(+) Can You Copyright Your Data?

The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. However, I am very interested in the legal issues surrounding copyrights as those laws apply to genealogy publications. I have read extensively on the subject and have discussed the topic with several attorneys who deal in intellectual property rights. The following is a summation of what I believe I have read and heard. This article is not to be construed as legal advice. If you have further questions, I suggest you consult with an attorney who deals in intellectual property issues.

About once a week or so I receive an e-mail from a person who feels “ripped off.” Each e-mail comes from someone who expends a lot of time and effort collecting genealogy information about their ancestry and then decides to share the information with others. Some time later, that person finds the same information published elsewhere, apparently by someone else who “ripped off” the information from the first person. The usual questions are: “Is this legal? Can he do that?” and “Isn’t my data copyrighted?”

There are numerous other questions about copyrights in the genealogy community. If I find information in a book, can I legally copy that information and then republish it elsewhere? I also hear complaints about genealogy data being offered for free that later ends up on a CD-ROM disk being sold by a commercial company. Questions about copyrights arise time and again.

The remainder of this article is for Plus Edition subscribers only. SUBSCRIBE NOW to read this article.

If you have a Plus Edition user ID and password, you can read the full article right now at no additional charge in this web site's Plus Edition at http://eogn.com/wp/?p=19754. This article will remain online for several weeks.

If you do not remember your Plus Edition user ID or password, you can retrieve them at http://www.eogn.com/wp/ and click on "Forgot password?"

If you decide to subscribe to the Plus Edition right now, you will be able to immediately read this article online. What sort of articles can you read in the Plus Edition? Click here to find out.

For more information about subscribing to the Plus Edition of Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter, visit http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/plusedition.html.