It is not my intent here to take issue with any of the thoughts in this and other similar statements made in this thread. I would, however, like to point out that we should be careful in insisting that ProQuest or Ancestry.com - or other on-line subscriptions do not have nearly as much legal protection as they claim to have. Let us hope they do have some - and rather substantial - protection. For it is that protection which they feel has allowed them to make the rather substantial investments in placing materials valuable to genealogists and others on the Internet. If we all were free to copy and use this material with impunity it would simply disappear. No one would make the investments necessary to create and maintain the databases. If it is really important for us to have a copy of the image for publication or other illustrative purposes, then you can do as James suggests below - it is always possible to go to the public domain original to get that copy. As the old saying goes, when it comes to wanting "free use" of on-line material, be careful what you wish for. You may get it and then there will be nothing there to capture and use. Richard ----- Original Message ----- From: "James Capobianco" <james_capobianco@emerson.edu> To: <COPYRIGHT-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, March 10, 2006 10:41 PM Subject: [COPYRIGHT] argument going on and on > Kathy Summers wrote: >> "I know this argument goes on and on but you really have to think >> about what is fair, not what you wish was fair because it benefits >> you." > > *Sigh* Why is that a realistic interpretation of public domain always > meets with this argument? It seems to imply that those of us who attempt > to have a nuanced understanding of copyright are only doing so to benefit > ourselves? > > What people that make this argument don't seem to understand is that the > concept of the public domain is there to benefit EVERYONE. Not me, not > you, but the people of the United States as a whole (I don't claim to know > anything about laws outside of the US). > > It also assumes that I, and others who I believe have been stating the > legally correct view about public domain and what is copyrightable, are > somehow doing things that Kathy and others would deem not "fair or > ethical." I doubt that is the case. > > By all means, you should use the originals when doing a transcription. I > think all of us would agree that is the best practice, and applaud you for > it. However, you be careful of some statements you make, such as "I > consider all work which has been produced by the efforts and cost of > someone else copyrighted." That, unfortunately, would cover just about > anything you could ever possibly use in genealogy. > > Microfilm has been produced by the efforts of those who scanned, so you > can't use those. "Original records" of censuses may well be copies made by > clerks or counties, so you can't really use those either. Anything you get > in a library was only paid for once, yet used by hundreds of people -- why > don't you go buy your own copy to give the author/compiler/person putting > in the effort some remuneration? Do you put a time limit on not using the > effort of others, or would you have people redoing things that have been > done hundreds of years ago? (The law puts a very definite time limit, > though a quite long one, on copyright protection) > > This may seem like a silly argument, but the public domain is there to put > very needed and useful limits on copyright, and what can be withheld from > common use. > > James > > > ==== COPYRIGHT Mailing List ==== > LATIN-WORDS-L is a mailing list for anyone with a genealogical or > historical interest in deciphering and interpreting written documents in > Latin from earliest to most recent 20th Century times, and discussing old > Latin words, phrases, names, abbreviations and antique jargon. To > subscribe, send subscribe to mailto:LATIN-WORDS-L-request@rootsweb.com > (Mail Mode) or mailto:LATIN-WORDS-D-request@rootsweb.com (Digest Mode) > > ============================== > Search Family and Local Histories for stories about your family and the > areas they lived. Over 85 million names added in the last 12 months. > Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13966/rd.ashx > >