Aisea is from Tonga, he is taking "Bible in an Electronic Context" this semester, and has blogged about his dream of Bible Software in Tonga one of the Open Source or free programs could be close to ideal. If only he had a Tongan Bible in electronic format and with copyright permission. Does anyone know of a possibility? Who "owns" the Tongan translation(s)?
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I can't comment on the situation in Tonga. But I do know of other situations, in a very different part of the world, in which the copyright in the only Bible in a national language is owned by an organisation outside that country, which is reluctant to allow to that people group any right to print or publish their own editions. Now I can understand that the organisation wants to recoup some of its translation costs from the profits on its sales, and they do have a legal right to do so. But I would not accept that they have a moral right to control the Bible for a people group which is not theirs. It would I suppose be reasonable for them to ask for small royalties on each publication. But it would be much better if each people group owned the copyright for its own translation - or, better still, if the translation were effectively put in the public domain.
By 
Peter Kirk, at
September 16, 2006 6:39 AM
Tim,
The Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga owns the copyright of the Tongan Bible, and there is an electronic version but I am not sure if the Church has a copy. I am pretty sure Sam Taufa, a friend of mine, has a copy, and also Dr. Nigel Statham, one of the translators who are currently working on a new translation.
By 
, at
December 23, 2006 1:07 AM
Thanks, I'll pass this information on to Aisea. We don't need an electronic copy, just a paper one, but we do need to ask for permission.
By Tim, at
December 23, 2006 6:57 AM
