I will take care of this ASAP! Pam Tim Stowell wrote: > > Since the issue of Lookups and Copyright is continually resurfacing, I'd > like to ask the Board members to review a message, sent to a public list in > 1996 by then National Coordinator John Rigdon, and compare it with what we > have listed on the National pages and see if any of the following or any > other action needs doing: > > 1. The National pages need to be updated in reference to this note > 2. The pages need to be updated regarding the latest copyright act > 3. State Coordinators need to remind volunteers of these issues > > Thanks, > > Tim > ---------------- > Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 20:06:25 +0000 > From: "John C. Rigdon" > To: GALINA - Georgia/South Carolina USGenWeb Project > <GALINA@rmgate.pop.indiana.edu> > Subject: Our Proposed Position on Lookups > > After much research and discussion, here is my position on the issue > of Lookups. > > John Rigdon > National Coordinator > The USGenWeb Project > > COPYRIGHT FAQ > > It is vital for genealogists/family historians to understand > copyright laws, not only for the protection of others' rights, but to ensure > that we retain the rights to our own work. > > Besides any legal ramifications; we, as a great new project, do not > want to offend our many friends who work tirelessly for little profit to > publish these great source references. We do not want to offend > those who do legitimate professional research - let us not make > these people our enemies - We want them as our partners. > > It is that recognition plus concern for the organization and all > individuals involved which led to establishment of this policy. > > The only way to protect the project as a whole and each of us as > participants in that project is to remove all lookup offers > for which you do not have written permissions or determinations that > the source is public domain and therefore requires no permission. > > Infringement can occur from several different reasons or actions and > ALL these aspects must be considered in each case. > > 1. The source itself--is it copyrighted or public domain? If it is > copyrighted, who holds the copyright and what are the requirements of > that person or entity? > > 2. The amount and type of information taken from the source. > > 3. The person or entity using the information from the > source--because different rules apply to different entities. Are we > equivalent to a > public library? Are we educators? Is USGenweb a non-profit > organization in the LEGAL sense? I think most of us will agree that this > project > doesn't yet have clear legal claim to any of those titles or > privileges. This doesn't mean that we can't qualify, only that at this > moment we > don't qualify. > > 4. The market effect of one's use of the information-- it will > probably be on this point that someone will eventually be sued for copyright > infringement. > > We are not acting in private here. We are not merely pursuing our > private avocations. We have chosen to join a grassroots movement to > protect and preserve our family histories for our nation and the > generations to come. In doing so we have "gone public" in a big way, > and we are now subject to laws that govern such public groups. > > We're all here to help the genealogical community. Folks doing > lookups should understand that authors have a legitimate right to > compensation, and a well-done lookup should include telling folks > how to buy the book when it's of significant value to their > research. Authors need to understand that genealogists have a > right to look before buying and that lookups should be perceived > as a marketing tool rather than a loss of sales. > > =========================== > > USGenWeb'S Official Policy > > USGenWeb will not tolerate any copyright violations. Lookup requests > should be limited to one name, or perhaps two if it is a married > couple. Information given will be minimal, for example if it is a cemetery > lookup, the information will be the name of the cemetery and the > dates on the headstone. Please do not ask for "everybody with X surname" > or an entire family group, or for hardcopies to be mailed; the > volunteers have been asked not to comply with such requests. > > Our lookups will extend to searching the book to determine if the > book would be helpful to you in your research. Should the book prove > useful, we can provide the authors address and ordering information. > > The USGenWeb Project will endeavor to get a WRITTEN statement from > each copyright holder which stipulates which books may be used for > lookups. > =========================== > > Proposed wording which we need to have from copyright holders: > > I grant non-exclusive permission for individuals to do lookups for > the USGenWeb Project from my publications. I am not forfeiting my rights > under 17 USCode Section 106. > > I grant permission for lookups in ______________ > > I DO NOT grant permission for lookups in ______________ > > Signed______________________ > > Dated ______________________ > > ============================ > > Here is a general overview of copyright law. > > 1. COPYRIGHT LAW > Since Jan 1, 1978, everything an author (including you and I) writes > is protected by copyright the minute it is written. > > 2. DURATION OF COPYRIGHT > Copyright protection under this law extends for the rest of the > author's life and an additional 50 years beyond it. The new law does not > depend on publication. Works by two or more authors extend 50 years beyond > the death of the last author to die. Anonymous works, works under a > pseudonym, and works for hire extend 75 years from publication or 100 > years from creation. > > 3. PUBLIC DOMAIN > Any published/written material on which the copyright has expired is > considered to be in the "public domain" and may be used by the > general public without payment to or permission from the author. An article, > poem, etc. may be copyrighted individually, but it is also covered if > the publication in which is appears is copyrighted. > > There has been some discussion that authors/publishers cannot > copyright facts. This is and isn't true. The original records cannot be > copyrighted, but for example, a compilation of them can be. Anyone, > however, is free to consult the original records and make their own > compilation and are free to do whatever they want with them. But, > even though someone abstracts/transcribes public records, they cannot be > tossed about either. The law specifically recognizes the right of > the person doing the work, in this case transcription, to be compensated > for their work. > > 4. COPYRIGHT BEFORE 1978 > Under the old copyright law, a published work was copyrighted for 28 > years and could be renewed for another 28 years, for a total of 56 years. > When the new law was passed, that copyright protection was extended to a > total of 75 years for all works currently copyrighted. So works published > earlier than Jan 1, 1921, are in the public domain. > > 5. FAIR USE > The copyright act does not set down definite limitations on how many > paragraphs or words constitute "fair use" of copyrighted materials. > Instead, it sets up four criteria to determine fair use: > > A. The purpose and character of the use > > B. The nature of the copyrighted work > > C. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to > the entire work > > D. Effect of the use on the market for or value of the work. > > The author of The Beginning Writer's Answer Book concludes that a > good standard is to limit yourself to quoting fewer than a hundred words > from an entire book. > > 6. INDIRECT QUOTATION > One way of avoiding violating copyright is to paraphrase material--to > put it into your own words--or use indirect quotes. You should, > however, always give credit to the source and refrain from extensive use of > paraphrase or indirect quotes. > > 7. RULE OF THUMB > If use of material created by someone else diminishes the market > value of that person's work, his or her copyright has been violated. > > 8. WHERE TO GET PERMISSION > The publisher is the best place to write for permission to quote > from a book, poem, song or magazine article. Ask your reference librarian > for help locating the publisher's address if it is not printed in the book or > magazine. If the publisher is no longer in business, try locating the > author in Who's Who in Literature at your local library. > > There is usually no fee for permission to quote from copyrighted > materials. > > 9. Burden of Proof in Infringement Actions > > During the course of its deliberations on this section, the > Committee's [US House of Representatives] attention was directed to a recent > court decision holding that the plaintiff in an infringement action had > the burden of establishing that the allegedly infringing copies in > the defendant's possession were not lawfully made or acquired under > section 27 of the present law [that would be the 1909 version of the > copyright law, the 1976 act changed this], American International Pictures, > Inc., v Foreman, 400 FSupp928 (S.D. Alabama 1975). The Committee believes > that the court's decision, if followed, would place a virtually > impossible burden on copyright owners. The decision is also > inconsistent with the established legal principle that the burden of > proof should not be placed upon a litigant to establish facts > particularly within the knowledge of his adversary. The defendant in > such actions clearly has the particular knowledge of how possession > of the particular copy was acquired, and should have the burden of > providing this evidence to the court. It is the intent of the > Committee, therefore, that in an action to determine whether a > defendant is entitled to the privilege established by section 109(a) > and (b), the burden of proving whether a particular copy was lawfully > made or acquired should rest on the defendant. > > [In other words, If someone accused you of violating the infringement > principles of copyright law, it is up to you to prove you didn't.] > > 17USC, Section 501, "Copyright Infringement and Remedies." > > There are two provisions in the law for remedies of violation of the > copyright of a person. Both are rather severe, the person who feels > they have been violated may sue for actual damages or statutory > damages. > > Actual damages include, lost sales, the profit the infringing party > may have made from the infringement, and legal fees. > > Statutory Damages are fixed at $20,000 per infringement if I read the > section correctly. This one gets a bit confusing, and is covered in > 28 US Code, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure. > > The following web sites provide reference on copyright law: > > http://www.counsel.com/cyberspace/copyright.html > http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/ifla/II/cpyright.htm > http://genealogy.tbox.com/jog/aug96/advanced.html > > Contributors: > > Sunni Bloyd > Jett Hanna > John Rigdon > Jeff Weaver > John G. West > --------------- > Email addresses removed - as most are most likely invalid at this time; > document updated with spell check - Tim