This is a couple days later then the conversation but I located this on a legal site which
might answer some questions with regards to posting obituaries online.
: I am a genealogist and wish to use some obituaries on my web site. The question is
simple does anyone know if obituaries are copyrighted.
Dear Mr. Ash,
The copyright law covers a work from its creation. Copyrights are good for life plus 70
years. Then there is the copyright notice and copyright registration such as by a
publication which may register a copyright and then there are the rights of the author.
The imformation is not covered by the copyright law.
M. Arthur Auslander
Auslander & Thomas-Intellectual Property Law Since 1909
505 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10018
212-594-6900, fax 212-244-0028, aus(a)auslander.com
So in other words you can take the information ie birth date, death date, marriage date,
cemetery info, but cannot copy the obituary as it is written.
Chyrl Lawrence-Bulger
Ross & Pickaway County Coordinator OHGenWeb
Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 11:08:55 -0700
From: sjgreer30(a)gmail.com
To: ohgen(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: Re: [OHGENWEB] Fwd: regarding an obituary and copyright infringement
Hi Everyone;
Thank you for the responses. I removed the obituary, but reading the
responses, I think this lady is going to have an uphill battle with the
online community. She stated it was for her family and friends only. No one
else is to read it or do anything with it. Threatening me with a lawyer or
going to the newspaper and having them threaten me isnt going to make me
move faster.
Usually I have people yell at me, demanding why I dont have great aunt
Gertrude's obituary in my files. I dont know how to write to her and
explain to her, she cant erase her obituary ....I dont know when google will
recache my site, I believe that is how she found out it was there.
Sara Greer
Clark County OHGenWeb Coordinator
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