In a message dated 8/1/2001 7:08:55 PM Eastern Daylight Time, jrpalmer@intelos.net writes: > Just a Question here! How does one go about copyrighting information that > is, by law, free to the public for viewing? Public Record to be exact. It > is my understanding that one can go to any local court house and go through > the records (correct me if I misunderstand this issue) so how, by law, does > any one individual copyright such material? > > You cannot copyright public information, period. You can use public > information in a publication and the format you use can be copyrighted > along with the rest of the book. When I say format, I mean the particular > way you present the data can be copyrighted. The data itself can't be > copyrighted. > Edna