Folks - I have seen message after message on this list about how an index was a separate work. And, as such, it could carry a copyright even if the material indexed was public domain. A situation has arisen where someone indexed a recently published book (uncertain of the exact year but published since 1990) of funeral home records. The book is a transcription of privately-held records of a Funeral Home in Ohio from 1908-1950. The book was NOT indexed for publication. Using the book is difficult and it is easy to miss materials. Therefore, someone who purchased the book indexed the publication. The person who did that index did not have permission from the copyright holder to index the work. He has now expressed privately to the county listowner what he did and wonders what he can do with it. The listowner is under the impression from an earlier situation (she abandoned an earlier indexing project) that, since the book is still covered by copyright laws, that an index of it is a derivative work and that index cannot be published wihout permission of the copyright-holders. Is that true? I realize that previous discussions were mostly about pre-1922 materials or collections of publicly-held records like birth, death, probate, deed records, etc. None of those have copyright status. But what about an index of a copyrighted, recently published work??? Thanks for opinions. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= [email protected]