Martin Thanks for your explanation of the law on copyright. It would seem that the letters could be added to my site if Mike wishes to do so. Regards Bob Sanders -----Original Message----- From: Martin Willcocks [mailto:martinwill2@comcast.net] Sent: 06 August 2003 04:55 To: ENG-NORTH-YORKS-L@rootsweb.com; Sanders, Robert (DfTE - LLD1b) Subject: Letters from 1831 Bob and listers all: I too enjoyed the letters from those people who braved the ocean crossing so long ago. My ancestors didn't come to America, but I did - by 747 jet! A lot quicker and safer! According to my understanding of copyright law, the copyright on a written work is valid for 75 years after the author's death. Since these letters were written by adults and at least one of them in around 1831, they were unlikely to have lived until 1928, so one might presume that any copyright that may have existed would by now be long expired. So perhaps it is legitimate to post them on Bob Sanders' web site, always, of course, stating the source. If they were still in copyright and held in a private collection it might not have been legitimate to send them to the general public (or at least that part of the public that reads these lists.) Furthermore, unless they were published for a commercial purpose yielding monetary gain, copying them for one's own research is a legitimate use of copyrighted material. In some situations, such as copying published papers by professional societies, you may be charged a small fee for such copying - some publications I've purchased show a fee scale at the bottom of the page, usually 10 cents/page. Also the laws may be different in other countries, but I think America had to change its laws to come into conformity with the norm in other countries, not the other way around. It used to be required to file a copyright, but now it's automatic, and in any case copyright protection is much narrower than patent protection for those items that are patentable (not books, letters, etc.) I regret I don't have any such fascinating episodes to recount, but thanks to those who did publish them. Martin Willcocks Salt Lake City, UT, USA Researching: N YKS: HILL, LAW(S), SAWDON, WELLBURN, WINSPEAR, and others. PLEASE NOTE: THE ABOVE MESSAGE WAS RECEIVED FROM THE INTERNET. On entering the GSI, this email was scanned for viruses by the Government Secure Intranet (GSI) virus scanning service supplied exclusively by Cable & Wireless in partnership with MessageLabs. GSI users see http://www.gsi.gov.uk/main/notices/information/gsi-003-2002.pdf for further details. In case of problems, please call your organisational IT helpdesk