Copyrights Q

WriteRead said:

I reworded some prayers, which I found in a bk of a Christian denomination.
I did so w original additions of mine to original parts of the original prayer, and also, by changing sole words in it here and there.
-- Can I consider it a changed ver w no account to give to anyone?

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It depends—and it will almost certainly vary from item to item.

-- If not, what am I doing wrong and how do I fix it, in case I'd want to publish my version of the prayers, the changed one?

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What you are doing wrong here is asking for what is essentially legal advice in a public forum. Although there are certainly good general rules to follow—see, for example, Stephen Fishman's excellent The Copyright Handbook, which is by far the best guide for non-lawyers—the way your inquiry is set up essentially asks for a legal opinion. That needs to come from your lawyer.

This isn't just a copyright question.

Here's the question:

I reworded someone else's work. I added some original parts, and changed sole words in it here and there.

Can I consider it a changed version with no account to give to anyone?

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This is an Ethics 101 question.

Mac

As soon as you tie your question to a particular, existing set of facts—that is, you've already done it, and are asking after any potential infringement has occurred—you've crossed the line into asking for legal advice for your particular situation. It's unethical (both in the broad sense and the cramped sense of "legal ethics") for a lawyer to provide that answer in a public forum like this one, and if you've gone that far you don't want an answer from anyone but a lawyer knowledgeable in that particular part of the law.

No, it's not better. You already wrote it; therefore, any infringement of copyright is already complete.

However, some prayers and religious texts are in the public domain. If the ones you used were, this would change the copyright situation.