In a message dated 10/16/99 9:00:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: > New subscriber here. I've been asked for advice about the posting of > obituaries to the GenConnect boards and the concern about copyright. > A specific example is can an obit that's only 10 years old be posted? > > GenConnect says they do not "endorse the posting of copyrighted > material to our pages" but I'm not clear on what is allowable... > > Can anyone give me direction? Hi, Bonnie- Sure you can post obits that are only 10 years old--or 1 day old--as long as the obit is not copyrighted. The vast majority of short obits that contain nothing more than age, death date, location of death, spouse's name, childrens' names, etc. are NOT copyrighted as such factual information cannot be copyrighted. What you need to look out for is information that is biographical in nature, lengthy, and often contains a byline--those types of obits can very well be copyrighted. You can still use those if you obtain permission of the copyright holder. If in doubt--paraphrase carefully. an abstract of the information is safe also. Joan