The Baca books are much like the Germans to America multi-volume set, containing names of Czech passengers to America. Are there any problems with volunteers offering lookups of surnames in these books and providing information to list subscribers? To my knowledge the books contain information from passenger lists. I have not actually seen such a volume and hope someone here might have guidance about them. I do not believe they contain literary content or comment. Elaine

Hi, I don't see any problem in volunteering to lookup information in references. I think of it this way: If I were a professional genealogist, I would be using any available legitimate reference to provide information to my clients for a price. The key to me, though, is that individual lookups must be limited in nature. For going on 5 years, my wife and I have been doing such lookups in the DAR Patriot Index. We strictly limit the amount of lookups we will do to ensure that our service falls under the "fair use" principle of copyright law. (This lookup service copyright issue was part of my original interest in copyright.) We use a web site to provide access to our service and to explain our limitations. It is located at http://www.cswnet.com/~sbooks/genealogy/Patriot/patriot.htm . My copyright website is at: http://www.cswnet.com/~sbooks/genealogy/copyright/copyright.htm Mike Goad http://www.cswnet.com/~sbooks/genealogy/ for other genealogy related resources such as copyright issues, DAR Patriot Index lookups, Cousins Cross-reference table and more. At 05:42 PM 1/5/01 -0500, ETM wrote: >The Baca books are much like the Germans to America multi-volume set, >containing names of Czech passengers to America. Are there any problems >with volunteers offering lookups of surnames in these books and providing >information to list subscribers? To my knowledge the books contain >information from passenger lists. I have not actually seen such a volume >and hope someone here might have guidance about them. I do not believe they >contain literary content or comment. > >Elaine > > > >==== COPYRIGHT Mailing List ==== >Check out the new communities at RootsWeb >http://www.communities.rootsweb.com/ > >============================== >Shop Ancestry - Everything you need to Discover, Preserve & Celebrate >your heritage! >http://shop.myfamily.com/ancestrycatalog

This is a topic that has been discussed here many times. What I found interesting is what Copyright Office representatives had to say about genealogy compilations. The following is from the fifth edition of " The Copyright Handbook - How To Protect And Use Written Works " by Attorney Stephen Fishman, © 2000, Chapter 7, Adaptations and Compilations, pages 7/9 & 7/10: THE MINIMAL CREATIVITY REQUIREMENT: A work must be the product of a minimal amount of creativity to be protected by copyright.... The data contained in a factual compilation need not be presented in an innovative or surprising way, but the selection and/or arrangement cannot be so mechanical or routine as to require no creativity whatsoever. If no creativity was employed in selecting or arranging the data, the compilation will not receive copyright protection. The SELECTION of the data in a compilation will satisfy the minimal creativity test if the compiler has: · chosen less than all of the data in a given body of relevant material, regardless of whether it is taken from one or more sources, or · taken all of the data from several different sources and combine them to form a new work. The compiler's ARRANGEMENT or coordination of the data in a compilation will satisfy the creativity requirement as long as the data is ordered into lists or categories that go beyond the mere mechanical grouping of data. Alphabetical, chronological or sequential listings of data are purely mechanical and do not satisfy the minimal creativity requirement. "Representatives of the Copyright Office have indicated at that in their view the following types of compilations will usually FAIL to satisfy the minimal creativity requirement: Street address directories, alumni directories, membership lists, mailing lists, subscriber lists..., parts lists..., GENEALOGIES. A genealogy consisting merely of transcriptions of public records, such census or courthouse records, or transcriptions made from headstones in a few local cemeteries, are also deemed by the Copyright Office to lack minimal creativity. On the other hand, the creativity requirement may be satisfied if the creator of genealogy compilation uses judgment in selecting material from a number of different sources. ------------------ Mike GoadNotes:(1) The above information is presented here under the "fair use" principle of the copyright law. (2) As I am not an attorney, my comments here are simply my own opinion and do not constitute legal advice.