In a message dated 3/30/2006 5:07:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, sarabtarpley@gmail.com writes: I am sure that we have discussed obituaries before, but what is their copyright status? Do newspapers own the rights to a single obituary? If I write a detailed, personal obituary for someone [as I did for my mother], does the newspaper hold the copyright? If I want to copy an obituary do the same restrictions as to date [pre-1924] apply, or does the continuing existence of the newspaper with its copyright reach back in time? If a limited number of obituaries are copied and provided to someone for a small fee [exceeding copying costs] is fair use cancelled by the commercial nature of the exchange? Sara ----- Obits may or may not be copyrighted depending upon the date they were published and also upon their content--whether the specific obit meets the test of originality--many do not. An obit you wrote would be copyrighted by YOU as to the original content (facts cannot be copyrighted by anyone)...unless, of course, you signed any contract with the publishing paper granting them all rights. Usually you just grant them the right to publish without giving up your copyright. Any obit published prior to 1923 is in the public domain and most obits, even much more recent ones, were not copyrighted. Newspapers attempting to copyright obits is a fairly recent phenomena. Copying (and charging for) an entire obit (or several obits) that ARE copyrightable would not be Fair Use--as you would be copying the entire text of the copyrighted material. That's not Fair Use--Fair Use is a small snippet of a copyrighted text--not the entire thing. Joan