Skutch Whitson gave or lent a manuscript copy to a religious professor, Paul Steinberg (“Steinberg”), for him to make a copy for himself. Saul Steinberg, a cousin of Steinberg’s and a printer, was asked to runoff copies which were studied by his employees and family.
In late July of 1975, Schucman, Thetford, and Wapnick joined Skutch Whitson in California. (Skutch Whitson Tr. 129). The group spent approximately one month in California, meeting with various colleagues and friends of Skutch Whitson. In August 1975, Skutch Whitson organized a reception at 2000 Broadway in San Francisco, where Schucman and Thetford were introduced to a number of people. During this time period a number of copies were distributed, 100’s, according to Skutch Whitson and Skutch as described below.
During the trip to California in mid-July of 1975, Skutch Whitson met briefly with her doctoral adviser, Dr. Eleanor Criswell (“Criswell”), who had a small printing company called Freeperson’s Press. Criswell was a professor of psychology at the Humanistic Psychology Institute in California. Skutch Whitson was considering doing doctoral studies with Criswell as her advisor and made an appointment to discuss her possible doctoral studies on July 10, 1975. (Tr. 81, 122). Skutch Whitson was unsure whether she wanted to pursue her proposed doctoral thesis on a technology for developing extra-sensory perception in children or whether she was simply “drawn” by the Course, a “document that had come into my life in an unusual way.” (Criswell Dep. p. 19, 100–01).
Skutch Whitson brought the Course to the meeting and Criswell offered to have it published through her personal publishing press, through which she had done publishing for students. Criswell advised Skutch Whitson that she would be willing to assist in having the manuscript published in a more protable and useful format.
Criswell took responsibility for the manuscript pages, and in August of 1975, they were taken to a Kopy Kat copy center in Berkeley to be reproduced. The book was not typeset or otherwise put into a new format; instead, the actual manuscript was reduced in size by photo-offset and bound in a four volume soft cover set. Consistent with Schucman’s instructions, the softcover “Criswell Edition” of the Work bore a copyright notice indicating that the copyright was held by the Foundation for Inner Peace.
- C. The Copyright
The first edition of 100 copies of the Criswell edition was bound with a yellow cover with a copyright notice. The copyright application was filed on behalf of the Foundation of the Parasensory Investigation on November 24. The copyright application was filed by Skutch who had some prior experience with copyrights. It stated that the first publication was October 6, 1979. The copyright was registered by the Copyright Office on December 4, 1975.
Following distribution of the first edition, the defendants made a second Criswell edition with a white cover, and a third edition of the Criswell edition followed with a blue cover. The Criswell edition contained substantially fewer pages (two pages of the 8 1/2 x 11 original having been reduced to fit the size of one 8 x 11 1/2 page, resulting in smaller print) and was sold for $50.
- D. The Publishing
The Foundation for Parasensory Investigation changed its name to the Foundation for Inner Peace as a result of Schucman’s distaste for the former name, according to Skutch Whitson. However,
