In a message dated 3/28/02 3:28:31 PM Eastern Standard Time, [email protected] writes: << What about look ups from the book? If a specific name is requested for a look up can the results be posted without breaking copy write laws? Helen >> http://www.usgenweb.org/volunteers/copyright.html Read and then click on The USGenWeb Project Lookup Permission Statement -- What is needed from the copyright holder. The new rules for the webpages say "The only way to protect The USGenWeb Project as a whole, and each of us as participants in the project, is to remove all lookup offers for which you do not have written permission or have not determined that the source is in public domain and, therefore, requiring no permission." The general rule in the past was quoting one or two references, for example two gravestones or marriages was acceptable. It keys on whether you are damaging a person's ability to make a profit from their labor. I am not an attorney but I think it would be wise not to post to the list without a permission slip. I realize that genealogy books are expensive and many times do not have anything on what we are searching for. If you can't or won't buy the book, I recommend borrowing it on inter-library loan. Maillists are archived. I recommend only publishing lookups from books published before 1923. Lookups from Original Records are acceptable. For example: If I look in Garland Bagley's History of Forsyth County, Georgia Volume I on page 143 and quote "no. 1 appraised 7th Sept 1836 Rans Bird Harris, a white man, Chattahoochee River...." I might be violating his copyright. If I reach in my file cabinet and take out my original typed copy of my transcription from the microfilm of Valuations -( Mine would probably be filed under microcopy number) it would still read: "1 appraised 7th Sept 1836 Rans Bird Harris, a white man, Chattahoochee River...." I know because Garland used my original transcriptions. The second is my original work. Donna