Is an obituary from a funeral home, payed for by the family considered copyrighted?

Question

My Dad passed away on June 6, 2019. I updated his profile and was going to upload his obituary as a source. Now I'm wondering if the obituary from the funeral home, payed for by the family is considered copyrighted. Any knowledge on this?

Thanks,

Melissa

Comments

What do you mean it is “from” the funeral home? Do you have some reason to believe the funeral home has some rights to the text?  I’d be surprised. 

If someone in your family wrote the obit and if they never specifically signed over the rights, then the copyright still belongs to the family member who wrote it.  See here, for a discussion of newspaper obits:

https://www.legalgenealogist.com/2012/09/12/copyright-and-the-obit/

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It's the pamphlet that the funeral home put together. The information came from us and the picture but the poem and work was done by them. I'm just making sure that it is ok to upload the front of the pamphlet.

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The easiest would just be to ask the funeral home for permission and then indicate that you got permission on the image page.  An alternative is just to include the text — transcribed or copied and pasted from the original file, if you still have it.  Unless you signed over the rights, the rights to the text itself still belong to whoever wrote the obit.

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My ʻnon-professionalʻ opinion is that the funeral home acted as print shop, not author.  If there was a poem or verse inserted by the funeral home they apparently have the right to use it. The funeral home does not sell the pamphlets - they are a printed as a service to you (you paid for it).

I agree  with Barry, if you wrote the text it is yours to use from your files anyway, unless you signed the rights away.

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Thanks for the link to the Legal Genealogist, Barry.  I was unaware of this site.  It's a great source, especially for all of us amateur genealogists.

The home page for the site is:

https://www.legalgenealogist.com/

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From these comments I’m coming to the conclusion that part of this is copyrighted by the funeral home and part by the family. To be on the safe side, I’ll leave it off. I do want to thank each of you for your help. The people on WikiTree are by far the most helpful of any group that I am apart of. I’m proud to be a member.

Melissa

Answer 1

Hello there:

Experienced copywriter here. To answer your question: yes, a copyright exists, because it exists on all things written and recorded works produced. If a family member wrote it, that family member holds the copyrights. If a family member paid for it to be written, then that same family member holds the copyrights. If the funeral home wrote it as part of a service they provide, then they hold the copyright.

Learn more here: https://www.copyright.gov/title17/

Answer 2

I'm really on the fence right now because the obituary names living relatives and friends. I think for the moment that I will just add personal information as the source. The obituary was not in a newspaper so it was only given to the people present. I want to thank both of you for your input.

Melissa

Comments

I like your decision Melissa, and the reasons for it.

When my mother passed, I used her death certificate registration information as a source. Its not going to be available online until proper passage of time, but meanwhile anyone with a legitimate reason can find it through the appropriate channels.

It appears to me that you may also be in the position of providing first-hand information. If you attended the funeral, you can attest to the time date, place and other details of the funeral you attended. Quite of few of the older primary sources that we see indexed are actually based on diaries, correspondence, and other first-hand accounts that have been preserved.

Answer 3

Melissa, the pamphlet put together by the funeral home would likely fall under "work for hire."  The family paid the funeral home for its services, including putting together the pamphlet.  Unless it specifically says "copyright" (such as the poem), I (a non-lawyer) would think everything but the poem (and possibly the poem) could be used as work owned by the family, who paid for it.

Answer 4

I agree with Barry and Kristina. But I'd like to add that regardless of whether the obituary is copyrighted, you have to attribute it or it would be a plagerism problem. You can enter the entire obituary as a block quotation as long as at the end of it you have a complete citation. It would look something like this:

John Doe's obituary

<blockquote>

John Doe passed away... etc. <ref>John Doe obituary compiled by XYZ Funeral Home, city, state, date; information provided by Jane and Mary Doe.</ref></blockquote>