Libbie, Based on my understanding of the law here, my best guess is that part of the book is copyrightable, but the tax lists, themselves, being public record are not. Margaret Libbie Griffin wrote: > > Peter wrote: > >If I were to paraphrase this for genealogists, I might say "Mere listings > >of people and their vital statistics as found in census and vital records > >are not subject to copyright protection. When the listing is accompanied > >by substantial literary expression in the form of an explanation or > >analysis, there may be a basis for copyright protection." I wonder if the > >Copyright Office would agree with me? > > I'm currently working on a compilation of early tax lists for a particular > county. Included are recently discovered documents and long-known, > never-published lists. Let me try out several scenarios and ask your > opinions. > > 1. I simply publish typeset copies of the extant lists. This will take > several hundred pages and include several indexes. Included are a > complicated slave index that is particularly unique to this publication. > Is it protected by copyright laws? > > 2. As above, but I add a detailed forward pertaining to the people who > lived in the county during the period as well as an explanation of tax > laws, county history & geography, etc. Is this "more protected"? > > 3. As above, plus I add notes pertaining to each family, drawing heavily > from county court records. This would purely be my own original > compilation. Does the annotation serve to make the entire project > copyright-able? Are my rights as the compiler better protected? > > This project has taken years. While I don't expect to make money on it, I > do not want my effort wasted by some person who scans the whole thing and > puts it on the web. > > Opinions please? > > Libbie Griffin > > ==== COPYRIGHT Mailing List ==== > Check out the new communities at RootsWeb > http://www.communities.rootsweb.com/ > > ============================== > Shop Ancestry - Everything you need to Discover, Preserve & Celebrate > your heritage! > http://shop.myfamily.com/ancestrycatalog