I'm surprised they didn't stamp it "for genealogical use only" Wisconsin does this. Whenever I send for any certificate I always REQUEST that it be without the seal, always for genealogy purposes. I ordered copies from Pennsylvania and had never had such warning like that because I mentioned that it is for genealogy purposes. Other states - if it don't have the seal, then it can be copied. No seal - not valid for legal purposes. The key difference is "SEAL" David Samuelsen maryann wrote: > > Until I received death certificates from Pennsylvania, I would have > agreed with Cliff. The certificates included a warning that they were > not to be copied. I have not checked on the legality of this and have > no idea how or why Pennsylvania objects to my making copies. One > death occurred in the 1920's and the other in 1934. > > Cliff wrote: > > You asked if you could scan some old marriage, birth, and death > certificates (for which you paid in order to get the copies) and then > print them in a publication. They would be public documents, so you > could do it. They can't be copyrighted. The Copyright Law of 1976 is > federal and affects all states the same. > > ==== 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