Data existing on a CD doesn't have any more copyright protection than any other source of information. Using CDs for lookups does not infringe upon copyrights so long as the material provided is limited in scope. Such use is allowed under the "fair use" principle of copyright law. As well, the producer of the CDs may not have a legitimate claim to copyright protection for much of the material on their CDs. Some of the things that they can't claim copyright on: 1 - facts or information perceived to be facts; no one can claim copyright protection for facts 2 - public domain material; once in the public domain, always in the public domain 3 - material that is copyrighted by others Item 3 applies to CDs or other data sources that are compilations of material submitted by individuals. Unless the copyright is specifically assigned to the compiler, the copyright for the material still resides with the original author. Any infringement would be infringing upon the right of the original author, not the right of the publisher of the CD. Compilations of factual material are only protected under copyright law if there is originality in the selection and/or arrangement of the material. CDs or databases that incorporate ALL of the material submitted to them probably do not meet the originality requirement for selection. It is also unlikely that they meet the originality criteria for originality if the information is arranged in a fairly standard format, such as is found in a family's pedigree. Thus the producers of a CD consisting solely of material solicited from others probably have very little legitimate claim to copyright over any of the material on the CD. (This being said, I DO NOT recommend trying to copy all of the material on one of the CDs.) Much of the warnings found in a software license agreement are to inform the end user of their rights and limitations under copyright and other laws, including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA). Such software licenses cannot preempt the law, though. They cannot restrict the use of information from the software any more than the information would be restricted if it came from a book, newspaper, or magazine. Any software statement or license that implies otherwise is misleading. I've been on the internet for over 5 years now. Lookups for information on these CDs has been asked for and has been provided for all of that time. I have yet to hear of any legal attempt by any CD producer to stop them. (disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and the information presented here is my own interpretation of copyright law as I understand it. It does not and is not intended to constitute any sort of legal advice.) Mike Goad http://www.cswnet.com/~sbooks/genealogy/copyright/copyright.htm