Article October 7, 1985 Issue

FROM THE DIRECTORS

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

A decision has been expected in the pending lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Act of Congress which extended the copyright on Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy for an additional seventy-five years. (See "From the Directors" in the Christian Science Sentinel of March 4, 1985.) On August 14, 1985, a federal judge rendered a pretrial decision holding the 1971 law unconstitutional. The judge also ruled that his decision will have no effect pending an appeal by The Mother Church to the United States Court of Appeals.

Because there is room for honest differences of opinion on the legal issues involved, the Church will appeal the judge's decision. The hearing on appeal will take place sometime in mid-1986.

When the special bill for extending the copyright on Science and Health came before the U.S. Congress in 1971, it received full consideration by the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, embodied several changes suggested by the Copyright Office and the Library of Congress, was amended by the House committee, and was passed in its final form by the Senate with only one vote in dissent. During the discussion before the House and Senate, consideration was given to the same constitutional issues raised in this lawsuit. After due deliberation, Congress enacted the bill.

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