CAN Anyone give me some answers to these questions. When people have worked together for ages and they have the same family informaton and the same records copied from Courthouses etc(whether you got them or they did but shared then) and you was all working on the same families be stopped from using them. Questions. 1. Can a person claim she has copyrights to all the information, because a family member died and left her all of her records. 2. How can she say the other people who had worked with the one who died did not have the rights to use it and then say all of the information was stolen when they used it. 3. Can this person use your name, dates, full copies of birth certificates, marriage license, to put in a book they are supposed to be finishing up for the dead person. ( I thought all living people were supposed to be put as private etc. Or how does this work to post family members. 4. Who has the copyright on pictures. The woman who died gave copies of pictures to others from her originals to use. Now the one who is working on the papers, state they are hers and cannot be used.? 5.. On pictures you gave to the dead woman, can the one who is finishing her work use them anyway she wants and claim they are hers. 6. Can she copyright all of these records, pictures, as she said her copyright lawyer has done for her. I have been reading up on copyright and I know you cannot copy word for word what someone else writes. I hope someone can answer some of these questions. And I hope these questions make sense.? Thanks Evelyn

Evelyn, None of the factual information can be copyrighted. Nobody can copyright the names of the people, or their dates of birth, baptism, marriage or death. They cannot copyright the places where any of these things occurred, or the names or the sources from which the information was taken. Nobody can copyright the relationships between people in a family tree. "1. Can a person claim she has copyrights to all the information, because a family member died and left her all of her records." NO. "2. How can she say the other people who had worked with the one who died did not have the rights to use it and then say all of the information was stolen when they used it." She can say what she wants, but the other people DO have a right to use the same information in a book or even to put it on a website. They did not steal it. Think of it this way. If any of the data came from a church record, what makes any of you think that you could take the information and copyright it, thereby preventing even the church from publishing it? If anyone owns a copyright, it would be the church. But even they don't own it, because the information is factual and cannot be copyrighted. Therefore, nobody could steal something that can't be owned. Questions 3-6. Someone else will have to answer those. I would say this, however. The lady you have been talking about may not have a lawyer at all. Ask who her lawyer is so that your lawyer can contact the person (even though you don't have a lawyer of your own). I'll bet you don't get an answer. The way that you worded her statement about her lawyer copyrighting the records and pictures for her makes me believe that she is bluffing. There is no way that a lawyer would say that he could copyright the records for her. Cliff evelyn sell wrote: > CAN Anyone give me some answers to these questions. > > When people have worked together for ages and they have the same family informaton > and the same records copied from Courthouses etc(whether you got them or they did > but shared then) and you was all working on the same families be stopped from > using them. > > Questions. > 1. Can a person claim she has copyrights to all the information, > because a family member died and left her all of her records. > > 2. How can she say the other people who had worked with the one who died > did not have the rights to use it and then say all of the information was stolen > when they used it. > > 3. Can this person use your name, dates, full copies of birth certificates, > marriage license, to put in a book they are supposed to be finishing up for > the dead person. ( I thought all living people were supposed to be put as > private etc. Or how does this work to post family members. > > 4. Who has the copyright on pictures. The woman who died gave copies of > pictures to others from her originals to use. Now the one who is working on > the papers, state they are hers and cannot be used.? > 5.. On pictures you gave to the dead woman, can the one who is finishing her > work use them anyway she wants and claim they are hers. > > 6. Can she copyright all of these records, pictures, as she said her copyright > lawyer has done for her. > I have been reading up on copyright and I know you cannot copy word for > word what someone else writes. > > I hope someone can answer some of these questions. And I hope these > questions make sense.? > > Thanks > Evelyn > > ==== COPYRIGHT Mailing List ==== > Searchable archives at > http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?list=copyright > > ============================== > Search more than 150 million free records at RootsWeb! > http://searches.rootsweb.com/

All that can be covered by copyright is the content in a work that has originality. Facts, by their nature, do not have originality. Information, as contained in legal documents such as deeds and wills, do not have originality. They just exist. **Originality** is the key. Copyright protection is intended for ORIGINAL works of authorship (which does include art, photos, etc.). Most of the information in genealogy consists of facts and information. You cannot own (or copyright) facts and information. As an example, much of what I am writing here is original expression because I am creating it from what I know and putting together an e-mail message. Therefore, much of this message is protected by copyright as I write it. However, the underlying facts and rules that make up copyright law cannot be copyrighted. The questions that Evelyn wrote cannot be copyrighted by me. >1. Can a person claim she has copyrights to all the information, >because a family member died and left her all of her records. All works created in the United States in the last 20 plus years are automatically copyrighted at the moment of creation. Unpublished works created before that time are eligible for copyright protection. Material that is copyrighted and unpublished original works can be inherited. The copyright transfers to the heirs. But in genealogy, that only covers that part which is derived from original authorship. Again, facts and information cannot be copyrighted. >2. How can she say the other people who had worked with the one who died > did not have the rights to use it and then say all of the > information was stolen > when they used it. People can say what they want to. That doesn't make it true. >4. Who has the copyright on pictures. The woman who died gave copies of > pictures to others from her originals to use. Now the one who is > working on > the papers, state they are hers and cannot be used.? Whoever took the pictures is the "author" of the photo, technically. You have the copyright on any photos you took. >5.. On pictures you gave to the dead woman, can the one who is finishing her > work use them anyway she wants and claim they are hers. See #4 above >6. Can she copyright all of these records, pictures, as she said her >copyright > lawyer has done for her. All works created in the United States in the last 20 plus years are automatically copyrighted at the moment of creation. A copyright lawyer cannot copyright what is already copyrighted. While registration of copyright is not required, works can be registered at the U.S. Copyright Office, which is under the Library of Congress. That doesn't mean she's done this. If she had she would have some sort of documentation. Also, you would be able to find out from the copyright office if this has been done. A person cannot copyright something that is already copyrighted or something that is in the public domain. I have a site on copyright at http://www.cswnet.com/~sbooks/genealogy/copyright/copyright.htm Mike Goad