Hi Sara,
I would like to offer an alternate view on this subject. I have been doing
genealogical research since 1992. My mom passed away in 2007, and earlier
this year I stumbled upon her obituary and tombstone photo on Find-a-Grave.
It had been posted there by a stranger. I was shocked and angry when I saw
it, and wanted to contact the poster and demand it be removed at once. I
paused and gave myself a couple of days to think about it. I realized that
my reaction was due more to my grief than actually objecting to someone else
posting my mother's information. I contacted the person who had posted the
information, and he was very nice and transferred the memorial to me. He
was a fellow genealogist who photographed cemeteries and transcribed
obituaries where he lived. The point of all this, is maybe the woman is not
really upset about copyrights and such, but just about losing her father,
and having someone else take ownership of the last thing she did for him.
Now, I do think she was rude to you, and handled the situation poorly,
however. As a CC, I would just take down the obituary. Just my two cents
worth.
Carol
-----Original Message-----
From: ohgen-bounces(a)rootsweb.com [mailto:ohgen-bounces@rootsweb.com] On
Behalf Of Sara Greer
Sent: Saturday, October 24, 2009 7:09 PM
To: ohgen(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: Re: [OHGENWEB] Fwd: regarding an obituary and copyright
infringement
Hi Everyone;
PLEASE dont email the lady. I have been informed by her that someone from
the OHGen mailing list has contacted her and is now demanding why she was
contacted. I dont want to blow this out of proportion all I wanted was
information on how to respond to her.
Warmly
Sara Greer
Clark County, OHGenWeb Coordinator
On Sat, Oct 24, 2009 at 9:43 AM, <Scrapmanalley(a)aol.com> wrote:
Hi Sara,
I am not an attorney but I do know that this falls under the Fair Use
of the copyright laws where it is for non profit educational purposes in
research. There is no value to the obituary as no one is loosing money. It
is
codified in section 107 of the copyright law. The link is below for your
convenience:
_http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html_
(
http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)
Any commercial use of obituaries is forbidden by law such as someone
taking
obituaries and writing a book to make money. Using obituaries for
research
purposes is allowed under the fair use code of copyright laws.
Libraries
use them concerning the microfilms and even death, birth and marriage
records and also refer to the fair use section of copyright laws as they
are also
for non profit. for example below from the Tacoma Public Library:
Copyright
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code) governs the
making of photocopies or any other reproductions of copyrighted materials.
Tacoma Public Library is not responsible for the improper or illegal use
of
any copies of materials from its collections. It is the user's
responsibility to guard against the infringement of rights that may be
held by others
and for clearing reproduction rights and copyright restrictions. Tacoma
Public Library does not claim to control the copyright for all pictorial
and
textual materials in its collections. Library staff will provide any
information available for specific items that it has available to the
user
in this
regard if a specific request is made. The Library provides such
information as a service to aid patrons in determining the appropriate
use
of an
item, but that determination ultimately rests with the patron. It is the
patron's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other use
restrictions
when publishing or otherwise distributing materials from the Library's
collections. Patrons are reminded that these materials are provided by
the
Tacoma Public Library for non-profit educational, personal or
scholarly
purposes and that transmission or reproduction of protected items beyond
that
allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright
holders.
The Tacoma Public Library claims copyright to the database and index that
comprises the Tacoma Area Obituaries Index web site, as well as all screen
and page displays that comprise the Tacoma Area Obituaries Index web
site.
The full text of the specific obituary or death records, which may
appear
as
part of this index or be supplied by the Library upon request, are
copyrighted by the newspaper or source within which they originally
appeared, and
are used with permission for the Tacoma Area Obituaries Index. Any other
commercial use or use beyond the legal bounds of Fair Use without the
specific premission of the copyright holder is forbidden.
The Tacoma Public Library is eager to hear from any copyright owners who
are not properly identified so that appropriate information may be
provided
in the future. It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged
infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in an
appropriate
manner under such Act and other applicable intellectual property laws,
including the removal or disabling or access to material claimed to be
subject
of infringing activity. Pursuant to 17 United States Code 512(c)(2)
(Digital
Millennium Copyright Act of 1998), the Tacoma Public Library is the
designated agent for notice of alleged copyright infringement appearing
on
our
Site. Direct any notices of infringement to:
To file a notice of infringment with us, you must fulfill the requirements
specified in Title II of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. The
text of this statute can be found at the U.S. Copyright Office Web Site,
_http://lcWeb.loc.gov/copyright/_ <
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/_> (
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/) .
The GenWeb site you have is for non-profit and does not infringe on any
other use but fair use of copyright laws. I hope this helps.
Danice Ryan
cc Jefferson County, Oh
-------------------------------
To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to
OHGEN-request(a)rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes
in the subject and the body of the message
-------------------------------
To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to
OHGEN-request(a)rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in
the subject and the body of the message