There is some question as to rather an electronic reproduction and written/printed document are the same. There is no law wherein you cannot share with others of common interest material wherein: a: The amount of material shared does not degrade the marketability of the copyrighted text in its entirety. b: The material is not generally available to the public. c: The material shared is not for profit. d: A copyright is for original material and not that which is copied from public records! (Conclusion) This has been challenged many times in the courts where the court has found that a book/text can be broken down into sections. The original conclusions or comments of the author are protected by copyright but not the public records contained within the same book/text. These remain public documents and can be shared, posted reprinted to your hearts content. A good example is the New England Dictionary published in 1829. A person whom I will not name found the book, typed the information for electronic publication and called it copyrighted! This is just not how the copyright laws work nor is it how they were intended to work. A genealogical study is a research project not an attempt to plagiarize original works. When information is taken from more than two sources, IT'S RESEARCH. Articles written and published monthly, quarterly etc. in genealogical publications is copyrighted. You may extract portions, insert your own comment and it is not copyrighted. Again, an article that quotes original material is only protected for that portion of original content. The preoccupation with copyright law by persons who operate these mail list's is totally beyond me. I question rather any genealogical publication produced for the distribution of it's members is copyrighted at all! I arrive at this for the following reason. Members pay a monthly or annual membership fee. The material is produced for its members as a result of their membership. This means that any member can then copy and freely distribute information generated as a result of their membership. It short, the material belongs as much to any member as the group as a whole. If a member sells an original publication, then he has sold the rights to this material to the person that takes possession. Regards, Jim Hawes