Obituaries are rarely original works produced by the newspaper. They are almost always provided to the paper by the funeral home or by the family and are usually paid for by either the funeral home or the family. I publish three newspapers and we have never written an obituary, nor have we ever been asked for permission to use an obit. The news stories that I write or I pay reporters to write are the only things on which I can claim intellectual property. Dale Grimm OHGenWeb SC On 5/3/2012 12:53 AM, Judy White wrote: > I was told that if the person paid for the obit to be put in the paper it > can be used, if the paper did it without charge they owned the copyright. > > Judy > > On Wed, May 2, 2012 at 9:34 PM, Matthew D. Friend< > blindgenealogist@gmail.com> wrote: > >> I have a question for you folks! I never heard of this before in all the >> years I been doing genealogy while scanning things to be in electronic >> format for my own personal resource library. Why would someone state such >> thing. Any ideas or thoughts on this? >> >> "Recently, I received newspaper clippings from a woman in California who >> belongs to a Genealogy society. She sent me obituaries and death notices of >> Idahoans who died either in CA or had CA connections. Some were from the >> following : Boise, Blackfoot, Roy, Montpelier, and Oakley, Idaho. I was >> told that to scan these newspaper clippings might go against copyright >> laws. >> " >> >> Matt Friend >> >> -- >> *Matthew D. Friend* >> Conway, Arkansas >> Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MatthewDFriend >> Twitter: @matthewdfriend >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> STATE-COORD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> > >

Not so many years ago newspaper wrote their own obits. I have written many. Today what has been said is true - although the newspapers do not hesitate to resell them to places which then charge to view them. However, in the past newspapers owned the obits. Thus it depends on when the obit was printed. Modern obits often say "provided by the funeral home" or "provided by the family." In actual usage newspapers generally don't complain about obits including their own. But don't put the obit for a famous person or local prominent person. Those are written in house. On Thu, May 3, 2012 at 4:38 AM, Dale Grimm <dale@kbanet.com> wrote: > Obituaries are rarely original works produced by the newspaper. They > are almost always provided to the paper by the funeral home or by the > family and are usually paid for by either the funeral home or the family. > > I publish three newspapers and we have never written an obituary, nor > have we ever been asked for permission to use an obit. > > The news stories that I write or I pay reporters to write are the only > things on which I can claim intellectual property. > > > Dale Grimm > OHGenWeb SC > > > On 5/3/2012 12:53 AM, Judy White wrote: > > I was told that if the person paid for the obit to be put in the paper it > > can be used, if the paper did it without charge they owned the copyright. > > > > Judy > > > > On Wed, May 2, 2012 at 9:34 PM, Matthew D. Friend< > > blindgenealogist@gmail.com> wrote: > > > >> I have a question for you folks! I never heard of this before in all the > >> years I been doing genealogy while scanning things to be in electronic > >> format for my own personal resource library. Why would someone state > such > >> thing. Any ideas or thoughts on this? > >> > >> "Recently, I received newspaper clippings from a woman in California who > >> belongs to a Genealogy society. She sent me obituaries and death > notices of > >> Idahoans who died either in CA or had CA connections. Some were from the > >> following : Boise, Blackfoot, Roy, Montpelier, and Oakley, Idaho. I was > >> told that to scan these newspaper clippings might go against copyright > >> laws. > >> " > >> > >> Matt Friend > >> > >> -- > >> *Matthew D. Friend* > >> Conway, Arkansas > >> Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MatthewDFriend > >> Twitter: @matthewdfriend > >> > >> ------------------------------- > >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > >> STATE-COORD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the > >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >> > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > STATE-COORD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >