Changes to the MA-owned copyrighted materials, such as Life with Hope, are also not authorized. While groups and meetings are free to share or screen-share MA’s copyrighted material in their meetings, they are not permitted to change the text in any way (besides excerpting.) Changes to literature and other copyrighted materials owned outright by MA, such as the Service Manual, or Life with Hope, can only be made by submitting a Conference Agenda item seeking the group conscience of the fellowship. Service Manual, Ver. 8.0, pg. 51-52.
Meetings/groups and regions/districts are also not permitted to make Life with Hope or the Life with Hope 12 Step Workbook available for download in their entirety. Making alterations to MA’s literature, or making more than 25% of MA’s literature available online as a PDF or other format for download, not only violates MA’s copyrights, but also MA’s publishing contracts with Hazelden, the publisher of Life with Hope and the Life with Hope Workbook. This risks damaging MA’s reputation with Hazelden, which in turn could lead to delays in publishing “Living Every Day with Hope” (which is currently being negotiated) and increased costs for MA literature, and other difficulties in getting MA literature published and distributed to addicts in need (if Hazeleden were to terminate the agreement due to MA breaching its terms.)
If your meeting/group or region/district currently has these available for download on your website, they should be removed as soon as possible to avoid violating MA’s contractual obligations, which could jeopardize our ability to continue to make MA literature widely available, and to enter into a publishing agreement for MA’s new daily reader Living Every Day with Hope, which MA World Services and ANLP are currently in the process of negotiating an agreement to publish with Hazelden.
To make changes to MA’s copyrighted-material, including Life with Hope, or the Life with Hope 12-Step Workbook, the procedures in the SM for submitting an agenda item to the annual business Conference for the Conference body to vote on must be followed.