Subject: [GenConnect-L] Obits / copyright etc. Hi all, I'm on digest mode and so a bit late on this discussion....however I wanted to add some comments to this: >>I have permission to post all the obits from our local paper but was >>told to take 'em down because they listed surviving relatives. So now I >>abstract them and leave out that part. Lessens their value but that is >>the rule of Texas GenWeb. Why?? This doesn't seem logical. It was the "living relatives" who made their names public in the first place.....by providing the obit information (either directly or thru the funeral home) TO a public newspaper! (and depending upon which paper, the obit would be online and searchable anyway on that newpaper's website!) As for copyright...... (good reference site is http://www.bitlaw.com/copyright/) Copyright has at its heart and soul two very simple issues: plagiarism and money. It's civil legal action (not criminal) in which the owner of the writing believes (s)he has suffered "damages"...and seeks to stop the offender and generally to recover claimed financial losses. If you use common sense, are forthright and honest, then you're gonna be okay. Common sense tells you that if you reprint the entire newspaper on line.....or if you post one of Stephen King's novels as your own <g>.....you're in trouble. ;-) But if you are reprinting (or requoting <g>) a portion of a larger work, and if you make reasonable effort to accurately attribute the source.......and if you're not *selling* this.....then you should be pretty all right. Remember the rules of direct attribution and footnoting from school days? When you're talking about copyright, you have to remember the "fair use doctrine"......now a part of the Copyright Act...that takes into account these four factors in determining copyright violation: [see more about this on http://www.bitlaw.com/copyright/fair_use.html#fair_use ] >1.the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of >commercial nature > or is for nonprofit educational purposes; > 2.the nature of the copyrighted work; > 3.the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the >copyrighted work as a > whole; and > 4.the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the >copyrighted work. You don't get much more non-commercial than GenWeb ;-)....whose main purpose is education and research. The lion's share of information you are quoting is of a factual nature from non-fiction sources.....(we aren't really dealing much with novels here, folks ;-) ) So item #4 is the only thing you really have to ponder....and in most cases, that's not going to be an issue when it comes to your site. More often than not, you might wind up *increasing* the attractiveness of the publication....and your attribution might even be an advertisement, esp. if you are providing information on where the source might be purchased. Just my 20¢ worth ;-) Sandy Hi all, this just happened to pop up today on one of my lists....so thought that I would pass it on. Shourld ans a qquestion or two here..... and my librarian said that so long as we don't copy more then 1/3 of a book we are safe... so if there are 4 or 5 of us copying then we will not be copying the 1/3 that is allowed....... And I really doubt that any one would run copies of this thing as it is a HUGE book..... tho they may down load .... So I don't know.... Jeannie <>< Vance Co NCGenWeb http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncvance/ > ==== GenConnect Mailing List ==== Admin Center http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/AdminCenter