copyright translation
Is the text of the New Vulgate protected by copyright?
<p>Recently there was a question on the <a href="https://latin.stackexchange.com">Latin Language Stack Exchange</a> website about different translations of the Bible, I am considering editing some passages in the form of a comparison between the different versions (one column per translation).</p>
<p>Is the New Vulgate copyrighted or can I use it freely?
I have not found any information on this subject in the <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/bible/nova_vulgata/documents/nova-vulgata_jp-ii_apost_const_lt.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">CONSTITUTIO APOSTOLICA</a>.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.vaticanstate.va/phocadownload/leggi-decreti/normativa-altre-materie/Legge%20N.%20CXCVII%20All.%2025.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Vatican copyright law</a> article 5 says</p>
<blockquote>
<ol>
<li>Spetta alla Santa Sede ed allo Stato della Città del Vaticano il diritto di autore sulle opere create o pubblicate sotto il loro nome o
realizzate per loro conto.</li>
</ol>
<p>§ 2. Ai fini della presente legge per Santa Sede si intendono, oltre
al Romano Pontefice, i Dicasteri e gli Organismi della Curia Romana,
nonché le Istituzioni ad essa collegate.</p>
<p>§ 3. A ciascuno dei soggetti di cui al paragrafo 2, che siano dotati
di autonomia amministrativa nel quadro della normativa generale o
dello statuto proprio, sono affidati l'esercizio e la tutela del
diritto di autore nelle materie di rispettiva competenza.</p>
<p>§ 4. La durata dei diritti esclusivi di utilizzazione economica che
spettano ai soggetti di cui ai paragrafi precedenti è stabilita in
settanta anni a partire dall'anno di prima pubblicazione dell'opera,
qualunque sia la forma nella quale la pubblicazione è stata
effettuata, ovvero dall'anno di morte dell'autore ove questi sia
indicato nell’opera</p>
</blockquote>
<p>§4 is the crucial time limit: 70 years from publication:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The duration of the exclusive rights of economic use belonging to the
subjects referred to in the preceding paragraphs is established in
seventy years starting from the year of first publication of the work,
whatever the form in which the publication was made, or from the year
of death of the author where this is indicated in the work</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Under <a href="https://wipolex.wipo.int/en/text/477668" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Italian copyright law</a> article 29,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The duration of the exploitation rights belonging, under art. 11, to
the State, the provinces, the communes, the academies or public
cultural organizations, or to private legal entities of a non-profit
making character, shall be twenty years from first publication,
whatever the form in which publication was effected. In the case of
communications and memoranda published by academies and other public
cultural organizations, the term shall be reduced to two years, after
which the author shall wholly recover his right to the unrestricted
disposal of his writings.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While Italian copyright law generally holds in Vatican City, it does do only when not contradicted by Vatican law. The across-the-board 70 year copyright is a clear indication of an exception regarding duration (indeed, it also allows perpetual copyright for writings of popes).</p>
<p>Also noting that Italian copyright law does not have a &quot;fair use&quot; exception, we can conclude that the work is and will be protected for some years.</p>
