Codex Perductum

Given all the furor on the internets about copyright (e.g., file-sharing, P2P, Google Print, Lawrence Lessig, etc.) It is interesting to note this bit of history which I came across in a certification of an old Bible:

"The King James Bible was printed exclusively in England under the king's copyright. During the British embargo, prior to and during the American Revolution, the Congress of the United States usurped the king's copyright and authorized the first English printing in the New World in 1782. From then on, America would take the lead in distribution of God's Word to the ends of the earth."

Funny how Congress, copyright, and Bibles all came together in 1782.