COPYRIGHT-L Archives

Archiver > COPYRIGHT > 2002-09 > 1031943500


From: Pat Asher <>
Subject: RE: [COPYRIGHT] Is posting a form of publishing?
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2002 14:58:20 -0400
References: <5.1.0.14.0.20020913115342.00ab3790@pop3.norton.antivirus><4.3.2.7.2.20020913080741.00b0f440@mail.attbi.com><000901c25ac1$7a18d170$0100a8c0@Gateway><3D7EEBA8.3364C20B@global2000.net>
In-Reply-To: <4.3.2.7.2.20020913093206.00b31d60@mail.attbi.com>


At 12:40 PM 9/13/2002, you wrote:
>Pat, Your comments refer to the information contained in the file and not
>the file itself. Why would anyone in their right mind spend a lot of time
>scanning photo images (which most likely cannot be found anywhere else)
>and put them on the internet so that anyone else could copy them and use
>in their own copyrighted book??

If someone else republishes public domain data or images they found on your
web site, they do not hold copyright to them either. Just because a book
(or website) is copyrighted, that does not mean that everything it contains
is copyrighted.

I'm not sure what you mean when you differentiate between the "information
contained in the file" and "the file itself". A web "page" usually
consists of several individual files: an HTML file containing formatting,
layout, and text; one or more image files, perhaps a style sheet and an
external javascript. The HTML you wrote is copyrighted. The text may or
may not be copyrighted, depending on whether or not YOU wrote it. Images
may or may not be copyrighted, again depending on who and when they were
created. A Style Sheet and a JavaScript that you wrote is
copyrighted. Taken together, all of these files constitute your web page,
which is copyrighted. But the individual files can only be copyrighted if
they are your original work.

Here's an example from one of my own sites:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~pasher/cwvets.htm

Did I spend a lot of time and (a little) money locating the information,
transcribing and compiling? You bet your booty! Did I spend even more
time designing a page that would present the information in an attractive
way? Yep! Is it eligible for copyright? I don't think so.

The information was compiled and transcribed from public domain
records. The background design is by someone else and used with
permission. The layout (HTML) is my design, but the data presentation
(TABLE) is alphabetical (not original) and a straightforward presentation
of names, dates, places and file numbers. I could argue originality for
the sequence in which I present the facts associated with each name, but I
think I would lose <g>

>It's frustrating to spend a lot of time compiling information, taking
>photos, scanning photos, etc., putting information on the internet for
>individual researchers, only to have it harvested by commercial
>enterprises and used on their CDs or websites for which a user must pay to
>access.

The only genealogy publisher I know of who burns your submission onto a CD
and resells it is Genealogy.com/Broderbund/World Family Tree, and they tell
you that up front, when you submit your file. They do not cruise the web
looking for sites to "harvest". <g>

Pat

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