Living Word Bibles · Publisher Relations

Publisher Licensing Notice

A publisher-facing record of the Scripture translations presented by Living Word Bibles, the basis on which they are displayed, required copyright and trademark notices, territorial restrictions, technical integrity practices, and procedures for rights-holder corrections or takedown requests.

Effective: 30 September 2025Last Revised: 1 September 2026Operated by Cook Services Company, LLC

To Bible publishers, rights holders, licensors, translators, and authorized agents: Living Word Bibles (“LWB”) seeks to preserve the accuracy of Scripture text, comply with license conditions, retain required copyright and trademark notices, respect territorial restrictions, and respond promptly when a rights holder requests a correction. This page is a transparency and compliance notice. It does not enlarge any license, waive any right, or substitute for the controlling license or permission.

1. Purpose & Scope of this Notice

Living Word Bibles operates www.livingwordbibles.com and, as successor-in-interest to www.the-holy-bible.online, presents Bible translations for online reading, study, discovery, and related lawful uses across supported devices.

This Notice is directed principally to Bible publishers, translation owners, licensors, trademark owners, and authorized agents. It explains:

which translations LWB presently identifies in its online reader and related Services;
the public-domain, open-license, direct-license, successor-permission, or other basis relied upon for display;
the copyright, trademark, and attribution lines LWB intends to preserve;
how LWB approaches text integrity, source files, provenance, version pinning, APIs, and technical delivery;
how territorial, advertising, rate, quotation, or distribution restrictions can be implemented; and
how rights holders can request changes, corrections, temporary mitigation, or removal.

The companion Copyright Notice explains LWB’s rights in its own original compilation, editorial content, software, artwork, metadata, and other protected elements. This page does not claim ownership of Scripture belonging to third parties or Scripture that is public domain.

2. Successor-in-Interest; Continuity of Permissions

LWB acquired and now administers www.the-holy-bible.online. To the extent a predecessor site or its operator held a valid license, permission, usage authorization, API authorization, or other grant concerning a Scripture translation, LWB relies on that authorization only to the extent the grant is legally continuing, assignable, transferable, or otherwise applicable to LWB.

LWB does not interpret succession as automatically expanding a permission or overcoming a non-assignment clause. If a predecessor permission:

was personal or non-assignable;
required publisher consent before assignment;
expired or was revoked;
applied only to a specific domain, organization, API, product, territory, or technology; or
requires renewal or migration to current publisher terms,

LWB will coordinate with the applicable rights holder and will adjust, restrict, replace, or remove the affected implementation where required.

Controlling documents control. A written license, permission letter, publisher agreement, API agreement, public-domain status, open license, statute, or other controlling legal instrument prevails over any inconsistent summary on this page.

3. Scope of Scripture Display

Purpose

LWB’s online Bible reader is intended primarily for chapter-and-verse reading, Scripture discovery, study, devotional use, and ordinary end-user reference. Proprietary Scripture is not made public domain by appearing on LWB.

Presentation

Scripture may be rendered in an online reader with book/chapter navigation, headings, verse numbering, responsive layout, accessibility features, and related reader controls. LWB does not intentionally alter proprietary Scripture text. Formatting changes are intended to concern presentation rather than textual rewriting and remain subject to the applicable license.

LWB protected material

LWB’s original software, visual interface, editorial histories, artwork, metadata, navigation, product descriptions, original selection/coordination/arrangement, and other protected contributions are separate from the rights in the underlying Bible translation. See the Copyright Notice.

Distribution versus online display

An authorization to quote or display Scripture online does not automatically authorize unrestricted downloads, redistribution, downloadable full-text files, commercial products, AI training, audio generation, sublicensing, or other uses. LWB treats those uses separately and according to the controlling rights applicable to each translation.

Publisher Notice versus App Licensing

This Publisher Licensing Notice describes LWB’s own Scripture display, compliance, and publisher-relations practices. It is not the license offered to third parties who want to embed or deploy LWB software. Third-party widget, embed, and application rights are governed separately by App Licensing and any written agreement issued by LWB.

4. Translations Currently Presented & Required Notices

The following entries preserve the translation-specific legal distinctions that LWB relies upon. Where an entry says Presented by Living Word Bibles under license, that is a statement about LWB’s own authorization; it is not a sublicense or permission for visitors to reproduce that translation.

King James Version (KJV)

Public Domain in the United States

The Holy Bible

King James Version

Status: Public Domain in the United States.

Credit/Notes: No LWB permission is required to use the underlying public-domain KJV text in the United States. Special continuing Crown rights apply within the United Kingdom. See Section 7.

New King James Version (NKJV)

Copyrighted · Presented Under License

The Holy Bible

New King James Version

Status: Presented by Living Word Bibles under license.

LWB does not grant visitors any sublicense in the NKJV text. Uses outside LWB are governed by Thomas Nelson / HarperCollins Christian Publishing permissions.

HarperCollins Christian Publishing Permissions

New International Version (NIV)

Copyrighted · Presented Under License

The Holy Bible

New International Version

Status: Presented by Living Word Bibles under license.

NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. LWB’s full-text website use remains subject to the permission applicable to LWB and does not grant a sublicense to visitors.

Biblica’s current public permissions guidance states that full Bible website or app use requires written permission unless a qualifying express-license mechanism applies. LWB therefore treats its own license terms as controlling for its implementation.

Biblica Permissions

English Standard Version (ESV® Bible®)

Copyrighted · Presented Under License

The Holy Bible

English Standard Version

Current digital noticeScripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

LWB will maintain the applicable ESV text edition and attribution required by Crossway or by LWB’s controlling permission.

Crossway ESV Permissions

Lexham English Bible (LEB)

Copyrighted · Conditional Open Use

The Holy Bible

Lexham English Bible

The LEB may be given away but not sold on its own. Current public terms also impose attribution, content-percentage, reporting, and electronic-linking requirements for specified uses. LWB’s implementation remains subject to those terms or any more specific permission applicable to LWB.

Bible in Basic English

Status: Public Domain.

Credit/Notes: No LWB permission is required to use the underlying BBE text itself.

BBE Copyright Information

Open English Bible (OEB)

CC0 / Public Domain Dedication

The Holy Bible

Open English Bible

Status: The OEB is released under Creative Commons Zero and is in the public domain.

Project statementThe Open English Bible is available completely without cost and without restrictions under CC0 / public-domain dedication.

LWB claims no copyright in the underlying OEB text.

Open English Bible

5. License Bases Used by Living Word Bibles

Public domain

For public-domain translations, LWB does not claim that a publisher license is needed to use the underlying Scripture. LWB may nevertheless protect its separate edition, editorial, software, artwork, metadata, and compilation elements as described in the Copyright Notice.

CC0 or open permissions

Where Scripture is dedicated to the public domain through CC0 or released under a permissive license, LWB follows the applicable dedication or license and preserves attribution where required or appropriate.

Publisher-owned proprietary translations

For proprietary translations, LWB relies on the authorization applicable to LWB, which may include a direct written license, permission carried forward lawfully from a predecessor, API/platform authorization, or another publisher-approved basis. LWB does not represent ordinary public quotation guidelines as authorization to host an entire proprietary Bible where full-text display requires additional permission.

Trademark conditions

A public-domain Scripture text may still have a trademarked translation name or logo. LWB treats copyright status and trademark status as separate questions.

App / Embed Licensing Boundary

The standard public Living Word Bibles web-widget / embed license is KJV only. The KJV text is public domain in the United States, subject to the separate territorial treatment described in Section 7 and the terms governing LWB’s software, branding, attribution, and protected elements.

Non-KJV translations are not included in the standard public embed license and are not sublicensed by this Publisher Notice. LWB may consider a non-KJV implementation only for an approved church or religious nonprofit organization and only where the requested use is permitted by the applicable copyright holder, publisher, API provider, direct license, or other controlling permission.

Any such non-KJV implementation remains subject to the rights holder’s attribution, quotation, distribution, commercial-use, territory, API, technical, reporting, and other applicable conditions. If additional written publisher permission is required, that permission must be obtained before the implementation is authorized.

LWB cannot grant a third party broader rights in a proprietary translation than LWB itself possesses. Nothing on this page transfers, sublicenses, or implies rights owned by a Scripture rights holder. See App Licensing for third-party software license terms.

6. Scripture Text Integrity, Version Control & Provenance

LWB seeks to preserve publisher-approved Scripture accurately. For proprietary translations, we will reasonably cooperate with a rights holder concerning source integrity and release management.

Source files

The reader may use static JSON, structured text, API responses, database records, or equivalent data derived from an authorized or verified source.

Official APIs

If a rights holder requires use of an official API or hosted endpoint as a condition of authorization, LWB can migrate the applicable translation to that delivery method.

Revision pinning

At a rights holder’s request, LWB can identify or pin an approved text revision, release, date, hash, checksum, or source-file version where technically appropriate.

Provenance

LWB may document where a displayed text came from, the applicable edition, and the authorization or source used to support the implementation.

No intentional rewriting

LWB does not intentionally paraphrase or rewrite proprietary Scripture. Display formatting should not be used to alter translation substance.

Corrections

Verified publisher corrections, approved edition updates, attribution changes, or replacement data can be applied to the affected translation.

7. Territorial & Jurisdiction-Specific Restrictions

LWB will honor territorial restrictions contained in a controlling license or imposed by applicable law. Rights holders may request geofencing, country exclusions, sale restrictions, download restrictions, or other territorial controls supported by their rights.

United Kingdom — Authorized (King James) Version

United Kingdom Notice | Authorized (King James) Version

Rights in the Authorized (King James) Version of The Holy Bible are vested in the Crown in the United Kingdom, and are administered under Royal Letters Patent issued by His Majesty's Government, and distributed by the Crown’s authorized patentee(s), Cambridge University Press. By act of Parliament, and in accordance with Section 171(1)(b) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, the Crown reserves the rights & privileges existing otherwise than by virtue of ordinary statutory copyright.

Living Word Bibles does not offer for sale, fulfill, or distribute its KJV editions to addresses located within England, Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland.

Orders containing restricted KJV items for delivery within the United Kingdom will be cancelled & promptly refunded.

This notice does not apply to U.S. or EU consumers outside of the United Kingdom.

8. Advertising, Commercial Context & Monetization Restrictions

LWB may operate commercial features elsewhere on its Services, including an eStore, paid digital products, donations, affiliate links, or advertising. That fact does not mean every proprietary Scripture license permits every form of monetization adjacent to the licensed text.

Where a translation license prohibits or limits:

advertising next to Scripture;
personalized advertising;
commercial website use;
sale of downloadable Scripture;
fundraising adjacency;
paid access or subscription access; or
affiliate or sponsored placements,

LWB will apply the applicable exclusion or technical restriction to that translation as required by the controlling license.

For example, Biblica’s current public online-services terms may impose different restrictions from a separately issued licensed website/app use. LWB therefore does not assume that a general quotation allowance authorizes monetized full-text hosting.

9. Technical Controls Available to Rights Holders

Subject to technical feasibility and the controlling rights, LWB can implement reasonable publisher-requested controls including:

country or territory geofencing;
removal of download links;
online-display-only treatment;
rate limits or anti-scraping controls;
advertising exclusions;
mandatory copyright lines on reader pages;
required translation abbreviations after quotations;
linking required by a license;
API-only or publisher-hosted delivery;
specific release/version pinning;
disablement of AI, machine-learning, audio, or other uses not authorized by the license;
withdrawal of a translation from search, download, or public reader directories; and
temporary disabling of an asset while a rights dispute is investigated.

10. Publisher Change Requests

If you represent a Bible publisher, rights holder, licensor, or trademark owner, LWB welcomes instructions concerning:

replacement copyright or trademark language;
new or revised attribution lines;
edition or text-version updates;
metadata corrections;
new source files or an official API;
territorial restrictions;
commercial-use limitations;
advertising exclusions;
download or redistribution limits;
quotation or display limitations;
AI / machine-learning restrictions;
linking or branding requirements;
rate limits or security requirements; and
removal of obsolete files or implementations.

Where possible, please include the translation, affected URL(s), requested language, the legal or contractual basis for the request, and a contact person authorized to discuss the matter.

11. Correction, Mitigation & Takedown Procedure

LWB strives for accuracy in Scripture text, publisher attribution, trademark notices, territorial treatment, and license implementation. If a rights holder believes a translation is displayed outside the scope of an authorization or under outdated terms, contact us using the information below.

For a substantiated publisher or rights-holder request, LWB intends to:

Acknowledge the request promptly. Our operational target is to begin review within 48–72 business hours, Monday through Friday, although complex or urgent matters may be addressed sooner or require additional time.
Identify the affected implementation. We may review the URL, source file, API, edition, copyright line, territory, ad configuration, or relevant predecessor permission.
Apply temporary mitigation where appropriate. If a good-faith rights dispute presents a meaningful risk of unauthorized continued display, we may temporarily disable the translation, file, purchase path, download, advertising, or affected feature while the issue is reviewed.
Coordinate the permanent correction. Depending on the controlling right, we may update attribution, replace source data, change technical controls, geofence, remove downloads, migrate to an official API, obtain renewed permission, or remove the translation.
Document resolution. Where appropriate, LWB can preserve a record of the requested change, revised implementation, and applicable source or permission.

Good-faith cooperation. This publisher procedure is intended to resolve rights issues efficiently. It does not waive any defense, admission, statutory right, contractual right, limitation, or remedy of LWB or the rights holder.

12. No Legal Waiver; Reservation of Rights

This Notice is provided for transparency and publisher relations. It does not amend a license, create an implied license, grant rights to a site visitor, concede ownership, or waive any legal or contractual position.

All rights in proprietary translations remain reserved to their respective owners except to the extent expressly licensed or otherwise permitted. Public-domain Scripture remains public domain. Openly licensed or CC0-dedicated Scripture remains subject to the applicable dedication or license.

If a copyright line, trademark notice, permission condition, territory, publisher identity, or license condition on this page conflicts with the controlling legal instrument, the controlling instrument prevails and LWB will correct this page when notified.

LWB separately reserves its rights in its own original material and compilation as described in the Copyright Notice.

13. Publisher & Rights-Holder Contact

For a licensing inquiry, correction, replacement notice, territorial restriction, source-file update, publisher instruction, or takedown request, contact:

Living Word Bibles
Operated by Cook Services Company, LLC
151 N. Delaware Street
Suite 122
Indianapolis, IN 46204
United States

Licensing / Publisher Relations: gospellivingwordbibles@gmail.com
Copyright Notice: Living Word Bibles Copyright Notice
App / Commercial Licensing: App Licensing
Technical Support: Living Word Bibles Support
Phone: +1 (317) 442-1437

Send a Rights-Holder Request