cooperative spirit you have shown regarding the use of the registered marks and the copyright and trust that we can contribute to build a solid foundation together that we can pass on to future generations.
¶ In Memoriam - Arthur M. Burch
On May 23, 1986, Arthur M. Burch, a Trustee of URANTIA Foundation, passed away and began the next stage of his universe career. Art had served as a Trustee since March 1, 1981. He will be missed as a colleague in the work of the Foundation and as a friend. We wish to extend to Art’s wife, Inez, and the other members of his family, our most heartfelt condolences.
Art was a long-time student of The URANTIA Book and served in a variety of capacities with URANTIA Brotherhood, among them General Counselor from 1960 to 1979. He served on the lnternational Fellowship Committee from 1955 to 1964 and as Chairman of that Committee from 1962. From 1964 to 1979, he was Chairman of the Judicial Committee. As the result of his service as the chairman of these committees, Art was a member of the Executive Committee of URANTIA Brotherhood for seventeen years. Also, Art was the first President of the First URANTIA Society and later served two additional terms as President, as well as in other Society positions. Further, Art and Inez have hosted a study group in their home since 1955, and this group evolved lnto the First URANTIA Society of Western Springs in 1974. Art was truly a dedicated worker in the vineyards of the URANTIA movement.
¶ Trustee Unable to Continue to Serve - Edith E. Cook
With deep regret, the Trustees of URANTIA Foundation annuounce that due to Illness, Edith E. Cook is unable to continue to serve as a Trustee. At the beginning of this year, Edith suffered several strokes. On April 24, 1986, it was determined that Edith’s health would not allow her to continue as a Trustee.
Edith was one of the founders of the URANTIA Foundation on January 11, 1950 and served as a Trustee from that date. She also served as its Treasurer and Assistant Secretary for a number of years.
Besides her 36 years of dedicated service with URANTIA Foundation, Edith was also very active in URANTIA Brotherhood from its inception in 1955. Edith was among the first General Counselors selected in 1955 and she continued to hold that office until 1982. She served as a member of the Judicial Committee from 1955 to 1978. She also served as a member of the Special Projects Committee from 1959 to 1976 and was Chairman of that Committee from 1964 until leaving it in 1976 when she was elected Treasurer of URANTIA Brotherhood, a post she held until 1982. During the time she served as a committee chairman and Treasurer, she was a member of the Executive Committee of URANTIA Brotherhood. Edith was also a charter member of First URANTIA Society and held various elected positions within that group, including the post of Vice-President.
Those of us who have had the opportunity to work with Edith and call her friend will miss her quiet dedication and selfless commitment. Rain or shine, in sickness or good health, Edith could be counted on to be at her desk laboring to the best of her ability to support the work of the URANTIA movement.
¶ New Trustee - Hoite C. Caston
The Trustees take pleasure in announcing the election of Mr. Hoite C. Caston as a Trustee of the URANTIA Foundation. Hoite is filling the vacancy left by the departure of Edith Cook from the Board of Trustees. ln his professional life Hoite is both a writer and director of television prorams and commercials and has recently directed his first motion picture film. He has been a student of The URANTIA Book for twenty years. He joined the First URANTIA Society of Los Angeles in 1969 and has served that group ln a variety of elective positions, including President, Secretary and Chairman of the Membership Committee. Hoite also served as a General Counselor from 1970 to 1979 and for some years as a member of the Domestic Extension Committee of URANTIA Brotherhood. Further, Hoite has spoken at a number of regional and national conferences, as well as society and study group meetings. Hoite is married to Patti McCormick, an independent film and television producer, who gave birth to their first child, Aubree Antoinette Cates, on September 5. 1985. We hope you will join with us in welcoming Hoite in his new role in the URANTIA movement as a Trustee of URANTIA Foundation.
¶ Excerpts from Letters
"Today we visited my cousin and his wife who have recently returned from your country. While in the USA. they were shown a copy of The URANTIA Book by a relative and were moved to purchase their own copy.
“We viewed this enlightened work today and spent many hours discussing its content. Our short experience with the book gave us both a deeper insight into God’s way for us all. My wife was also touched by the obvious peaceful nature of the writing … ”
¶ Quotation
“In preaching the gospel of the kingdom, you are simply teaching friendship with God.” UB 159:3.9
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