Recently, I noticed questions and comments on "copyrights" and thought you might be interested in what Family Treemaker had to say on the subject.----- Original Message ----- From: Jeanne Gaylord <jeanneg@ipa.net> To: <READ-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, May 01, 1999 5:58 PM Subject: Re: [READ-L] Copyright > Here's what Family Treemaker says on the subject: > FamilyFinder Index > > When you're not sure if something is OK, consider these three rules of > the "Fair Use" doctrine of U.S. copyright law. > 1. Purpose and Character of the Use -- If it is for non-profit or > educational purposes, it may be fair. If it is for commercial > gain, it may be unfair. > 2. Amount and Substantiality of the Portion Used -- It must not be > too large compared to the copyrighted work as a whole. > 3. Effect of the Use on the Copyrighted Work -- It must not harm the > potential market for, or value of, the work. > > If a publisher such as a software company perceives that his copyright > has been violated, he can bring legal action against the person or > company suspected. Courts then use the rules of Fair Use to determine > whether the copyright actually has been violated. > > > Why are Family Archives Copyrighted? > > The fourth rule of Fair Use defines what can be copyrighted: > * Nature of Copyrighted Work -- The work must be original to deserve > copyright protection. > > We start with information dispersed in public and private records. > Then, our professional staff adds value to that data by selecting > which records and data fields to compile, filling in missing or > incomplete areas, interpreting ambiguous information, arranging their > compilation in a unique format, and adding retrieval software to make > the data easy to search. These five points produce a work that is > original enough to merit a copyright. > > > Abuse of Copyright > > Businesses like ours will only be able to keep publishing genealogical > CD-ROMs as long as it makes sense economically, so we must insist that > users be conscientious in observing copyright law. > > The following are considered copyright violations: > * Systematically making a Family Archive CD available to more than > one person at a time. > * Systematically making large parts of a Family Archive CD's contents > available to others. > * Systematically offering free look-ups on Family Archive CDs to > several individuals. > * Uploading all or part of a Family Archive CD's contents onto an > electronic bulletin board. > * Circulating a printout taken straight off the Family Archive CD. > > Examples of "large parts" that are too much to share are (1) the whole > Family Archive CD, or (2) the results of more than two blanket > searches (all or most records that match a search for name, date of > birth, or other generic characteristic). If someone else wants to > use your Family Archive for such a broad search, they are clearly > expecting to find a lot of useful information on it. That makes them > a potential Family Archive customer, so allowing such free access to > your Family Archive would be a violation of Fair Use. > > We trust you to use your best judgment when deciding what is and isn't > acceptable use of a Family Archive. However, you should remember that > when Family Archive owners ignore their responsibility, we cannot renew > the resources needed to keep bringing valuable data and software to > genealogists. > > > Frequently Asked Questions > > Can I charge people a fee to let them use my Family Archives? > > No. It is not Fair Use to "rent" your Family Archive CDs. Such use, > especially if you publicize an offer, is a violation of Fair Use > because it harms our potential market. You may, however, charge > people a fee for your research services if you look up information for > them on your Family Archives and add value to the information. Still, > the information you deliver to your clients should not be copied > electronically off the Family Archive CDs (as a screen download or > printout), because that requires no expertise, takes only mechanical > effort, and does not add any value to the copyrighted work. Instead, > you would want to deliver the information in the form of an original > pedigree tree, for example. Asking someone to pay for a screen download > is so similar to renting your Family Archive CD that it's not > considered Fair Use. > > What if my neighbor wants to look up her grandfather on my Family > Archives? > > That's fine. Your neighbor has a specific person in mind, and she'll > only be using a tiny portion of the data from your Family Archive CD. > If she later buys a different Family Archive CD of her own, hopefully > she'll return the favor and let you do a search or two! > > Can I use Family Archives to answer a search request on an electronic > bulletin board? > > No. Posting the results of a broad search onto an electronic bulletin > board is always a violation of copyright, because the information is > projected to a large number of people. On the other hand, if you and > another specific person want to use e-mail to communicate with each > other, it's fine to share small quantities of specific data from your > Family Archives. As long as your messages aren't being broadcast to > an entire bulletin board community, e-mail can be a real time-saver > for checking and finding family history facts quickly. > Jeanne (Reed) Gaylord > >