nverrill wrote:[T]he person making the ward bulletin is representing the church in doing so and that also authorizes it's use.
According to copyright laws a representative of a firm may use it's logo, photocopy it's documents etc. Anyone making a ward bulletin is just that, a representative of the church, and therefore may use church owned images, quotes, the logo and other content with out violation of any laws.
Be very careful in giving legal advice. Even a lawyer (or should I say especially lawyers) will not make generalized statements such as those made here.
As a body membership of the Church we do not legally represent the Church. We are not employees with representative rights or authority as found in commercial or corporate entities. Even for commercial entities only corporate officers and certain employees have recognized authority to represent the company. Within a ward the bishop is the only one with limited legal authority to represent the Church.
To cover such situations as unit bulletins the Church has published instructions outlining suitable uses of the logotype and the Church name (see
Handbook 2: Administering the Church, 21.1.10). Those instructions should be followed. Most Church publications include applicable use instructions to include suitability to reproduce or copy for such situations as internal or home use. Some require prior written consent or even prohibit reproduction or copying because of copyright agreements. You will find that some documents, such as
Handbook 1, specifically prohibit reproduction or copying except under specific restricted situations.
nverrill wrote:For example, as a teacher of a Sunday School or primary class you can even make copies of the friend or Ensign without violation of copyright laws because you are acting as a representative of the church to distribute it's materials to it's members. Not to mention that this example falls under education categories of copyright law and is therefore okay to use anyhow.
While Church members and Sunday School or other class or quorum instructors may copy Friend, Ensign, Liahona, or other publications of this nature, it is not because they are acting as a representative of the Church. It is because advance permission has been granted to do so. You can find this permission inside each publication that reads like this one found in the Ensign
Copyright information: Text and visual material in the Ensign may be copied for incidental, noncommercial church or home use. Visual material may not be copied if restrictions are indicated in the credit line with the artwork. Copyright questions should be addressed to Intellectual Property Office...
As you can see even with this permission there are restrictions.
nverrill wrote:I used to work in a print shop and was thoroughly educated on copyright laws to avoid lawsuits.
Dispensing legal advice without the appropriate license to do so is the one thing that could get you into a legal trouble.