I have yet to be introduced or welcomed by this group, so you may not know who I am. My name is Amy Hedrick and I am the new CC for Glynn County, I have taken over for Susan Peterson. On the copyright issue, I have talked to the national copyright law offices a few months ago when I made a CD of the Brunswick City Directories and they said that you can use anything that is of a public record, that includes court records, cemetery transcriptions, telephone books, etc. However, if someone puts it together in, lets say microfilm, you can not copy that microfilm and sell it as your own but you can extract the info and use it as your own because only the film is copyrighted not the info on it (if it is of a public record). My CD that I made, can not be copyrighted, only the format it is in and it is automatically copyrighted, I do not have to put copyright notice on it. You can not take my CD and copy it exactly and sell it as your own or upload it to the internet, that would be infringing on my rights. By you can take those images, save them in a different format, or use my CD and transcribe those books, and not give me credit because it is public information. Everything you publish is automatically copyrighted even photographs you take. In order to get a legal copyright you have to pay for it, and it has to be for something that is an original work like a photograph, or a history book, or novel, or song, etc. Many of these people who are putting together indexes and cemetery books and selling them are under the misconception that other people can not copy them without their permission. In one sense they are right, but if you change the format you can very well do what you want with it, there is no copyright. Now, if you are directly related to the people in your cemetery book or family history book, the public records you extracted are copyrighted within your publication and can not be used without your permission, but good luck proving someone took it from your book. Anyone can go to a cemetery and get the info off of the stones, so if someone makes a book, you can take the info from it also, as long as the author of the book isn't related to the people in it. So you can use LDS public record microfilms as long as you don't put a direct image of it online without their permission, and you don't make copies of it and sell it. You can extract the information and do what you want with it, how will they know you got it from their microfilm and not the courthouse and again they can't copyright the information, the national copyright law offices say so. Now their publications, or other books that they have on microfilm are copyrighted, by them, and by the original publisher. You can not use this information as public info without permission. The original publisher gave LDS permission to microfilm and sell their books, and books written before 1923 are no longer under copyright law so LDS can microfilm them and sell them without permission, and you can take info from them without permission, you just can't use the actual images from the microfilm or copy the microfilm and sell it as your own. Is everyone confused now? Amy Hedrick ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim & Gaila" <gaila@merrington.net> To: <GAGEN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, May 25, 2003 5:08 PM Subject: Fw: [GAGEN] LDS does not hold the copyrights because they film > > > I agree Margie, wouldn't it seem that the LDS is talking more about their > "published" works - personal memoirs and family histories as well as > published books more than the Census or public records materials such as > land deeds? > Best regards, > Gaila > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "margie" <margie@majorinternet.net> > > To: <GAGEN-L@rootsweb.com> > > Sent: Monday, May 26, 2003 3:58 AM > > Subject: [GAGEN] LDS does not hold the copyrights because they film > > > > > > > LDS does not hold the copyrights to public records. > > > > > > Just because the LDS filmed the data does not give them any copyrights. > > These microfilm are exact copies of the files in the court records or > other > > official records. > > > > > > For example. North Carolina's old county records are at their state > > archives. If LDS is the agency that microfilmed these records they > > certainly don't hold copyrights to them. > > > > > > Margie > > > > > > ==== GAGEN Mailing List ==== > For researching SURNAMES, check out GAGenWeb's new help page with links > to the most popular Surname sites: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~gagenweb/cchelp/surname/ > > >

At 05:52 PM 5/25/03 -0400, you wrote: >My name is Amy Hedrick and I am the new CC for Glynn County, I have taken >over for Susan Peterson. Welcome Amy! >Many of these people who are putting together indexes and cemetery books and >selling them are under the misconception that other people can not copy them >without their permission. In one sense they are right, but if you change >the format you can very well do what you want with it, there is no >copyright. You are correct here. Only the format is what can be copyrighted. We published seven volumes on the Land Records of Cherokee County Georgia. the first book was abstracted from the microfilm at the State Archives. The other six were done in the LDS Library in Powder Springs. The film I used is probably still there. I obtained it on a permanent loan. I tried to get permission from the Clerk of Court in Cherokee County to purchase the film from the State Archives. They were very much against this move. However, they could not stop anyone from working from the microfilm, or the original records to do an abstract. The LDS can, and do sell the microfilm when they can get permission from the party to holds the actual records. But public records are open to the public, but some would like to put a stop to that. <g> Again, welcome to the group. Wyndell Taylor

>I have yet to be introduced or welcomed by this group, so you may not know who I am. My name is Amy Hedrick and I am the new CC for Glynn County, I have taken over for Susan Peterson.< Amy, A sincere welcome! Sounds like you are no stranger to genealogy. Thanks for sharing the good information with us. And for introducing yourself. ;-) Sharon Driver Wright CCC Ware County

Welcome Amy and thank you for a very informative explanation of the LDS copyright. This is very helpful. Liz Robertson ----- Original Message ----- From: "Amy Hedrick" <amylyn@btconline.net> To: <GAGEN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, May 25, 2003 5:52 PM Subject: Re: [GAGEN] LDS does not hold the copyrights because they film I have yet to be introduced or welcomed by this group, so you may not know who I am. My name is Amy Hedrick and I am the new CC for Glynn County, I have taken over for Susan Peterson. On the copyright issue, I have talked to the national copyright law offices a few months ago when I made a CD of the Brunswick City Directories and they said that you can use anything that is of a public record, that includes court records, cemetery transcriptions, telephone books, etc. However, if someone puts it together in, lets say microfilm, you can not copy that microfilm and sell it as your own but you can extract the info and use it as your own because only the film is copyrighted not the info on it (if it is of a public record). My CD that I made, can not be copyrighted, only the format it is in and it is automatically copyrighted, I do not have to put copyright notice on it. You can not take my CD and copy it exactly and sell it as your own or upload it to the internet, that would be infringing on my rights. By you can take those images, save them in a different format, or use my CD and transcribe those books, and not give me credit because it is public information. Everything you publish is automatically copyrighted even photographs you take. In order to get a legal copyright you have to pay for it, and it has to be for something that is an original work like a photograph, or a history book, or novel, or song, etc. Many of these people who are putting together indexes and cemetery books and selling them are under the misconception that other people can not copy them without their permission. In one sense they are right, but if you change the format you can very well do what you want with it, there is no copyright. Now, if you are directly related to the people in your cemetery book or family history book, the public records you extracted are copyrighted within your publication and can not be used without your permission, but good luck proving someone took it from your book. Anyone can go to a cemetery and get the info off of the stones, so if someone makes a book, you can take the info from it also, as long as the author of the book isn't related to the people in it. So you can use LDS public record microfilms as long as you don't put a direct image of it online without their permission, and you don't make copies of it and sell it. You can extract the information and do what you want with it, how will they know you got it from their microfilm and not the courthouse and again they can't copyright the information, the national copyright law offices say so. Now their publications, or other books that they have on microfilm are copyrighted, by them, and by the original publisher. You can not use this information as public info without permission. The original publisher gave LDS permission to microfilm and sell their books, and books written before 1923 are no longer under copyright law so LDS can microfilm them and sell them without permission, and you can take info from them without permission, you just can't use the actual images from the microfilm or copy the microfilm and sell it as your own. Is everyone confused now? Amy Hedrick ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim & Gaila" <gaila@merrington.net> To: <GAGEN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, May 25, 2003 5:08 PM Subject: Fw: [GAGEN] LDS does not hold the copyrights because they film > > > I agree Margie, wouldn't it seem that the LDS is talking more about their > "published" works - personal memoirs and family histories as well as > published books more than the Census or public records materials such as > land deeds? > Best regards, > Gaila > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "margie" <margie@majorinternet.net> > > To: <GAGEN-L@rootsweb.com> > > Sent: Monday, May 26, 2003 3:58 AM > > Subject: [GAGEN] LDS does not hold the copyrights because they film > > > > > > > LDS does not hold the copyrights to public records. > > > > > > Just because the LDS filmed the data does not give them any copyrights. > > These microfilm are exact copies of the files in the court records or > other > > official records. > > > > > > For example. North Carolina's old county records are at their state > > archives. If LDS is the agency that microfilmed these records they > > certainly don't hold copyrights to them. > > > > > > Margie > > > > > > ==== GAGEN Mailing List ==== > For researching SURNAMES, check out GAGenWeb's new help page with links > to the most popular Surname sites: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~gagenweb/cchelp/surname/ > > > ==== GAGEN Mailing List ==== This list is for volunteers of the GAGenWeb Project. If you wish to address only the GAGenWeb Board, send your email to: <GAGENWEB-L@rootsweb.com>