Dear List, I was just informed about this mailing list from another list. So please excuse me if I seem confused - which I am. I'll try to ask my question(s) in a reasonable way and hopefully someone can give me answer. I've been researching copyright of older or out-of-print books. One military year book for 1919 has passed muster and is going online through USGenWeb. Now, due to tracing my family's tree I've become thoroughly involved in the Prohibition Era and have started collecting "rare/hard to find" books through online book stores. My book in question has no copyright mark in it. This is what is written inside: Treasury Department United States Coast Guard United States Government Printing Office Washington : 1964 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington D.C., 20402 - Price $2.00 The book was "authored" by a Commander USCGR (T) and who's name also appears on the Preface. The Foreword is written and signed by an Admiral of the U.S. Coast Guard. As I understand the workings of this book, it's suppose to be the Coast Guard's version of the "rum wars" that took place during 1920 to 1935. Finding the US Coast Guard's web site, I found these pages of their history: http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/collect.html http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/h_rumwar.html - "Books on the Prohibition Era.....The Coast Guard has published Rum War at Sea by a retired Commander, Malcolm F. Willoughby. This deals strictly with the service during the era. It is the only serious, systematic attempt to deal with the Coast Guard’s role in enforcement and it is extremely useful and well done." Another site I was suggested to visit is: ......"How do I find out whether the book is in the public domain?"........ http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/okbooks.html "But most books enter the public domain either because they are not copyrightable (e.g. certain government documents), or because their copyrights expire." I also found this government site : http://lcweb.loc.gov/catalog/ - and found this information pertaining to my book in question: LC Control Number: 64061298 Type of Material: Book (Print, Microfilm, Electronic, etc.) Brief Description: Willoughby, Malcolm Francis. Rum war at sea by Malcolm F. Willoughby. [Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1964] xii, 183 p. illus., col. maps (on lining papers) ports. 24 cm. CALL NUMBER: HJ6645 .W55 Copy 1 -- Request in: Jefferson or Adams Bldg General or Area Studies Reading Rms -- Status: Not Charged Is this book, "Rum War At Sea" an uncopyrightable government document? And is it considered "public domain" regardless of it's 1964 date? The reason I'm looking into this issue is because (as a family historian and a helpful researcher to others like myself) - I'd like to transcribe an APPENDIX A in the book that lists vessels' names and what happened to them, so that family researchers who may be hunting for information to verify their existence. Also, would I be able to transcribe the INDEX to a homepage so other's might be able to use it as a genealogical or historical research tool? Thank you very much for your time. I really do appreciate it. Regards, Jacquie Baral

I see nothing has appeared on the list yet. Did you get a private answer? on 10/15/2000 10:44 PM, Jacqueline Baral at [email protected] wrote: > My book in question has no copyright mark in it. This is what is written > inside: > Treasury Department > United States Coast Guard > United States > Government Printing Office > Washington : 1964 > For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing > Office > Washington D.C., 20402 - Price $2.00 There are three points which I think are involved. First, any document published before 1989 without proper notice of copyright is assumed to be public domain. Second, I think that government works are automatically public domain since they are public property. I know that government employees can not patent new technologies developed as part of their jobs. I assume, although I have not verified it, that the same is true of published works done as part of someone's government job. However, the problem here is that Cmdr. Willoughby may have been acting as a private citizen, especially since he was retired. The fact that the government printing office printed to book does not necessarily mean it is a government document. It would depend on the arrangement at the time--if he was hired or contracted to write the book, then it becomes a "work for hire," and the copyright would normally go to the person or company that hired him, and since that would be the government, then it is likely to be public domain. The third point is that the material you wish to transcribe (vessels' names and fates) is public property--either the information was publicly available, or it was in government records, which amounts to the same thing. No matter how much effort went in to searching and compiling the information, it can't be copyrighted. The bottom line is that Cmdr. Willoughby's unique and creative way of telling the story of the Rum Wars is probably not copyright protected, and the material in the appendix is definitely not copyrighted. -- Tom Thatcher [email protected] <http://members.rpa.net/~thatcher> <http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=thatcher-th>