The following is a report from the Literature Committee of ACA:
At the Annual Business Conference of WSO held on May 6 and 7, 2022, delegates considered a ballot proposal that requested WSO to publish and otherwise distribute the “Tony A Steps.” These steps appear in a book copyrighted by Tony A in 1991 called “The Laundry List: The ACOA Experience.” The hard copy book is out of print, but an e-book was copyrighted in 2014 and is available at amazon.com for $9.99.
WSO responded to the initial ballot proposal that it would contact its copyright lawyer to obtain a legal opinion on this issue. The Literature Committee worked with WSO outside counsel to find out who owns the copyright to “The Laundry List” and whether WSO could publish the Tony A steps. This is the result of that work.
A bit of background: WSO has always acknowledged Tony A’s role in the history of the fellowship. The BRB devotes 7 pages to Tony A’s role in forming ACA. The results of a 1992 interview with Tony A are captured in a trifold on the adultchildren.org website called “Early History of ACA.” WSO has the rights to The Laundry List, because Tony A copied it and handed it out freely in the early 1990s. Although Tony A stated at least two times in talks that he also wished to give his steps to the fellowship, he never put this gift in writing. Unfortunately, as they appear in a copyrighted book, there needs to be a written assignment of the steps, to be legal.
We have located the copyright owner, Tony A’s widow, and have been told explicitly by her lawyer that she will not grant any rights to WSO, demands we not contact her, and threatens a lawsuit if we do.
The fact that WSO cannot print the Tony A steps does not mean that meetings cannot use them. WSO has an open literature policy. Any group is free to use Tony A’s book in their meetings. (As stated, It is available as an e-book on amazon.com for $9.99) A quick review of the internet shows many groups and meetings that have adopted his steps. Those materials are all available to be used by the fellowship, although each group should be aware that printing or distributing Tony A’s copyrighted book violates copyright law.
The fact that WSO does not own rights to the Tony A steps does not mean that ACA is prohibited from using the Tony A approach to the steps, without using his exact language. What does this mean? Copyright law protects exact words, not ideas. The ideas, that as children we were blameless, that we do not need to make amends to those who damaged us, that we were not defective as children, and that the loving language of an Inner Loving Parent is integral to our recovery, are all concepts. Copyright law protects the expression of words on a page, not the ideas behind them. No one “owns” a gentle and loving approach to the steps.
The Literature in Development Subcommittee has begun a conversation about creating a new set of steps that focus on the adult child, in particular, adding the concepts of reparenting into the steps. “The Solution is to become our own loving parent.” We have the right to express the current ACA thinking about recovery in a new set of steps, carefully, deliberately. Rather than disputing the issue of using steps written 30 years ago, we can walk into the future of recovery with a new vision of the steps for adult children. This would be done with fellowship surveys and input. If you are interested in this process, contact the subcommittee at [email protected].
For those who would like to see the results of our legal research, here are excerpts from a letter sent to WSO from an attorney on behalf of the copyright owner:
I spoke with the widow of Tony A., one of the co-owners and co-holders of the copyrights, and she is not interested in giving any permissions to these items.
Tony A.'s widow, as heir of Tony A.'s copyrights, reserves all rights to all of Tony A.'s works including, but not limited to, written and audio works.
The widow of Tony A. also refuses to grant permission for all of Tony A. works, written, audio, or in any other form, be published in any WSO publications.
Please be advised that any publication of Tony A.'s works without express written permission will be considered an infringement and will be protected to the fullest extent allowed by law.
Based on this letter and its own independent research on copyright, assignments of copyright, and the “fair use exception,” the WSO outside copyright counsel, Head, Johnson, Kachigian & Wilkinson, gave us this opinion:
Given the attorney’s emphatic statement on the matter, it appears Tony A.’s widow would consider any use of Tony A.’s works to be infringement and therefore any attempt to rely on the fair use exception would result in a lawsuit. Accordingly, it is my opinion that WSO printing or disseminating the Tony A. steps by relying on the fair use exception would not avoid a lawsuit for copyright infringement.
. . . As you have received a refusal by the copyright owner to grant you any rights coupled with a threat to sue you if you do, you would almost certainly risk litigation by using any of the information in “The Laundry List”
Based on this communication, I recommend that WSO not use Tony A.’s steps or any other material from The Laundry List in future publications or on your website.
Is it possible that if we were sued, we would win on “fair use,” the legal exception to copyright for a small and/or insignificant part of a larger writing? It’s unlikely, but it’s possible. But as the stewards of your 7th Tradition contributions, funds that are used to carry the message to those who still suffer around the world, the WSO Board reported at the business conference that in good conscience it could not take any action that would result in a protracted and costly lawsuit.
After hearing these reports, the delegates voted at the ABC not to approve the ballot proposal for WSO to print the Tony A steps in any form. For this reason, it did not advance to worldwide voting.
Do we know why Tony A’s refuses to grant us rights when her husband clearly stated that was his intent? We do not. And we will never know, as we’ve been told explicitly not to contact her. What we do know is that the failure to gain the rights to Tony A’s steps will not stop our fellowship from adopting a gentle and loving approach to steps that recognize the trauma to adult children and the role of reparenting in recovery. An approach cannot be copyrighted.
WSO Literature Committee