The Bible lives forever, even if the KJV is copyrighted
Most people presume that since the King James Version has been around so long, it's now in the public domain.
Vaughan Williams, the renowned English composer, often set passages from the Authorized Version to music. He allegedly did this out of his great love and respect for the King James Version. But in an interview, years after his death, his widow, Ursula, was asked why Williams, who professed to be an agnostic, used the Bible so often in his compositions. With a twinkle in her eye, she replied: "Because it's out of copyright! No royalties!"
It turns out that's not true. In honor of the KJV's 400th anniversary, London's newly reconstituted Globe Theater—Shakespeare's old home stage—scheduled a series of actors to recite the entire King James Bible from the stage between Palm Sunday and Easter of 2011. But a few days before the presentation, the director received a bill for payment of a...