Friday, 27th February 2009
Several days back, I had blogged about my JPM collection. That same day, I received a call from Jeffrey Lim who works in 22 Media telling me about intellectual property concerns. He has followed up that call with an official email. To his credit, he has asked me to reproduce it in full below.
I seem to also have misunderstood him and for that I offer him my public apology. It appears that lending physical CD sermons to friends is acceptable with them as it constitutes "fair use". However, making MP3 sermons available for download is not, which was never my intention to begin with anyway. Having said that, I thank Jeff for making the official stand known to everyone.
From: Jeffrey Lim
Sent: Wednesday, 25 February, 2009 5:26 PM
To: Malcolm Loh
Subject: IPR & Copyrights
Dear Malcolm,
While we appreciate your enthusiasm in getting the Word out, we are uncomfortable with you sharing MP3s via email or via your blog. This is no different from file sharing on the Internet and once an MP3 is transferred it is no longer an issue of lending, but a transfer of ownership. This then becomes a violation and infringement of the intellectual property that 22 Media administrates.
To make it clear, we have no issue with you lending physical resources to your friends, as long as you do not profit from it, or use our resources to raise funds for yourself or for your blog in any way.
We also agree 100% that the gospel is free. Of course it is - it is purchased by the precious blood of our Savior.
Nevertheless, to suggest that all Gospel-related resources should be free can be rather myopic.
Have you considered how much you paid for your bible, or that Christian worship CD in your car? Do you really think that all Christian bookstores that carry gospel-related resources should give out all their books, CDs, DVDs and worship CDs free of charge?
While giving all the above free is a nice concept, it does not help to build a sustainable way for Christian resources to perpetuate themselves and to reach the masses. Bible publishers would go bankrupt, and Christian bookstores would become non-existent.
In the same way, 22 Media was set up to produce and distribute high quality Jesus-centered teaching resources like books, CDs, DVDs around the world . It is not a charity that is sustained by donations, it is financed by the sale of the resources that it distributes in both Christian and secular channels, like Borders and Times. The sales of these resources helps us to create a self-sustaining model to continue to create, produce, publish and distribute world-class resources for a worldwide audience. A worldwide production and distribution house requires substantial backend infrastructure, from inventory production, quality control, editorial work, post-production sound and video editing, warehousing, IT infrastructure, order fulfillment processes, retail distribution management, etc… the list goes on as to what is required behind the scenes to make these resources available across various distributive channels.
We are on the same side Malcolm, we are all for Jesus and for His name to be exalted. While you may not agree with our operations, we trust that you will operate your Christian blog with the utmost honor, integrity and respect for our intellectual property. People should be drawn to register as a member of your blog not because of our resources but by the sheer quality of your blog entries.
Please post this on your blog for your community to understand our stand on this matter, as well as, to understand what goes on behind the scenes in making quality resources available for the world.
Blessings,
jeffrey lim
assistant manager business development
This email contains confidential and privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, please do not view, disseminate, use or copy this email. Kindly inform the sender and delete this email immediately. While 22 Media Pte Ltd has put in place anti-virus programmes, We do not accept responsibility for any damage that has been caused by viruses passed on unwittingly. Opinions presented in this email are solely that of the writer and do not necessarily represent those of 22 Media Pte Ltd.
4 comments:
I am really glad that 22 Media has made their official stand clear.
I fully agree with its business approach as it gives the organisation independence and flexibility. While there may be a danger of its materials being priced too high, the law of supply and demand should be able to keep this under control.
In fact, I feel that this should be the way for charities in Singapore to aspire to as it will make them less dependent on unpredictable donations. I think some of them have already started such "social businesses".
I think this is a very well written letter -- fair -- and it makes a lot of sense. Yes, the gospel is free, but not the tons of work that goes into packaging it in various forms (books, CDs, DVDs etc). There are lots of costs involved and someone has to pay for them.
And it's not just the paper, printing, shipping or staffing costs, but the effort and work that the preacher puts in -- all the hours of research and study.
If I spend hours preparing and crafting an excellent sermon or Christian article, then it wouldn't be fair to me if someone just took my work and distributed it for free (or profit) without my permission.
Cheers :)
Let's look at what the apostle Paul says about preachers living from the gospel:
1 Corinthians 9:9-14
9 For it is written in the law of Moses, "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain." Is it oxen God is concerned about?
10 Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope.
11 If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things?
12 If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more? Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ.
13 Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar?
14 Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.
Paul says that preachers like him have all the right to live from the gospel, but he chose not to exercise this right. He worked as a tent maker to pay his own way.
But this does not negate what he said about preachers having that right.
So at the end of the day, I feel that it is really up to each preacher whether he wants to give away his sermons for free (like Wommack) or sell them to pay for the costs involved. Neither one should be criticised.
It was gracious of you to make public the letter.
On my part I believe the message of grace can travel the world faster and further via free mp3 downloads.
But it is a decision an organization has to make and we have to respect that.
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