In a message dated 4/14/2006 5:12:46 PM Eastern Standard Time, richardpence@pipeline.com writes: An exchange in another list raised this issue in my mind. You give a lecture at a genealogy convention and, with your approval, it is taped (either audio or video). Absent any specific contract point on this, who owns the copyright - the person who gave the lecture or the person who taped it? Richard P. Fairfax, Virginia Interesting question, Richard. What I glean from this page: http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#wwp ...is that there can be no copyright of a live presentation such as this until the content is placed into a fixed and tangible medium. That means that the presentation itself isn't copyrightable but the audio or video recording can be. To me that means the entity doing the recording holds copyright to the recording--but I'm not sure they could claim copyright to the material included in the presentation--because they didn't create it--they only created the recording. Not sure anyone can claim copyright to the content unless the lecturer also placed the text of the presentation into a fixed and tangible medium (print, email, etc.). Then I'd say the text would be under that person's copyright -- provided it includes original creative material that is copyrightable. Joan