United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit decision, decided March 11, 2003, in a declaratory judgment action brought by Michael Foundation, Inc. and Harry McMullan III against the Urantia Foundation. The court held that The Urantia Book was a unified work by a single human author, the unidentified sleeping subject through whom the material came, so that renewal copyright rights passed to his heirs on his death rather than to the Foundation; because his heirs never renewed the copyright, the 1983 renewal was invalid and the 1955 text entered the public domain in the United States.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit's own 2003 decision in Michael Foundation, Inc. v. Urantia Foundation, the top tier reflecting the court's own published opinion, the primary legal record of what it actually held on the book's authorship and copyright status. Its limit is that it rules on the legal claim before it, copyright renewal, rather than offering an independent historical or religious studies account of the book itself. NotesThe controlling published decision for this specific suit, reaching the opposite conclusion from the 1997 Ninth Circuit ruling against a different defendant. Cite both together for the full legal history.
Citation
AuthorUnited States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
PublisherFederal Appendix
Publication Year2003
URLhttps://ca10.washburnlaw.edu/cases/2003/03/01-6347.htm
Source TypeCase law
Claims Backed By This Source (12 claims)
This source backs 12 claims across the atlas. As facts: 10 well-attested. Plus 2 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Sources, 8 claims: 8 well-attested.
- Articles, 2 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 general references.
- Scriptures & Texts, 2 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 general references.
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