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From: Julia <>
Subject: Re: [G-P-L] Safe Genealogy
Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2008 06:19:56 +0000


As long as raw data is in the public record, it IS fair game for the public to use, but as soon as you apply your intellilect to it by A. transcribing it (no two people transcribe the same data the same way) or B. attaching little notes such as "she didn't use an E in her name", C. let alone composing a whole family epic - this is ALL intellectual property and protected by copyright laws (whether a work states so or not!), unless, of course, you give it away for free to people who will repackage it to sell to other family researchers in order to make money from your work and dot-connecting, or worse, to identity thieves.

For the whole story of US Copyright Laws, see: http://www.copyright.gov/title17/ [remember that other countries have different copyright laws]

A FEW HIGHLIGHTS:

Chapter 1
Subject Matter and Scope of Copyright
§ 106. Exclusive rights in copyrighted works38

Subject to sections 107 through 122, the owner of copyright under this title has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following:

(1) to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords;

(2) to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work;

(3) to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;

(4) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works, to perform the copyrighted work publicly;

(5) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, to display the copyrighted work publicly; and

(6) in the case of sound recordings, to perform the copyrighted work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.

Chapter 3
Duration of Copyright
§ 302. Duration of copyright: Works created on or after January 1, 19784

(a) In General. — Copyright in a work created on or after January 1, 1978, subsists from its creation and, except as provided by the following subsections, endures for a term consisting of the life of the author and 70 years after the author's death.

§ 303. Duration of copyright: Works created but not published or copyrighted before January 1, 19785

(a) Copyright in a work created before January 1, 1978, but not theretofore in the public domain or copyrighted, subsists from January 1, 1978, and endures for the term provided by section 302. In no case, however, shall the term of copyright in such a work expire before December 31, 2002; and, if the work is published on or before December 31, 2002, the term of copyright shall not expire before December 31, 2047.

I dabble in artistic work, so this has come up frequently for me. Julia

----------------------------------------
> Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2008 09:48:20 -0500
> From:
> To:
> Subject: Re: [G-P-L] Safe Genealogy
>
> Be an informed Consumer:
>
> Some of you may not know that one cannot copyright factual data, such as
> birth dates, death dates, marriages, etc. One can copyright the format in
> which the data is presented but not the actual data.
> So once you have exposed your family data for the WORLD to see, it is fair
> game to be exploided.
>
> Protecting yourself from Genealogy Fraud, Hoaxes and Scams:
>
> http://genealogy.about.com/library/weekly/aa101501d.htm
>
> Ursula
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