OHATHENS-L Archives

Archiver > OHATHENS > 2002-05 > 1022184914


From: "Diana E. Roche" <>
Subject: [OHATHENS ] Copyright Law
Date: Thu, 23 May 2002 15:16:06 -0500
In-Reply-To: <200205231901.g4NJ1Ss09411@lists5.rootsweb.com>


I have no desire to stir the pot and get involved in a debate over the
copyright issues being discussed on this list but as a retired copyright
attorney, perhaps some clarification of what may be placed under copyright
would be helpful. There are two separate issues being discussed here on
this list: first the matter of what is "copyrightable" and, second, a
matter of ethics and morals. Unfortunately, the two issues don't always
reconcile.

I myself have purchased all of the birth, death and marriage books
available from the ACHS and thank all those who labored long hours to
compile this information. And I wouldn't think of uploading these
compilations to a web site because of moral and ethical issues. I hope
others outside the ACHS would not do so either. But --

The Supreme Court ruled in Feist Publications v. Rural Telephone Service
that such compilations of facts are "sweat of the brow" products which are
not copyrightable, in and of themselves. Further, compilations and
databases are protected by copyright only when they are selected and
arranged in a creative and original manner. It is almost impossible to be
creative with indexes and lists. However, any creative material included
in such a compilation, such as introductions and explanations, biographies
and other text that is creative and original, is copyrightable. The Feist
case involved the copyrightability of telephone books -- compilations of
factual information that was arranged alphabetically. This case is
well-known to all copyright lawyers. There were many long hours of labor
involved in compiling these directories. Unfortunately, they were not
copyrightable.

Perhaps the ACHS should clarify this issue for themselves and consult a
local copyright attorney. And it should be an attorney who specializes in
copyright law as this is not an area of law that falls under "general
practice." Copyright law is complex.

I have a special concern related to this issue in that there are many
commercial compilers out there who are threatening those who do voluntary
lookups by telling them that they are infringing US copyright laws. This
just isn't true and it is frightening a lot of volunteers out of volunteering.

Again, many thanks to all those who have made the ACHS what it
is. Although I don't live in Athens County, I am a member of the ACHS.

Diana E. Roche
Lakehills, Texas

At 01:01 PM 5/23/02 -0600, you wrote:


>Date: Wed, 22 May 2002 10:37:51 -0800
>From: "James W. Crippen" <>
>To:
>Message-ID: <>
>Subject: Re: [OHATHENS ] Re: OHATHENS-D Digest V02 #59
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>Ladies:
>Being a member of the Athens County group and several others across the
>nation, I would like to point out that Athens has one of the most
>superior genealogy groups in the nation. One of the researchers, now
>semi-retired, is the only living individual ever cited personally as a
>historic source in the several Mayflower families that I chase. This
>superior status was not gained during the last few months using the
>internet. These volunteers have worked long hours since World War II to
>scrutinize an endless array of confusing civil records, eliminate the
>errors and omissions, compile and alphabetize this infomoration and
>place the entire lot under copyright, all to benefit the stream of
>queries for this same data from an insensitive group of net jockeys
>interested in family history only as a vehicle for self elation and
>private esteem irregardless of the factuality. Individuals who place
>this information on a webpage are knowingly in copyright violation. One
>should think twice before accepting the OHATHENS hostess' invitation to
>enter into a conspiracy to violate a Federal Statute. A "made to order"
>package for any Federal Defense Attorney.
>Copyright Law is available for download at the Federal website.
>Regards,
>JC3

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