Hi Linda et al, Under UK law, copyright is automatic on any document that is produced, be it on paper or in electronic files. *It does not have to have a copyright symbol or say "coopyright" on it*. This applies to CD roms, books, magazines etc. You may hear the term "Public Domain" bandied around sometimes - beware! Public domain means that you can copy it (but usually not modify it) and is usually used in the wrong sense to mean "publicly available" as in "to be found on the Internet". For a document (or software) to be "in the Public Domain", it should say so on it, complete with the author's name. If it doesn't say this (or appear in a list or public domain items) then it isn't in the public domain and should not be copied etc., unless it is out of copyright. The fact that Rod has given permission to use snippets from his CDs on the mailing lists and I haven't doesn't mean that he is giving you permission to copy his CDs (and I'm sure he would be most upset and come chasing you very quickly if you did), and there is a fine line between "a small extract" and breach of copyright, and this line is up to the copyright owner to define. If you are in doubt, ask the copyright owner for permission to use his or her data. With regard to the BVI and census discs, I think I have answered the question, but I do believe that it someone wants more than one or two extracts from these that they should be buying the discs - I know that some people (not on this list) have asked for over 20. Mailing lists should exist to allow subscribers access to the expertise of others, not for the subscribers to avoid having to pay for information that others have paid for (IMHO). Incidently, on the Genuki Yorkshire site you will find transcriptions of the following books (among others), so you can do your own look-ups: 1791 Hull Directory 1822 Langdale's Topographical Dictionary of Yorkshire. 1833 A Guide to Richmond (Yorks of course!) 1881 The Northowram Non-conformist Register (1644-1752) 1892 Yorkshire Folk Talk (about Dialect) 1928 The British Workman (about a farm worker) 1822/3 Baines' Yorkshire (both volumes) 1834 Pigots directory of Yorkshire 1837 White's West Yorkshire 1840 White's Directory (East, North and Ainsty) 1853 White's West Yorkshire 1890 Bulmer's North Yorkshire (not the 1891 version which includes Claro) 1891 White's West Yorkshire 1892 Bulmer's East Yorkshire The first section above you will find as complete books. The second section is the books which have been used to build the parish pages (plus Langdales) - the transcriptions for Baines, Bulmers, Whites 1834 are completed (Baine's West is directories only, the gazetteer sections being very similar to Langdales), the remaining transcriptions are in various stages of completion. You are welcome to quote from these on the mailing lists but you must quote the URL of the page you got them from. They remain the copyright of the transcribers. There is of course loads of other information on the site too! (URL in my signature below). ------------------------------------- As an aside: A week ago I received a message, part of which says: >>>>>>>>> I am intending to write a family history based on this ........ family. I would like to get your permission to 1. Include excerpts of this History of Yorkshire, quoted in the text. 2. To possibly include sections or the whole, as an appendix in the book. Book will be distributed to family members, and possibly genealogical libraries. <<<<<<<<< The History of Yorkshire he's talking about is that linked to under "History" on the Genuki Yorkshire main page and is about 80 pages of Bulmer's 1890 North Yorkshire. This transcription represents about 2 days work for two people (double transcription so that a comparison check can be made to remove errors). It seems to me that he's trying to "pack out" his book so that it's a reasonable size? Would you give permission if you had done the work? (You will note that there is no mention of the cost to anyone, nor does he say he's actually going to distribute to genealogical libraries). ------------- Best wishes, Colin Hinson In the village of Blunham in Bedfordshire U.K. Maintainer of the Genuki Yorkshire pages: http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/ Rare Books on CD: http://www.blunham.demon.co.uk/CDroms/ Baine's & Bulmers directories, History of Craven, Heywood/Northowram, National gazetteer of Great Britain & Ireland, Whelan's York & NRY >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Hi everyone, I am not sure which pieces of information Colin thinks may be breaking copyright. The only CDs mentioned, as far as I am aware, were the Baines Directory and the Return of Owners Land. I bought these CDs from Archive CD Books. Am I breaking copyright by sharing some of the information contained within them? Had I not done this with another excellent CD from Archive CD Books I would have lost them a sale. In that instance, a small snippet on a particular subject did whet an appetite, as John suggests, and the person ordered and received his own copy. Does this copyright extend to the census and BVI disks aswell? If people did not do look ups from these, there would be no point in most mailing lists, as these form a large percentage of the discussions at present. Linda Clitheroe