G2G: Are images on genealogy sites in the public domain?

Question

Are the images included as memories in the family search.org site in the public domain, i.e. can they be imported into wiki tree?

Comments

Probably not.  Both FamilySearch and Ancestry say basically that they can do anything they like with anything you post there, but both say that you cannot post information you find on their sites elsewhere.

From FamilySearch:  "Unless otherwise indicated, you may view, download, and print materials from this site only for your personal, noncommercial use ....You may not post content from this site on another website or on a computer network without our permission. You may not transmit or distribute content from this site to other sites."

People who post to these sites do not automatically give up their copyright beyond use on the site where they posted.  If you want to use an image posted by someone else, you should contact them to request permission.  

In many cases it's impossible to tell who originally posted an image or to know if it's in the public domain or under copyright because it has been copied and reposted so many times.  You can use Tineye or a similar site to try to determine the original poster and sometimes to determine whether it is under copyright or not.

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And remember, copyright laws can vary by country.

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And also remember that user agreements/licenses are distinct from copyright.

Answer 1

I would think it best, first, for you to read the terms of use on each genealogy website for yourself to determine what they say about such items. Second, if you see an image you wish to post on WikiTree, contact the person who first shared the image to ask if they own the image and whether they mind if you share it on WikiTree.

Answer 2

Legally, and this is a bit crazy, but for example, if you buy a beautiful marker for the final resting place of a loved one, and it costs what, thousands of dollars?  If I take a picture of that marker, *I* own the image. That is weird to me, and not something I could ever do. My Great Grandparents' shared headstone was snapped, & is at Find A Grave with a big ol' DO NOT TAKE THIS PHOTO written across it.  It just makes me laugh now, it's not like Dale Chihuly crafted an image of it in exquisite blown glass, you took that with your phone. ;0) 

Family Search could probably be sued into oblivion for breaking copyright law.  They have rules, but zero oversight, so they're broken often. I feel like the Hall Monitor sometimes when I'm just shocked at what is posted there and try to encourage not posting an Obituary that was in the newspaper last month or copy/pasting an entire page from Find A Grave, or Wikipedia, or a history site.  

I assume anything I post on the Internet will be taken, so I only share stuff that I don't mind other people having. 

If you can find who posted something, ask. I know I would appreciate it, but I don't expect it. I've been pulling pix of state flowers recently to use at Find A Grave, and have tracked down every one that has a watermark. People have been very generous, and they're glad it might bring someone some solace. So do some checking, and for me, I don't post anything without permission or knowing it's in the public domain. And I assume the opposite with my "stuff'. 

Comments

>> Family Search could probably be sued into oblivion for breaking copyright law. 

Platforms like FamilySearch, Ancestry, Facebook etc can hide behind the defence that it's not them who have breached copyright, it's the user. All the platform has to do is respond to take down notices, which can only be given by someone who claims it breaches their personal copyrights.

So I can write to ancestry, point out that xyz is a copyvio and they don't even have to acknowledge my email. 

Yeah, I know it's crazy right?

Answer 3

I wish.  There are 2 family bibles I would like to post pages of here as sources - the Porter one is on ancestry & the Blakey one is on familysearch memories.  So far no response to messages asking to post parts of them here.

Comments

If the Bible is from 1926 or earlier it is public domain in the United States and you don’t need anyone’s permission to reproduce it in the United States or on a US-based website. (Some databases have contractual restrictions for access but that’s another matter, not copyright.)

Works published before 1978 in the US without a copyright notice are automatically public domain. This would include the family pages of virtually all family bibles. Works published until 1963 are public domain if the copyright was not registered and renewed; again covering virtually all family bibles from that era.

Also even if copyrighted the factual contents of a family Bible are not copyrightable, and fair use applies, so you could quote and source a family bible from any era in your own works.