In a message dated 2/5/2006 3:43:47 PM Eastern Standard Time, joe2phil@drizzle.com writes: Hello guys , As one person that HAS made a Direct comparison of the Actual Original census copy and the copy of the census shown on proquest ancestry heritage quest etal I can say with out fear , They can copyright those images , IN ALL Cases they are MUCH Better than the Original !!!!!!!! , Phil , who lives 20 minutes from the NARA Facility in Seattle No--the point I was making is that the process they use is original and could be (and probably IS) PATENTED. That doesn't mean the images produced by that process can be copyrighted--they cannot be. As Pat pointed out the DATABASE as a whole can have a compilation copyright and you have to agree to licensing agreements when you subscribe and use these subscription images--but the individual images are not copyrightable. Joan