Maryann, Pennsylvania is probably concerned about forgeries of official documents, rather than protecting a copyright interest. Thats likely why Wisconsin stamps them. Once they are stamped no one would accept them as proof of citizenship, for example. Thats why you are often told for official purposes that a certified copy is required. Bob 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 ==== COPYRIGHT Mailing List ==== Freepages, that is free web pages http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/press/freepages.html ============================== The easiest way to stay in touch with your family and friends! http://www.myfamily.com/banner.asp?ID=RWLIST1 _____________________________________________________________________________________ Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com