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Archiver > TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM > 2012-04 > 1334419072


From: Caroline Gurney <>
Subject: Re: [TGF] Client querying copyright restriction
Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2012 16:57:52 +0100
References: <mailman.777.1334386867.9022.transitional-genealogists-forum@rootsweb.com><424AB52F-B4C5-4B45-89A3-0FA5AEF329B6@yahoo.com>
In-Reply-To: <424AB52F-B4C5-4B45-89A3-0FA5AEF329B6@yahoo.com>


Thank you, Jillaine. I'm most grateful to you for taking the time and
trouble to respond to my post.

Best wishes,

Caroline


On 14 April 2012 13:24, Jillaine Smith <> wrote:
> 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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