Re: Genealogy and copyrights

Jett Hanna wrote:
>
> I am an attorney who is not a specialist in copyright law. I am
> working with a group of persons interested in genealogy who are
> concerned about how their work on the internet might be affected by
> copyright laws. I would appreciate responses directed to me at
> jettplane[_at_]aol.com; I am not a member of this list.

I would be interested in other's opinions, especially Terry's, since I am guilty of the practice of which Jett Hanna writes. I recently posted an offer on the JewishGen list. I have on loan from a family member two books, "The Jew In Canada" published in 1926, and "Who's Who in American Jewry 1938-39".

To date, in response to my posting, I have received about 15 requests and have found matches for 3 of the requests, with each match resulting in from 1 to 3 pages copied.

I claim fair use. I have not bothered to look at Laura Gassaway's chart ON MY OWN WEB SITE to see if these books are still copyrighted.

Do as I say, not as I do.

--
Bruce M. Bertram       <URL:mailto:bmb[_at_]bmb.com>     finger for public key
Patent Attorney        <URL:http://www.bmb.com/~bmb/>
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