At 09:51 AM 5/3/2012, Matthew D. Friend wrote: >Then I am assuming that every person that submitted to the USGenWeb Archive >Project is infringing upon the copyright by scanning it and submitting them >to the Archive on the internet. AFAIK, the status of boiler-plate obits (as opposed to staff written obits) has never been adjudicated -- probably for the same reason most museum attorneys advised that Bridgeman not pursue its infringement suit against Corel for using Bridgeman's museum reproductions, i.e. they thought Bridgeman's suit and subsequent appeal would fail under both U.S and British law and they wanted to avoid a written opinion which would and did become common law. Individuals who submit transcriptions or scanned copies of boiler plate obits to the USGenWeb Archives do so under the assumption or belief they are not copyrighted. However, some newspapers have in the past or currently claim copyright. While an individual can make an assumption (right or wrong) as to copyright status, an archive must follow the law which allows archives to make an individual copy for scholarly research so long as the notice required by statute is included. Pat Asher