This doesn't concern Chester County, per se, but is a question on genealogical "ethics". I have been sent a bunch of data from another researcher (and, I assume this is sent to others, too, and probably 'published' on the web), and within the data is a section NOT on dates and places, but about the geography and history of the area.....something I wrote several years ago - word for word. There is, of course, no mention of where she found this, and it's inclusion into her files certainly makes it appear that it is her own 'work'. This is REALLY irksome, and I wrote her, asking that if she uses MY work and MY words, she mention MY name.....I've not heard from her, of course, but wonder how others of you might have handled similar experiences you've had in the past. Sandra -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.405 / Virus Database: 268.12.9/457 - Release Date: 9/26/2006
Sandra: Plagiarism is using othersÂ’ ideas and words without clearly acknowledging the source of that information. Copyright infringement is copying or publishing someone else's entire exact work. This seems to be what is happening here - your work is being infringed. Fair Use could apply here, which means publishing part of a copyright protected work for educational or research purposes, if they did not use all of the work or if publishing it does not 'degrade' the copyright. If you copyrighted the work that's been infringed with the US Copyright Office more than 90 days prior to the infringement then you can prove it's yours and file suit. However, for most of us when we publish on the web, we don't do the official copyrighting and it becomes difficult if not impossible to prove we are the original copyright holder. Bottom line: if you don't want people to infringe, either officially copyright or don't publish on the web. Just too many people out there with no manners and no understanding that they should not be publishing someone else's work without permission. Kathi Jones-Hudson MD Tombstone Transcription Project Manager http://www.rootsweb.com/~cemetery/maryland/maryland.html __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com