Hello Tom Your explanation of 'Fair Use' sure has helped me to understand. It seems to me that interpretation of these copyright laws is the answer. Regards Kay -----Original Message----- From: Thatcher family <[email protected]> To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Date: Sunday, 19 November 2000 11:36 Subject: Re: Copyright & Family History >> What constitutes 'Fair Use' ? > >I have not looked up the US rules on Fair Use, which would not necessarily >apply anyway. The reason for the Fair Use exemption is that Copyright is >supposed to encourage creative expression, not stifle it. So it is possible >to use another person's copyrighted work to help you in your own, as long as >your use is "fair." > >In the US, Fair Use takes into account four criteria: purpose of the use >(such as education or research); scope of the use in relation to the whole; >the nature of the original work; and the effect of the copying on the market >value of the original. > >What you are doing is clearly research, and including portions of old >newspaper articles is certainly not going to damage the market value of the >modern day newspaper, assuming it even exists. > >>Newspaper articles; government records; government gazettes; sentences and >>paragraphs plucked from various books I have read pertaining to Australian >>history - etc. > >Assuming the Fair Use principle exists under Australian law (and even if >its not written in the law there may be case law precedents which assume it >exists) I can't see any of the examples you mention above failing the Fair >Use test. > > > >-- >Tom Thatcher >[email protected] ><http://members.rpa.net/~thatcher/> ><http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=thatcher-th> > >______________________________