I'm a little behind but thought I'd weigh in with my .02 worth <g>.
Obits...ain't they grand <g>? Like Denise said, getting the paper's
permission to re-publish is always a great thing. It pretty much
removes all question. And most of the smaller papers are usually OK
with publishing obits, especially if you give them credit, and offer to
link to their website if they have one, or give their contact
information. (If they offer one of those services where you can get the
obituary preserved in a bookmark, it might be worth pointing out that
people who find grandma's obituary on the internet just might be
interested in making such a purchase -- of course, they have to find
grandma's obituary and know where to get a copy of that obituary in
order to buy it, now, don't they?)
But sometimes newspapers just won't budge. I can understand that.
They're in business to make money, after all, and sometimes don't see an
advantage to giving away anything for free. So that's where things can
get sticky.
I've seen one school of thought that suggests that most obituaries can't
really be copyrighted. The logic is that copyright applies to original
creations or expression, and if you look at most modern obituaries,
there's very little original about them. Unless they're written by a
family member, or are of a prominent person (even if only a locally
prominent person), they're usually cookie-cutter templated recitations.
By now, most of us could probably write obituaries in our sleep <g>.
"Joe Blow, 89, of Nowhere, N.C., died [fill in the date] [fill in the
location]. Funeral services were held [date] at [was it the church or
the funeral home?]. Burial followed at [whatever cemetery]. Mr. Blow
was a native of [fill in the location], and attended [fill in the
school]. He served [fill in military service, if applicable]. He was a
long-time member of [fill in the church & the civic organization] and an
active [fill in the hobby]. Surviving are [list all the relatives still
breathing & where they're from]. He was preceded in death by [list the
relatives he outlived]. Arrangements were handled by [whichever funeral
home]."
Hmm, anyone know of any openings for obit writers? I think I'm ready to
solo <g>.
Now, I buy the logic, and I think a newspaper that prints hundreds of
obituaries during the year that are almost identical would have a hard
time really making a copyright suit fly. Especially when thousands of
little newspapers across the country use pretty much the identical
template -- let's face it, there's only so many ways you can give the
same basic details over and over again. The problem with the logic,
though, is that any one of those newspapers could make life difficult,
not to mention expensive, while you were hashing it out. It just makes
everyone crabby.
So, my advice is: When in doubt, abstract. Trent, you're right, the
facts cannot be copyrighted, so if you arrange them or format them
differently, then you're not violating copyright.
Copyright is probably one of the biggest bug-a-boos we deal with in this
sort of project. I always recommend that CC's put copyright notices on
their pages, but there's a big something to keep in mind -- no matter
how many notices you put on the page, most of the data we collect can't
be copyrighted. If you transcribe records that are in the public
domain, you can't claim copyright on them, no matter how much work it
was to transcribe them. Somehow it doesn't seem fair, does it <g>? We
have to worry about whether we've violated copyright, but we don't
usually get to claim copyright in return <g>....
Angie
-----Original Message-----
Hi Denise,
Thanks for the info. I have one paper in my county who
refused to grant and actually threatned copyright suit if I
did. So, Im writing my own obis and posting them.
Thanks
Trent
---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
>Trent,
>
>Is there any way to get the paper to okay the reprint to the
web? I have obits on my Missouri page and the paper okayed
them being posted. I have a local lady who just does the
transcription as she has time.
>
>This is a tough call, I think, but having the paper okay it
would put it in the clear. I can't imagine why they wouldn't.
If the paper is no longer in business, I would go ahead and do it.
>
>Denise
>
>"R. Trent Briles" <curator(a)briles.net> wrote:
>Hi all,
>Can anyone advise the exact ruling on obituaries and the
posting of obits on our sites? The US GENWEB page does not
actually address the issue of "factual" information when
dealing with obits? Most of my research states that an
obituary which appears on a online newspaper or printed paper
is copyrighted, but the facts in the obit is not and can be
formatted into a "different" obit.
>Im a little lost with the above since the obit is written by
the family or funeral home. Most are saying its factual info
and cant be copyrighted?
>
>Does anyone have concise, factual, supporting documents do
prove or cross what I have stated above?
>
>Thanks in Advance,
>
>Trent Briles
>Randolph County
>
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