I am not trying to cover you up with mail, or bore you if you've already
read this on ARCHIVES-L, but this is a thought-provoking view of
copyright, posted by Kevin, the SC of Hawaii (and only CC grin) and the
Archives Manager for Hawaii and Alaska.
I have a hard time believing that plain text wills, census records, etc
that came from the government are copyrightable. They are in the public
domain.
I believe the main reason we put the Archives Notice on public domain
documents in the archives is to give credit to the person that actually
transcribed the will or census, and hopefully slow some folks down from
burning it into a CD and selling it.
David
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: {not a subscriber} Mr. Myers improper request
Date: Mon, 1 May 2000 14:49:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: Swimref(a)cmc.net (by way of Swimref(a)cmc.net)
Hello,
I would like to make a few comments regarding these messages from a
Mr. Morris Myers. I will identify myself as an historian and US Federal
Census scholar of many years practice; as a person who has devoted nearly
twenty years to the management and operation of public libraries,
including five terms as Chairman of the Board of Library Trustees in a
city which is part of one of the largest library systems in the nation;
and as a longtime volunteer in the US Genweb Project, whose work over the
last four years has been at nearly every level and in nearly every
subsidiary project found in USGW. I am intimately familiar with standard
library policies and procedures, and particularly familiar with copyright
questions relating to transcriptions of federal census records.
In the spring of 1996, the fledgling USGW Project established the
USGW Archives as its library subsidiary, charging it with maintaining
data obtained by USGW, and making that data freely available to the public
without cost or restriction. The USGW Archives have operated in this
manner as the library of USGW ever since. As with all libraries at any
time or place, the USGW Archives have sole discretion over what materials
to include or exclude from their collection. No author or publisher has
the right to demand that any work either be included or excluded from
any library, such a demand would be summarily rejected. The placement of
a work in a library has no bearing on the copyright status of that work.
Whether protected by copyright or not, the work is made available to the
public in the normal course of business, with no violation of copyright
law taking place by that act in any way. About the only way a library
could be found guilty of violating copyright law in its normal business is
if the library itself attempted to remove the author's name from his work
and replace it with that of another author or itself. Needless to say,
such a thing has likely never happened, and I don't believe any library
has ever been found to be in infringement of copyright.
The other question to be addressed is that of claims of copyright on
transcriptions of public records, specifically the US Federal Census. Any
claim of copyright protection for any transcription of federal census
records is questionable, and must be reviewed skeptically. Federal records
of this type are specifically ineligible for copyright protection at any
time and in any form. This is true at any time from the creation of the
record on into the indefinite future, and for the original record as well
as copies of any kind in any form. It is a common but mistaken myth that
typographical errors or intentional minor alterations of such material
will somehow allow it to become eligible for protection. The only way in
which copyright may be legitimately claimed for such a work is when the
public record is incorporated into a larger work of original scholarship,
and even then only those original parts not including the public record
may be protected by copyright. By the same token, explanatory paragraphs
and notes added on to a transcription may possibly also be eligible,
depending on circumstances.
I spent some time this morning reviewing the work in question in this
case. I went through all ten text files of Mr. Myers' 1860 transcription,
consisting of several hundred Kilobytes of ASCII text. In his entire
effort, I found seven entries of notes totalling exactly eleven words,
all apparently giving Mr. Myers' own opinion of the cited person's
birthplace. There were no other examples of original authorship of any
kind. While unlikely, it is possible that Mr. Myers may be entitled to
protection of those eleven words within these ten large files.
What I find in this case then is as follows:
A) In the case of those materials protected in whole or in substantial
part by copyright, the USGW Archives have acted prudently and responsively
in the normally accepted practices of libraries and in accordance with
federal law.
B) In the particular case in question, the transcription of Mr. Morris
is NOT protected by copyright law in whole or in substantial part, and
any claim for such protection is false.
Mr. Myers intimates that he has discussed these issues with an
"intellectual property attorney." I am strongly inclined to doubt that,
given the depth of his misunderstanding, but if it is in fact the truth
then my only comment would be that between him and his attorney one or
the other of them has misled the other. Mr. Myers then goes on to reveal
what appears to be his true motivation, causing trouble in support of a
disgruntled former USGW staffer unsuccessful in his recent forays into
organizational politics and empire building. The internal composition
and organization of the USGW staff are, quite frankly, none of Mr. Myers'
business. I find his comments in this regard outrageous and improper.
I understand that a small number of other such messages, virtually
identical in tone and content, are now being received, and give every
indication of an organized campaign of harassment and disruption of normal
USGW business.
I strongly recommend that Mr. Myers (and any persons making similar
requests) be answered politely but firmly denying his improper request,
based on A) and B) above, among other reasons. Permission is hereby
granted to republish this message in its entirety on any officially
authorized USGW mailing list.
Thank you,
Kevin Fraley
Swimref(a)cmc.net
>
>Dr. Leverich,
>
>These files have not been removed from the USGenWeb directories as requested
>by
>me. II am told by my intellectual property attorney that the USGenWeb (and
>perhaps
rootsweb.com) are now in violation of my copyright. I hope all I
>need do
>is send you this note to get things 'fixed'. Please do what you must to make
>sure those files are removed as I requested.
>
>g.mo
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Morris Myers [mailto:gmm00@amdahl.com]
>Sent: Saturday, April 29, 2000 12:08 PM
>To: leverich(a)rootsweb.com
>
>Dr. Leverich,
>
>I recently wrote the USGenWeb board on April 24, 2000 asking that they
>remove my
>name and that of Cindy Scott from the 1860, 1870, 1880 Pike County Census
>Index
>shown on the following pages:
>http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/census/states/arkansas/ar1860.htm
>http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/census/states/arkansas/ar1870.htm
>http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/census/states/arkansas/ar1880.htm
>
>At the time I sent that note I set a deadline of May 3, 2000. However, given
>the
>current action by someone in USGenWeb of locking out Ron Eason and others on
>the
>Census project staff from accessing their pages and disallowing them the
>ability
>to maintain their project I have changed my mind. I want USgenWeb to cease
>and
>desist immediately from using any and all 1860, 1870 and 1880 census files
>submitted by me and carrying my copyright. Further I want those files
>removed
>from USgenWeb directories by midnight tonight 4/29/2000.
>
>I am addressing this note to you because of the purported policy by rootsweb
>of
>zero tolerance to copyright violations. Since I have withdrawn my permission
>for
>USGenWeb to use my copyrighted files they are now in violation of copyright
>laws. Please do what you can to encourage them to honor my request.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Morris Myers