On Thursday, February 15, 2001 12:11 AM, Michael Allison <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi. > I need some help please. I moderate a genealogy e-mail list for a NC county. > Recently we've been discussing the Walton War, the 1810 conflict that > occurred between Georgia and North Carolina within the NC county discussed > on the list. A member has located a map that shows historical features > relative to our discussion and today offered to copy and post the map on our > members' only website. The map bears a copyright date of 1987. > > I've asked to hold off until getting some opinions. To my thinking, we > cannot copy and post that map on the website. Or am I utterly wrong? Might > that act fall under fair use? Thanks if anyone can help with this matter. Fair use refers, generally speaking, to the use of relatively small portions of someone else's work within one's own work or effort. It is described as follows by Terry Carroll in his Copyright FAQ: vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv Perhaps more than any other area of copyright, fair use is a highly fact-specific determination. Copyright Office document FL102 puts it this way: "The distinction between 'fair use' and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission. Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission." The document then quotes from the 1961 Report of the Register of Copyrights on the General Revision of the U.S. Copyright Law., providing the following examples of activities that courts have held to be fair use: - Quotation of excerpts in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment; - Quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work for illustration or clarification of the author's observations; - Use in a parody of some of the content of the work parodied; - Summary of an address or article with brief quotations, in a news report; - Reproduction by a library of a portion of a work to replace part of a damaged copy; - Reproduction by a teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson; - Reproduction of a work in legislative or judicial proceedings or reports; - Incidental and fortuitous reproduction in a newsreel or broadcast, of a work located in the scene of an event being reported. .... There are four factors used to decide whether a particular use of a copyrighted work is a fair use: (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and (4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. 17 U.S.C. 107. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Let's assume that the map is not actually public domain, but incorporates creative effort by the authors that can't be separated out, e.g. where this or that battle took place. Like most illustrations, it would be probably be considered to be a substantial part of the book, in and of itself. Then, some would say it's not fair use. Basically you would simply be republishing it, a privilege (presumably) not given to you by the author, and by doing so you are reducing the need of your members to purchase the work themselves, and affecting the author's income. Others may say that it is fair use, arguing that it is part of a larger nonprofit educational use with limited impact on the author. Only a court could decide for sure, if suit is brought by the author. I don't know how many people are on your "member's only website", but I myself tend to side with the author on this because posting to a web site is not in itself a creative act (unlike incorporating it into an organized educational lesson plan, which typically involves commentary by the teacher, exercises, etc.). The more people who have access to it, the more people have less incentive to buy the book. Would posting it help sell the book? Maybe, but that's the author's decision. Try contacting them for permission. S R C A cott obert ranston nderson [email protected] Admin, {C{offield,ollosky,ranston,ummins},OHGuerns,USAGen}[email protected] USGenWeb Coordinator, http://www.usgennet.org/usa/oh/county/guernsey/

I can't thank you enough for taking the time to provide such in-depth commentary. Apparently my hunches were on the money. Thanks, Scott! Your time and effort is appreciated. Michael ----- Original Message ----- From: Scott R. Anderson <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2001 5:15 AM Subject: Re: maps and copyright