This information might help clear things up. The information on genealogy copyright can be found at: http://www.pddoc.com/copyright/genealogy_copyright_fundamentals.htm Tidbits regarding genealogy copyright from this site are: If an original work of authorship was created after 1977, it's copyrighted and it's going to be for a very long time. The earliest that any work created after that will lose its copyright will be about 2049 - that's assuming that the author died right after he authored the work. If it was created before 1923, there is no copyright on it any more, so long as it was published. If it wasn't published, it may still be protected by copyright. Works published before March 1, 1989 without proper copyright notice are almost always in the public domain because, under the law that existed before that, a proper copyright notice was required for copyright protection. Works published from 1923 to 1963 had to be renewed after an initial copyright term for protection to continue. The U.S. Copyright Office estimates that over 90% of works eligible for renewal were never renewed. Only original expression protected All that's protected under copyright is the author's original expression. The protected material must have been independently created by the author with at least some minimal amount of creativity. Anything in a work that isn't the author's original expression isn't protected by his copyright. Facts can't be original expression No one can claim originality in a fact. At best, a person may discover a fact. If he discovers it and documents it, he has not created it. He has only reported it. There is no originality In other words, if you list "Harry Whosit" as the name and October 21, 2008 as the date of his birth they are facts and aren't subject to copyright. If you state that "Harry Whosit" was or is an opinionated, insufferable, pompous horse beater, and this information isn't in print anywhere that is your original expression. And if "Whosit" is still alive you better be able to support the allegations! ;o) Judy

In the strict sense of copyright facts cannot be copyright protected. Entire works can however be copyrighted so that no one can, as someone suggested, make an exact copy of the Humphrey book and publish it elsewhere. It is risky for a lookup person to publish the answers to queries on a public, permanently archived list. Authors do search for mention of their works and even if a lawsuit wasn't able to support itself in court it wouldn't necessarily stop an author from filing a suit, claiming the overall of their copyright is damaged by publishing in a public forum so much of it as to make it no longer valid (for purchase). Any legal action, even if it is ruled in your favor, can be very expensive, time consuming and stressful. Copyright is meant to encourage authors to continue to publish, whether original or resource factual information. If we want people to continue to publish resource material (and they really do not make much money at all) then we need to be considerate of the work that goes into creating compilations of genealogical facts by not putting all their work online for anyone to view for years to come. People will stop writing and researching genealogy books if they get absolutely nothing back from it. Offline private answers to queries from this book are the best way to go so that Maggie is not put in an awkward position and so that the author and others like him continue to provide this resource material for us. Kathi Jones-Hudson MD Tombstone Transcription Project Manager http://www.rootsweb.com/~cemetery/maryland/maryland.html ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for earth-friendly autos? Browse Top Cars by "Green Rating" at Yahoo! Autos' Green Center. http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/