My opinion follows; I am not a lawyer. Work is automatically copyrighted from the moment it is in "fixed form." However, most of what you have worked so hard to gather is not copyrightable. Facts are not copyrightable. This is from Copyright Basics, Circular 1 that you can download on the net. I'm sorry this was done to you, but it is done all the time by people who think they are "special" and don't have to follow the same rules as everyone else. I share very little anymore with anyone that I am not willing to see on the net under someone else's name. I've made it a practice never to share anything about living individuals--EVER--or anything that has first been shared with me by another genealogist. Yvonne In a message dated 11/27/99 4:20:36 PM Central Standard Time, [email protected] writes: << But what should I do about him distributing MY work? And should I tell him to take my name off of the copyright? Or should I tell him that it is already copyrighted? This is all so confusing to me. Also, so many cousins, and fellow researchers passed along information to me. What if they see it back on the net? They might be upset with me. Suing him is not an option. He is too close of a relative, and I don't have the finances to do it anyway. I feel like I'm being robbed. All of my hard work is being stolen from me. >>