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Protection of Martinus' works
 

 

 

 

I don’t think that Livets Bog should be monopolised, but we live in a world where people are not completely evolved; there we have to protect our things.
(Martinus at a council meeting, 1974)

Here we shed light on the principles for the protection of Martinus’s collected works The Third Testament. More detailed guidelines are described in the attached copyright information.

Protection of cosmic knowledge
The Third Testament is a spiritually scientific work created by Martinus on the basis of his cosmic consciousness. It was important for him to ensure that this cosmic knowledge was protected. He did this by making them subject to copyright law and by establishing guidelines to ensure that the content of his texts and the design of his symbols are neither changed nor distorted when they are disseminated to the world. Before his death he transferred the responsibility for his works and all rights to them to the Martinus Institute, which he himself established (see his Deed of Gift).

The copyright means that the Martinus Institute alone has the right and the responsibility to publish Martinus’ works, whether it be in book form, on the internet or in another way, thus ensuring that the editions of Martinus’ own texts and symbols that are disseminated are always the official ones, and that this takes place in a satisfactory form in accordance with Martinus’ guidelines.

The Institute publishes the works through its own publishing house, and makes contracts with other publishers to publish the works in other countries. We also make the books available so that one can read them here on the homepage. Those interested all over the world can thereby have easy access to the cosmic analyses.

Great freedom to provide information
Anyone who is interested in Martinus’ analyses can contribute to disseminating information about The Third Testament. This can be done in many ways.
One can, for example, freely use quotes from Martinus’ books and symbols (including the symbol explanations) in magazines, books, as links to homepages etc., if you make a clear reference to the source. One can also publish informative material with a limited number of symbols and symbol explanations. One can also link to www.martinus.dk, and thereby provide access to the official editions. One has merely to make sure that one mentions the name of the copyright holder (© Martinus Institut 1981), so that the readers and users can always see that the texts and symbols are protected. See the practical guidelines for linking to the symbols, and practical guidelines for linking to the books.
 

What restrictions apply?
In order to ensure that Martinus’ works are reproduced in a satisfactory form the ordinary rules of copyright must be observed. No one other than the Martinus Institute and the publishers that we have entered into a contract with is therefore permitted to publish Martinus’ books. Likewise it is not permitted for other to put them on homepages, disseminate them on CDs and DVDs or publish them in another way. The same applies to large excerpts from the books, large collections of symbols and the like. If you would like to reproduce articles and texts on a large scale, an agreement with the Institute is required. See below.

When one publishes quotations from the works, the ordinary principles of “good quotation practice”, which are laid down by law, apply. “Good practice” implies the fulfilment of Martinus’ wish that one doesn’t cause misunderstandings of his analyses by selecting quotations that are not illustrative of the content or the text or the statements that the quotation is taken from. This also implies that quotations must be used only as a part of larger, informative material. One may not, for example, publish a publication or make a homepage in which the main content is Martinus quotations.
 
Symbol 16: The Eternal Body

When one shows a symbol, the principle of showing respect for artists’ works applies, a principle that is laid down by copyright law. In his symbols Martinus has created a unique illustration of the realities of the spiritual world in a symbolic form that is accessible to our physical senses. This means that the symbols, with their original form, content and colour combinations, express the highest intuition and thereby have a special “magic”; he found it very important that this was not altered, regardless of where they are shown. He also wished that the symbols be presented with adequate symbol explanations. Those who interested are welcome to make a link to the symbols and explanations that can be found here on this homepage (see guidelines).

Protection on the internet
With the digital technology of today, disseminating Martinus’ literature has become much easier through, among other things, the internet. For this reason it is extra important to ensure that the Martinus text or the Martinus symbol that one finds on the internet is the official edition of Martinus’ texts and symbols. This security disappears if, for example, various pirate editions of the books are made available on the internet. It that happens, those interested in Martinus all over the world will easily be in doubt as to what is actually Martinus’ own text. We must avoid this uncertainty by ensuring that it is always the institute and the publishers that we have entered into a contract with that disseminate the texts and ensure that this takes place in accordance with the guidelines laid down by Martinus.

Cooperation about protection -  contact the Institute
All those who are interested in Martinus’ works have a common interest in safeguarding their content. It is therefore important that we cooperate well in order to ensure this essential protection. The Institute is happy to help clarify any doubts about the copyright. If you would like to reproduce texts and symbols on a large scale, a concrete agreement with the Institute is required. Please contact the Institute if you are planning new, large informative activities, for example, on a homepage, or would like to use material in a thesis, a magazine or for other purposes. We can also help you with historical information and photos, and answer questions on The Third Testament etc.