Hi all - I know you all are tired of hearing about copyrights but, I thought that the following response I received below is worth reading: Anna - Phoenix, AZ - USA * * Wild Wild West * * annaw4@prodigy.net -----Original Message----- From: Gene Stark <gene@Grampa.GENDEX.COM> To: prodigy.net!ANNAW4@gendex.com <prodigy.net!ANNAW4@gendex.com> Date: Sunday, September 26, 1999 1:45 PM Subject: Re: Asking Permission >> Dear Sirs - I have found genealogical information on your website that I >> would like to include with my research. I am doing this research for >> several friends of mine as a free gift for Christmas and I need to know if >> any of the names, dates of birth, dates of death, where born, where died is >> copyrighted material. If it is, then I feel that I need to get your >> permission to include this information as well as permission from the person >> who did the research. I don't want to break any copyright laws, therefore I >> need to be advised how to handle this appropriately. Please let me know if >> I have your permission to include the information found on your website. I >> will give credit where credit is due. > > RESPONSE >First of all, you probably don't want to mail me, but rather whichever >of the individual contributors owns the data you are interested in. >See "How to contact" at http://www.gendex.com/gendex/ for information >on how to identify these people. > >Secondly, a copyright covers a particular expression of an idea, but >not the idea itself. Facts, such as names, dates, places, are not >copyrightable, but a particular compilation of names, dates, and >places into a single document is copyrightable. > >So, copyrights would apply if you were reproducing verbatim copies >of documents you found on the Web, or if you were reproducing verbatim >portions of notes or other prose you found on these pages. > >Hope that helps. > > - Gene Stark