This is forwarded with permission of the writer. Any advice to help her small genealogical society with the issue of copyright protection? Please post it on list with a copy to the writer. Or I can forward your answers to her. Thank you. Alexandra --------- Forwarded message ---------- On Wed, 1 Mar 2000 11:41:39 -0900 "Connie Bradbury" <[email protected]> writes: This topic is of special interest to me because our society is finishing two very large and time consuming project. We are preparing to publish our second volume of births, deaths, marriages and divorces extracted from the local newspaper - 1930-59. The first volume was done years ago and funded by a grant but we know a lot more now and will be doing a revised edition. We will publish the revised edition on our own. I just received the 1940-49 index and we are looking at about 250 pages. This has been a labor of love for most of those who helped with the project. We want the opportunity to sell the publication - yes, to help fund additional projects. Some of our members are putting up front money for this out of their pockets. It will be devastating to us if someone purchases a copy then turns around and immediately puts it on the internet. At some point that could happen with our blessing. We have discussed even sending a letter with each copy sold that might appeal to the sympathetic side of anyone with the idea of putting it on the internet, explaining that unless we are able to sell copies of the publication and pay off our "loans" any anticipated projects will go by the wayside if that happens. It is our blood, sweat and tears and for someone who only has the ambition to sit at a computer and enter data without any consideration for the origin of the information, maybe they should get a life and get out and sit at a film reader hour after hour extracting the information, inputing the data and proofing. Or, better yet, find a new project to work on and put on the internet instead of stealing a floundering little society's projects. Ooops, my soap box just collapsed<g> Connie