The era of recouping investments in Biblical scholarship by means of intellectual property law is coming to an end. The use of copyright law to fund translations and other works is problematic from a practical and ethical perspective. Therefore it is appropriate to look for new solutions which can facilitate Christian scholarship (and the funding thereof) in the future. Here are some assumptions which support the old way of paying for translations which I think need to be questioned:

1. Christian scholarship ought to be financially self-sustaining. For some reason, translations are expected to pay for themselves. This requirement for return on investment is not the case in most ways the church spends money. Therefore scholarship can also be considered a recurring expense.
2. Translations are necessarily incredibly expensive to produce. Christian translation efforts are gargantuan in scope. Often hundreds of individuals are involved over several several years. Needless to say, that has a way of running up costs. Christians like to have translation committees for a variety of reasons. Yet outside of the Bible, individual translations are typically of a higher quality than committee translations (in my opinion). So, is all of the extra expense worth it?
3. We need another English translation. This is probably a cliche, but we have way too many English translations. It seems that the impetus behind new translation is often capitalist market forces and not an actual need for a new translation. Therefore translation efforts can be more affordable in the aggregate if fewer are undertaken.
4. Publishing can only be profitable with strict copy protections. I believe that publishers can make money from publishing freely-licensed texts. After all, the Bible-toting Christian is a thriving breed, so people are going to want to buy physical copies of the Bible. Publishers can compete and distinguish themselves by means of quality productions and "value adds." There should still be a sufficient profit margin to put to good use.
5. There's no other way to raise enough money. Christians raise a lot of money for a variety of projects with zero return on investment. World missions are the paragon example. Why can't we just raise money up front to pay for new translations and other scholarship?

Copy restrictions were placed on the scriptures because these assumptions were considered true. They are not true. We as Christians can fund Christian scholarship without the use of copyright law. Therefore the scriptures ought to be freed from restriction for the benefit of everyone.