The book was originally published in 1971 by the Parker Publishing Company1 and duly registered in April 1971 in compliance with the formalities of the Copyright Act of 1909, 35 Stat. 1075, 17 U.S.C. § 1 et seq. (1976 ed.). Under the copyright law then in effect, Les Dane was entitled to an initial 28-year term of copyright protection and the right to renew for an additional 28-year term. 17 U.S.C. § 24.
Shortly thereafter, L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the Church of Scientology ("the Church") and a prolific writer in his own right, took a shine to Big League Sales and recommended that it be used to train Scientology "registrars," who sell Scientology books and services to Church members. The Hubbard Communications Office disseminated a number of policy letters regarding the teaching of salesmanship techniques and skills from the book, and in 1972 the Church began to create a number of courses for training registrars.
The Church developed materials for use in these courses, including "checksheets" and "drill sheets." A checksheet is a step-by-step list of the actions that a student is required to take to complete a course, such as the completion of reading assignments and the performance of various practical exercises, including sales drills. Students form pairs, or "twins," to perform the sales drills — generally involving some form of roleplay — which are described on drill sheets accompanying the checksheet. While these courses assigned readings from Big League Sales (among other writings), the Church did not make copies of the book itself; students would either borrow or purchase the book for their study.
It is undisputed that Les Dane knew of the Church's use of Big League Sales and participated in such use. Beginning in the mid-1980s, the Church hired Les Dane to travel to Scientology churches in the United States and abroad to deliver seminars to registrars and others on the application of the sales techniques in his book. In these seminars, Les Dane occasionally referred to the sales drills and supervised the practice of those drills.
Defendants in this action are three entities affiliated with the Church: the Church of Scientology International, Inc. ("CSI"), the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises International, Inc. ("WISE"), and the Church of Spiritual Technology ("CST"). CSI has been the mother church of Scientology since 1981.2 Among other duties, CSI creates materials for use in staff training courses. Of these courses, there are two main types which include the
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study of Big League Sales; courses typified by the Professional Registration Course and the Organization Executive Course, which were both compiled in 1991. CSI encourages Church staff members to take these courses as part of their training for certain positions in Church organizations.3 The staff members complete the courses at their own pace in course rooms provided by CSI, and their progress is monitored and assisted by a course supervisor. However, the course supervisor does not lecture or add to the substantive material of the course. In exchange for taking one of these courses, each staff member signs a promissory note for the "donation amount of the course." In the event that the staff member subsequently fails to serve out the duration of his staff contract, the promissory note becomes due to the Church organization as "a debt for the services that he took while on staff."