Bill, I read Bridgeman v Corel some time ago and then looked at it briefly again before I made my previous post. I was unsure whether I should cite it since the ruling is old and some of it seemed debatable, even though it makes perfect sense. I have no special knowledge, either. I'm here to learn. I have a scan of an old photocopy that I am sure is NOTHING like the original record, which we can't seem to locate at this point in time. I suspect it's not copyrightable either, since the distortion is due to a photocopy of mid 1700s faded handwriting that was enclosed in plastic and photocopied over and over. Though not exact, it certainly wasn't creative (or helpful!) I agree, and I am sure many people here know more than you or I about this subject, that embellishing the copy would make the embellishments copyrightable, though the original material or an exact copy would not be. Debbie Debbie I admit to no special knowledge concerning copyright. Indeed, my reasons for being on this list in the first place was related to this very issue with regard to graphics. The Bridgeman vs Corel item mentioned by Joan in a previous email seems to speak very much to the point. Its a District Court ruling, rather than a Supreme Court ruling (such as Rural vs. Feist), and its fairly old (1998), but perhaps there's no subsequent case law that can be cited. It does seem to be saying that a photographic image of an uncopyrighted item is not itself copyrightable. There seem to be some exceptions, and the key point is whether there's any original creativity involved in making the copy. In that regard making a VERY good copy (meaning an exact, indistinguishable copy) would seem to give no copyrightable status....but making an image of an image that involved some creativity (say using filters to selectively distort some portions of the images (ie, making it "artsy") might be copyrightable. I'll have to read the Bridgeman vs Corel ruling more closely to understand the limitations here. Bill ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour