Judge Loof Lirpa Issues Sweeping Decree

By Elton Camp District Court judge Loof Lirpa announced his ruling today in a decades-long litigation instituted by the for-profit Shakespeare Heritage Foundation. Having nationwide i pact unless overturned by the Supre e Court! the decree grants copyright ownership to the Foundation for any "nglish word appearing in #illia Shakespeare$s writings! beginning with the First Folio in %&'' and continuing to the end of the bard$s writing career. #hile not retroactive! the decision grants the Foundation the right to recover onetary da ages fro individuals using any of the protected words in published aterials! including those appearing on online publishing sites. ( data base is being developed so authors can check their writings against the list of thousands of words to which the Foundation now holds copyright. (n opposing group! #riters for (cade ic Freedo ! conde ned the ruling as an obvious ploy to e)tract onetary da ages on the part of the Shakespeare Heritage Foundation. *suj "kaf! chairperson of the writers group said! +#e have uncovered evidence that fines of up to a thousand dollars a word will be sought by this so-called Heritage Foundation. #e conde n! in the strongest ter s! this outrageous ruling by ,udge Lirpa.Constitutional law e)perts noted that the copyright protection does not apply to the use of the words in oral co unication. .deerg Dratsab! of the Shakespeare Heritage foundation warned! +#e will i ple ent i ediate plans to scan writing sites to locate and bring charges against any violators and will actively pursue collection of da ages fro those who infringe our copyright.-

It is so ordered!