Well, I was thinking of some of the longer obits where they may have a column or so of family history...but I don't think the paper could copyright that anyway if a family member wrote it, as most I know of are...and placing it in the paper may put it in the public domain anyway... Charlotte >From: Mike Goad <[email protected]> >To: Charlotte ~ <[email protected]>, [email protected] >Subject: Re: Newspaper article >Date: Sat, 05 Jun 1999 13:28:59 -0500 > >At 10:52 AM 6/5/99 PDT, Charlotte ~ wrote: > >Well, obits are written by someone, if anyone the family, they provide >the > >information...they are facts usually not original stories so not > >copyrightable...even the longer obits are usually written by a family >member > >so they might have the copyright but not the paper...facts at present are > >not copyrightable...the concern is that the database bills will change > >that.... > >Original works, no matter how large or small, are copyrighted under todays >copyright laws (in the U.S.) no matter who wrote them. > >Newspaper obituaries may not satisfy the standard for originality because >they are written by a standard process or procedure. No originiality... >just plug in the name of the deceased and his/her life information, name of >survivors, where the services will be held and who to send memorial >donations to. > >The 1976 Act ...s 102(b), which identifies specifically those elements >of a work for which copyright is not available: "In no case does copyright >protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, >procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or >discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, >illustrated, or embodied in such work." (FEIST PUBLICATIONS, INC., >Petitioner v. RURAL TELEPHONE SERVICE COMPANY, INC. >http://www.rootsweb.com/~mikegoad/feist.htm and >http://www.rootsweb.com/~mikegoad/code.htm ) > >Mike Goad > > >________________ >The Goad Family; Dover, AR, USA; mailto:[email protected] ; >http://www.cswnet.com/~mgoad/ ; free DAR Patriot Index Lookups: >http://www.cswnet.com/~mgoad/dar.html; Our on-line "bookstore:" >http://www.cswnet.com/~sbooks > >Sponsor (Plus) of RootsWeb - To support cooperative, non-commercial, >grass-roots genealogy go to >http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/how-to-subscribe.html _______________________________________________________________ Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com