Copyright Concerns

Please appreciate that the factual information contained on these web pages were researched, compiled, and provided through the hard work, time, monetary expense, and good graces of myself and a large number of sharing relatives. We have for many years been compiling information on our families from common and public materials, i.e., U.S. Census, Birth, Death, and Marriage Certificates, Land Records, Deeds, Family Bibles, personal and business papers of our parents and grandparents, etc. Many of our cousins privately published books, at their own expense, and they did this to ensure information on our families got documented and passed on to all members of our family. This is truly a "labor of love and gratitude" - - done as a hobby with no financial gain in mind on our part.

Please be cautioned that a lot of factual information on our family members can also be found in other commercial and private publications -- "copyrighted" by authors and publishers who are NOT related to us - - and who make a monetary profit from publishing genealogical information. Every so many months a few of these people and/or their publishers emerge from the woodwork and threaten lawsuits for using "their" copyrighted materials. Yes, they actually "demand" that we obtain their "permission" to use "their" factual information on us and/or our family members. Believe it or not, they have the nerve to threatened legal action for royalty payments if we use any of "their" materials when we compile factual information on "our" family members. I personally feel such claims are absolutely ridiculous.

So, to preclude U.S. Copyright Act infringement claims, please be careful to NOT copy verbatim private works that were "originated" by another person. It is illegal to copy materials that some one else originated without having prior written permission from the copyright "owner." On the other hand, and by that same U.S. Copyright Act we are entitled to "fair use" of any copyrighted information on our family members. We can legally copy factual bits and pieces of "originated works," as long as we don't copy someone else's work word-for-word, claim their "originated work" as ours, and/or use their "originated works" for our own financial gain. Along with this, please don't forget to give credit and cite the source of your genealogical information.

ASIDE: So far we know of four incidents where certain relatives copied our work ("stole" is a better word) - - and passed out our work "word-for-word" as their own work at family reunions or published it on their web site as their own research work. Now that is considered a childish need for recognition -- and downright "trashy." It is that kind of behavior that causes hurt and hard feelings between kin. Please, whenever you publish anything, and especially if you hand it out at a family reunions, make sure that you give some kind of credit for the originating researchers. If you don't know, simply ask your source for it. Have enough character to give credit to the people (relatives or not) who really did the work on all that you copied. If you don't, then you give the impression that you did all that work yourself ... and that's what amounts to taking credit for someone else's hard work.

Returning to the subject: My position is that the the individuals and publishers who use the copyright law to threaten are erroneously twisting the copyright law "ground rules." In just about every case "they" cite provisions of the law that applies to original works of an author, e.g., music, songs, poems, fictional writings, play and movie scripts, motion picture films, etc. There is a big difference between creating a song, a music score, a fictional story, etc., when someone truly originates from scratch and with their own God-given brain and talent ... versus factual genealogical information that exists public records, inscribed on cemetery tombstones, or entered in family Bibles passed on to you, me, or another family member. Like it or not common, historical, and existing public information belongs to posterity -- and is a legacy that can not and must never be "owned" by anyone.

Authors and publishers of genealogical materials are advised that I disclaim any responsibility for paying them royalties or any other monetary compensation for any data items, information, and/or factual historical information pre-existing and available in common and public records, public listings, or any other public materials. I especially disagree with such claims when genealogical information exists in public records - - recorded by Government employees s paid with tax-derived/allocated Federal, State, or local Government funds. I specifically mean birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, driver's licenses, etc. I feel that genealogical information pertaining to me, my ancestors, my descendants, or my allied families cannot be monopolized by anyone ... especially when such information is/was not "originated" by them.

The key words are "pre-existing" and "originated." A person's pedigree is that person's God-given bloodline and heritage ... period! What's becomes so ridiculous is that so much of the information being claimed as "copyrighted" are in public documents and newspapers that existed long before the accusers were born, e.g., ancestor, sibling, and kin names, and dates and places of birth, marriages, deaths, etc. There are those that exclaim: But, since I put all my own time and effort in compiling our pre-existing and public family information you are now using, that information mine? To which I reply: "No it isn't ... it belongs to all past, present, and future biological family members and legal relatives ... and Thank you."

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonographic records or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include -

* (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
* (2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
* (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
* (4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

Please be cautioned that due to frequent intimidation attempts and harassing threats of enforcing provisions of the U.S. Copyright Act, this compiler is hesitant to provide any more information on our relatives than found in common and public documents. Also be aware that there are, unfortunately, a small number of misinformed, immature, snobbish, insecure, arrogant, pompous, egotistical, self-serving, and/or money- grubbing authors/publishers of genealogy who cross-the-line and go too far. They attempt to use the U.S. Copyright Act to claim, monopolize, and overstate their case that they "own" and have "sole rights" to factual and public information on our relatives. A few also claim ownership to factual World, English, American, State, and local history ... only because they included such common historical information in their published materials. To make things worse, some of these self-centered and misguided people are not even relatives, and just in the business of "selling" genealogical information. I get highly irritated by any untrue claim to "own" any of our family's genealogy. If this is what the U.S. Copyright Act really means to these people . . . I don't think so ... and I'll fight such people until my dying day about any such claim.

In contrast, there are a lot of other relatives, just as special as our ancestors, who have class, character, quality, and generosity. They compile, publish, and freely share and pass on their family's genealogical information. As I said, like me, they do this as a "labor of love and "gratitude" for our ancestors and their descendants. Fortunately our primary motivation is not to make money from our family's genealogy, but to render them honor and respect, and to make sure that our bloodlines, allied family connections, and/or our family stories and history are documented for posterity. This is our legacy. Without hesitation, when such relatives publish their works I gladly purchase their published books, and I do everything to help them by promoting their work. More often than not their work includes sharing, as a self-satisfying hobby ... and we produce their collected works without financial gain in mind.

I'm certain that many in the previously mentioned "greedy" people started out the same, but then got all entwined in a "pride in authorship" bug - - and/or turned into shallow and self-centered "money-grubbers" who are now demanding royalties for public family information they did not originate.

FOR THE RECORD

If you are related to me, through blood or marriage, you have my UNCONDITIONAL PERMISSION to use any genealogical information that I have originated and/or compiled. Moreover, I encourage any and all of my relatives to pass on to all other relatives any bit of information I found and collected on our family -- FREE OF ROYALTY CLAIMS from me. I only ask that you not use our family information for financial gain, always give credit where credit is due, and make sure the receiving family member aware of this notice.

Please feel free to constructively critique my work, and/or send additions, corrections, and suggestions to me at my E-mail address: