Hi Everyone - Well, it seems my question has been answered by someone I was told would know. I can't remember who originally sent me the heads up, but I would like to thank her, as I would have gotten in trouble! I'm pasting in the response for everyone to read so everyone is aware. When you see >'s this is parts of the original message I sent him. Dear Deborah, > >You were referred to me by Carol Gromer The referral is based on my 9 years teaching college writing, including research papers. >who is on a few genealogy mailing >lists with me, and also, as we've very recently discovered, a distant >cousin. Carol and I are cousined about 6 or 7 times that we know of. > >I have a book, it's a reprint, of Genealogical Data, which I thought I >would share with others on my genealogy mailing lists for certain counties >in New Jersey, basically, the counties this information comes from. >Anyway, someone mentioned yesterday that I may have a copyright problem and >may not be able to do this as it would violate the copyright laws. > >Now, I have searched, and I mean searched, both books and there is no >copyright mark in either one, essentially, I take that to mean, there is no >copyright on them. Under US Law, once a person sets pen to paper, the author has the right to the copy. The mark is a statement of that copyright, but its absence does not void the rights of the author or publisher. >Also, this information is all a matter of public >record, it can be accessed from any of various Genealogical Societies, >County Courthouses, depending on the year, or the State Archives. Absolutely. But most of what is done in research is a matter of public record. The author, by selecting what to include and by organizing it in a particular way, has added his or her intellectual input to the information. It is this intellectual activity in research, not so much the "facts," that is protected by copyright laws. Furthermore, the author (or compiler) has actually done the work of rounding up the information, so he or she deserves the credit for doing the work. >One more >thing, I do give the name of the book, as well as the "compiler" of the >information. This is essential in "fair use" situations. That is, you are welcome to restate small parts of a work (book, manuscript, song, poem, etc.) if you credit the author (compiler, transcriber, translator) for the work. Copying the entire work or the bulk of a work, however, is not included in "fair use." That activity violates copyright laws. >The reprint was done by the Gloucester County Historical >Society, does that give them automatic copy rights? Yes, they hold the copyright. >Or is it simply okay >to do this as long as I'm stating where the information comes from and >giving credit to the person who compiled it? Would I also need to give >credit to the Gloucester County Historical Society? What you would need is permission from the Gloucester County Historical Society. I doubt that you will get it, however. As a former trustee of the Society, I understand that the socity funds their operation significantly from the sale of the books. Why give it away? They sell the books at a reasonable cost and provide researchers with useful information. The purchase price funds many wonderful activities orchestrated by the Gloucester County Historical Society. >I ask this because I >believe the original author, has passed. Wait 70 years. In fact, the waiting period before a work passes into the public domain is rather complex because of law changes through the years. See http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm for a run-down. But you do not want to copy the original author. Now the historic society publishes the book either because they picked it up from the public domain or they obtained permission from the original publisher to publish it. [I imagine the original publisher was compiler, J. Stanley Craig.] In short, do not post anything or otherwise publish anything in full or in significant part without prior permission of the author and/or publisher. Public documents, by the way, are not copyrighted, so you may copy them and use them as you like. Translations and transcriptions (say, of difficult-to-read script) are usually the property of the translator or transcriber. Of course, I have only presented the simplified version. There is more to it. I hope this helps you decide to promote the historic society's publication. Certainly, you my extract various facts from the book and cite the original. don't, however, republish the book without a prior written agreement. So ends the pages of the book being sent out, I will however continue to do look-ups as that seems to be alright. :-) Take care - Deb _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx