Copyright - where are we?

[beady]

It would appear that the safest and easiest way to avoid problems is -either quote the reference without the facts, or, easiest- send the facts as a private message. They are then non public, for private use only, and not for commercial purposes.
But then- how do we, or they,stand if we get a professional researcher to look things up?
What is the situation when the facts are available on a free site, i,e I quote from a marriage index disc I have bought, but the same info is on FreeBMD - I could also be quoting from my research for that info from the County records.
If these facts, which are available for free public scrutiny, were copyright, then nobody would be able to use any historical information for any purpose -- like a book- it is the format of words which is original and copyright- not the words themselves
A lot of the legalese written on these discs etc is bullying bluster

[Guy Etchells]

Graham, that really is nowhere near our subject.  There, the database consisted of CVs, which obviously were original creations, not the sort of items of fact we deal in.  So I assume it's never been tested by any of the genealogy firms.

I did hear of one case settled out of court where Ancestry paid a hefty fee to YAS to avoid fighting a copyright case over scanned parish registers.
Cheers
Guy

[Gadget]

I have been reading this thread with interest because I have had to take note of Copyright both in my writing for publication and in my use of various Government data sets. However, until now I have not made any comments.

I now will because I am perplexed.

Three or four messages on this thread have disppeared and I don't understand why. Nothing that was said in any of them were in any way offensive, disrespectful, fuming or any of the adjectives that are described in the initial blurb that we all see before we become members of Rootschat.

Could someone please explain why they have been removed.

Perplexed about it all 


Gadget

[Erato]

I noticed the same thing.  Are we allowed to ask why they were deleted?  Will we be given a straight answe? 

[Berlin-Bob]

This topic is an interesting general discussion about copyright.

The deleted messages were taking the topic into a discussion of RootsChat copyright policy.  
Rootschat  copyright policy is clearly laid out and is not a subject for discussion here.


Bob

[Gadget]

Hi Bob

AS far as I can remember, some of the discussion involved the problems that the Internet has caused for Copyright Laws and how this is being  investigated - for example, I remember you mentioned that PCs (or our IP addresses)  might have to be registered, etc.

I found that interesting but it's gone 


Gadget

[Erato]

This topic is an interesting general discussion about copyright.

The deleted messages were taking the topic into a discussion of RootsChat copyright policy.  
Rootschat  copyright policy is clearly laid out and is not a subject for discussion here.

This is not true.  The first post in this thread concerns RC copyright policy.  Surely RC policy is a fit subject for discussion.

[Berlin-Bob]

Yes, that was part of a general comment about modern day copyright.

This is partly observed, and partly speculative on my part, but here goes ......  

I'm not an expert, but it seems that many of the laws of copyright are based on printed material - originating in times when copying wasn't as easy as it is now.

The present ease of access through the internet and electronic data generally  means that a massive rethink for copyright and the concept of "breach of copyright" is currently taken place, with discussions about "digital signatures", "licence fees" for personal computers and photo-copiers, analogous to the fees for performing rights/royalties for music.

At some time, every website - whether forum, blog or just information - will be affected in some way.

For every "offer" - for films, books, music, information, radio and television programs - on the internet, there is often a counter-reaction of lawsuits (real or threatened) from those who stand to lose revenues, which until then they had taken for granted. (remember Napster ?).

I suspect that electronic/Internet access is a totally new situation, for many of the present copyright laws, and many people/firms are trying to bend the existing copyright laws to cover as many situations as possible.

Bob

[Berlin-Bob]

This is not true.  The first post in this thread concerns RC copyright policy.  Surely RC policy is a fit subject for discussion.

I understood suttontrust's question as a general query about the copyright situation

But sites like Rootschat have a dilemma.

The RootsChat copyright policy was decided upon after the owners took legal advice
and is not part of this discussion.
 
Bob