This is a follow up to my previous post. Here are two examples of newspaper copyright statements on obituaries. First from the Anchorage Daily News- Copyright: All death notices and obituaries become the property of the Daily News and may be republished in any format. Questions? Call our obituary writers at 257-4452 weekdays or 257-4307 Saturdays. We do not process obituaries on Sundays. The in-state, toll-free number is 1-800-478-4200, ext. 452 or 307. See www.adn.com/news/obituaries/ with links for guidelines, tips to avoid editing and a sample obituary. First they make an unsubstantiated claim that the notices and obituaries become their property. There is no way under copyright law that they can back this up. Death notices are nearly always just the facts about a death and facts cannot be copyrighted. Secondly, merely claiming something to be your property in no way makes it in fact your. To their credit they do then give blanket permission for republication. Second from The Buffalo News © 2009 The Buffalo News. The information you receive online from The Buffalo News is protected by the copyright laws of the United States. The copyright laws prohibit any copying, redistributing, re-transmitting, or re-purposing of any copyright-protected material. The folks in Buffalo are much more careful. They carefully state that copyright laws prohibit the "copying, redistributing, re-transmitting, or re-purposing of any copyright-protected material" without ever stating what is copyrighted. A reader might assume from that statement that they are claiming to hold the copyright to the material above the notice but they really are not. Other papers do this differently but the bottom line is still that the newspapers are not the copyright holders unless they were the creators of the obituaries. --- On Mon, 3/30/09, Richard & Jene Cheek <cheekfamok@yahoo.com> wrote: > From: Richard & Jene Cheek <cheekfamok@yahoo.com> > Subject: Re: [ILMACOUP] Obits and Copyright > To: ilmacoup@rootsweb.com > Date: Monday, March 30, 2009, 4:20 PM > Just to muddy the water on copyrights. Just because the > newspapers print a copyright notice next the obituaries does > not mean they actually hold the copyright to a particular > obituary. The copyright belongs to the creator or the one > who originally wrote the obituary. This is more often than > not the family or the funeral home who submitted the > original obituary to the newspaper. Even if the newspaper > edits the obituary, they must substantially change it from > the original form in order to claim copyright. To my > knowledge there have been no court cases which held that a > newspaper held copyright to an an obituary written by > another party. Consequently they (the newspapers) have no > right to restrict others from copying and or reprinting the > material. What can object to is a photocopy or pdf file of > an entire page or a substantial part of a page. It is the > page that is copyrighted not the text of the obituaries. I > know there are many genealogy and > family history sites that will not let you publish > obituaries because of the newspapers' claim to hold > copyright, but the copyright laws are very clear that it is > the creator who holds the copyright. So the only one who has > a legal right to object to someone copying or reprinting an > obituary is the one who wrote it. > > <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<| > >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > "I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, > only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its > stupidity." -General Dwight David Eisenhower > > > --- On Mon, 3/30/09, Debbi Geer <dgirth@yahoo.com> > wrote: > > > From: Debbi Geer <dgirth@yahoo.com> > > Subject: [ILMACOUP] Obits and Copyright > > To: ilmacoup@rootsweb.com > > Date: Monday, March 30, 2009, 12:01 PM > > While we're on the subject of photos and use of > them, > > note that obituaries are copyrighted.  The copyright > > belongs to the newspaper owner.  Thus no obit should > appear > > online without the owner's permission and that > > permission must be noted.  Otherwise you are > infringing > > upon the copyright.  Copyright for obits follow the > book > > publication years - 75 years after published. > > > > The best way to avoid copyright infringement of obits > is to > > do an abstract.  I use this type when I'm at a > library > > where photocopy services are not available with the > > microfilm reader.  I simply use a form I created (and > can > > be used by anyone) with the following info - > > > > Name of Deceased > > Name of Newspaper > > Date of Newspaper > > Birth Date > > Birth Place > > Parents > > Spouse > > Marriage Date > > Marriage Place > > Death Date > > Death Place > > Age at time of Death > > Children and if given Address > > Grandchildren (number unless named) > > Great-Grandchildren (number unless named) > > Great-Great-Grandchildren (number unless named) > > Siblings w/wo Spouse and if given Address > > Burial Date > > Burial Place > > Funeral Home > > Other info such as military, hobbies, organizations > > > > > > This gives you all the info from the obit but because > it is > > not in a sentence/paragraph setup it does not violate > the > > copyright law.  (I worked with copyright for numerous > years > > as part of my job and would question those more > > knowledgeable at conferences about genealogical > needs.) > > > > > > Debbi > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Check out Macoupin County ILGenWeb page at > > http://www.macoupinctygenealogy.org/. > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > ILMACOUP-request@rootsweb.com with the word > > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the > subject and > > the body of the message > > > > > > Check out Macoupin County ILGenWeb page at > http://www.macoupinctygenealogy.org/. > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ILMACOUP-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and > the body of the message