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From: Jillaine Smith <>
Subject: Re: [TGF] Client querying copyright restriction
Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2012 08:24:35 -0400
References: <mailman.777.1334386867.9022.transitional-genealogists-forum@rootsweb.com>
In-Reply-To: <mailman.777.1334386867.9022.transitional-genealogists-forum@rootsweb.com>


Caroline,

I think your response is appropriate as well as the inclusion of the APG pamphlet.

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 14, 2012, at 3:01 AM, wrote:

> Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2012 03:53:47 +0100
> From: Caroline Gurney <>
>
> In the research agreement which I ask clients to sign I state that I
> will retain the copyright to my research report. I say that the client
> may make copies to share privately but may not publish the report
> without my written permission.
>
> A prospective client in the United States has queried this. He writes,
> "I am a little concerned by your copyright restriction. I don't
> believe any of the researchers I have dealt with in the past have
> copyrighted their reports. I am a little unsure why you would feel a
> need to copyright the report when I am paying you to do this work
> exclusively for me. I frequently publish excerpts from research
> reports on web sites to substantiate the information I am posting and
> I would prefer to not have to deal with copyright restrictions that
> might prevent me from doing this."
>
> I am thinking of responding along these lines:
>
> a) APG's "Hiring a Professional" leaflet - which I sent him with the
> draft research agreement - states, "The agreement should identify who
> holds the copyright to the written research reports. Your researcher
> probably will retain that right. This means you cannot publish the
> report without the researcher?s permission."
>
> b) The facts in my report - and the source citations to back those
> facts up - would not be copyright and he can publish those freely.
>
> c) Nor would I object to him quoting a paragraph or two from the
> report to explain my findings / analysis, providing he attributes it
> to me - indeed I'd welcome the publicity for my business.
>
> d) The copyright restriction is there to protect my intellectual
> property - the way in which I have conducted my research, the
> discoveries I have made and how I have structured my analysis and
> arguments. Without copyright, someone could pass off my work as their
> own and take the credit for it which rightfully belongs to me. They
> could also benefit financially from my work, by reselling it in
> printed or digital form.
>
> e) Copyright also protects my professional reputation. Without it,
> someone could publish my work in a truncated, altered or misleading
> form, whilst attributing it to me. Others might then judge me to be a
> poor researcher on the basis of what I had supposedly written.
>
> I'd be most grateful for comments and advice - both on the general
> copyright issue and on how I should reply.
>
> Caroline Gurney
> www.carolinegurney.com
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
>
>
> End of TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM Digest, Vol 6, Issue 167
> ***************************************************************

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