>Copyrighting Genealogical Information >by Steve Paul Johnson, September 15, 1999 > >With access to the Internet, people today are publishing creative works more >than ever. Genealogy websites are springing up everywhere. Can copyright >protection extend to genealogical information? > >Lately I have noticed much discussion about copyright protection for >genealogical information. Someone creates a website of their family >history, publishes on the Internet, and someone else "steals" the >information and publishes it on their website. People get upset after >spending so many months and years to collect and validate the information, >and then many hours to create the webpages, only to have someone take the >information and publish it elsewhere. > >I can certainly understand the frustration. But what protections do the >copyright laws provide? Well, there's a lot of protection, but only for >specific things. > >Genealogical information is factual information, and is not protected under >copyright law. My birthdate is factual information. The burial location of >my grandfather is factual information. The maiden name of my grandmother is >factual information. If I created a webpage that contained these facts, and >nothing more, only the webpage is protected. Not the facts. If I added any >additional writings, ideas, comments, or anything else I create, they would >be protected, but not the facts. >So what does this mean to us genealogists? Well, it means that anyone can >lift the genealogical information off of our websites, and publish it >elsewhere, without consequence. The information may even be sold, and we >couldn't do anything about it. What may be protected is the presentation of >that information, and any other ideas, opinions, or fiction we create. > >But you say, "I've seen so many websites that publish copyright statements >forbidding anyone to republish the information contained within it." Well, >those people are not correct. Their webpages are copyrighted, but not any >factual information contained within it. What if someone published your >mother's birthdate, and then included a statement that no one else could use >that information? Come on, please! > >The USGenWeb Archives includes a statement on every one of its text files >that says that anyone can use the information, as long as their notice >remains with the information, and as long as the information is not used for >profit. That's got to be either one of the most misguided statements, or >the USGenWeb is unaware of the copyright protections. No where do the >copyright laws prevent anyone from using factual information for profit, and >nor does the USGenWeb have any right to enforce such restriction. > >Because facts are free, we are all able to create works, and create works >that compete against each other. Yes, it is frustrating that all the labor >you spent to collect factual information can be freely republished by >someone else. But then, I always believed that genealogical information >should remain free for use by anyone, without restriction. That's why >today, we are able to use census records, cemetery records, vital >statistics, and all the other genealogical records. > >For additional information, please visit the website of the United States >Copyright Office. Please also visit Michael Goad's website, "U.S. Copyright >and Genealogy". > >- Steve Paul Johnson [steve@interment.net] > >Steve is the editor of The Cemetery Column, and is the webmaster of Cemetery >Records on the Internet. > >To read more on this subject click on the address below. >http://www.interment.net/column/commentary/19990915.htm