What documentation would be considered to be copyrighted and not allowed for upload?

Question

I have many documents provided by registry offices, parish register copies and extracts, photo's of marriage contracts, census returns, baptisms, etc taken from the archives by myself or a paid researcher, from microfilm at the LDS library.

Some are obviously protected with stamps saying they are. Others may be implicitly protected so I wonder if there is a general policey for some of these.

Answer 1

This is not an issue of copyright, but an issue of contract. The FamilySearch Terms of Use are in play. In particular, examine the second and third paragraphs under "Licenses and Restrictions" and make your decision. This has been discussed before and there are differences of opinion among WikiTree users. 

Comments

Yes, I've been reading some previous posts related to this issue and it seems  likely trying to get clarity won't be easy. I may have to just refrain from posting any original material, other than family pictures or documents that have been held by the family. Even family documents could fall into a grey zone of legality.

---

Basically, for publications from the United States only any material printed before Jan 1st 1926 is in the Open Domain.  The Duke Law School has a website covering Public Domain Issues.  https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/

US Government Documents, with very few exceptions IE Top Secret, are always in the Public Domain.  This statute does not  cover those materials promulgated by state, county or municipal governments, but most follow suit.

Also, an entity may not take material from the Public Domain and copyright it unless they make substantial changes to the printed material.  For example, the sheet music for Sweet Georgia Brown is in the Public Domain and the image of it cannot be copyrighted by another.  However recordings of the music thereon after 1925 can be and are copyrighted by the performer.  So the image of A US Census record can never be copyrighted by a 3rd party, but if they transcribe the data from the record and present it in a format of their own device, the image of the transcription may be copyrighted and should not be used.

US Copyright Law permits what is know as Fair Use   Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances.  Basically if you use copyrighted material to make money off of it, you're in trouble.  What we do on WikiTree is educational/informative and will usually fall under Fair Use.  Again, only for that which was originally printed in the United States. 

---

Here is a list of States who specifically address copyright of their printed document.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_status_of_works_by_subnational_governments_of_the_United_States

---

Actually, even though FamilySearch is part of the LDS, I'm not sure that their contract comes into play as these images were taken well before FamilySearch existed by taking photos of images using microfilm at their library.

I was also thinking about something I read related to taking photos at the archives after paying a fee.  This made me think about paying a researcher to take photos for me and paying that fee to take photos for me.  I would think in that situation that he was acting on my behalf, as my agent and that right to the use of the photos would pass to me.

In the end, it may not matter, as I might decide not to post anything where there is some doubt.

---

Thank you; this is useful.  This message is to ask whether you think I have correctly analyzed a particular situation.  I have two obituaries, one published in 1926 and the other in 1942.  I want to include PDFs of them on a FSP associated with profiles I am writing.  Neither is in the public domain, but I believe the fair use doctrine justifies their inclusion on my FSP.  Do you agree?  If not, and for my education (I am new to WikiTree) would you please explain why you do not believe the fair use doctrine justifies their inclusion?  I cannot identify the newspapers in which the obituaries were published, but I am not sure that is a fact of pivotal importance.  Thanks.

Dave McNicol  dmcnicol15@outlook.com

---

Hi David, As far as I am concerned all Obituaries, Marriage Notices, Births, et al,  printed in the US or its territories are a prime example of the Fair Use Doctrine.  Obituaries are placed for public notice for a specific time period, not for continued consumption through the ages...well, until we researchers found them useful decades later.  So have at it.

The two simple rules of thumb are: (1) are you using a published item for financial gain and thus reducing the possible financial gain of the copyright holder and (2) is your use strictly used to inform or educate your readership.  If you hit a no on (1) and a yes on (2), you're good to go.

Using printed copyrighted material is not a crime in the US, movies and music are a whole other ballgame.  If using copyrighted material believing it falls under Fair Use, the only recourse is for the holder of the copyright, and only the said copyright holder, is to sue you in a Civil court of law.  Usually a letter from a lawyer will ask you to cease and desist its continued usage.  So you cease and desist and no more problem.

---

Thank you. Bang on.  Dave McNicol

---

Oops, forgot one important thing David.  You must cite where you got that information so as not to purport your ownership of said copyrighted material.