Aggravating, huh? This might help you sort out if you have a case or not. "Copyright, a form of intellectual property law, protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture. Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed." From: http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/ To me, this says that you cannot copyright the fact that John Smith's death notice appeared in a Buffalo newspaper on a certain date, even if no one put that fact online before you. Everyone may cite published information (death notices qualify) without violating copyright law. But you might be able to copyright the way you organized and presented your compilation of newspaper citations. From what I saw, the offending website did not duplicate your design, layout, or arrangement of citations. Unfortunately, you might be in the same position as phone book publishers: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Intellectual_Property_Rights/SEMHM2M26WD_0.html Neverthless, I can sympathize. I had one of my pages at Buffalo Roots plagiarized back in the '90s. The offender had duplicated all my links (which is permitted--on the web, anyone can link to anyone else), but duplicated them in the same order in the same categories I'd developed, with all of my original annotations, word for word (which is not permitted). I complained, my webhost complained, and the culprit apologized and removed the page. Disclaimer: I am not an attorney, nor do I play one on TV. I claim no particular copyright expertise. --- Logic <logic@buffnet.net> wrote: > Hi Gang > > As Most Of You Know I Have A Website Containing My Database > http://www.buffnet.net/~logic/ Select Death Notices 1880 - > 2004 > > While Googling Around I Wandered Into This Site > http://www.obits.cc/obit/569.html And Found MY List Of Death > Notices, Each > Name Linking Not Back To My Page But To http://www.obits.cc/ > > On That Page A Paragraph I Am Upset With Is: > > "There are three kinds of supporters of this site; personal, > corporate, and > genealogical history groups or affiliates. All groups may have > additional > sites that may duplicate information found here." > > This Is MY Work....I Didn't Duplicate Anything...They Copied > My Work!! > There Is No Doubt About This Since I Decided To List The > Surnames For > Females By Any/ALL ie: EBERLE-MORAN-MILLER, Geraldine > > > I Offer My Work FREE To Help People, This Obits.cc Site Is > Charging People!! > I Began My Work Over 5 Years Ago & My 1st Installment Is In > Print Form At > The Buffalo & Erie County Public Library (Central) And Also > At The Family > History Center On Maple Rd. > > Can Anyone Give Me Some Insights As To What Course Of Action I > Might Take? > > Jan > > > ==== NYERIE Mailing List ==== > To contact the List Administrator: Dick Rose <dtrose@cox.net> > See the Archived Messages at: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/ > > ============================== > Find your ancestors in the Birth, Marriage and Death Records. > New content added every business day. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13964/rd.ashx > > *:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:**:-.,_,.-* Cynthia Van Ness, MLS, bettybarcode AT yahoo DOT com www.buffaloresearch.com "My heart is moved by all I cannot save: So much has been destroyed I have to cast my lot with those who, age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world." -Adrienne Rich