The January 6 post  gives examples of what the copyright records look like.  The card here is just one sample, be sure to check out the blog for more.  Be sure to read the January 26 post on transfers and assignments as well.  You will go away with a little background on copyright records.  

The digitized catalogs of copyright entries can be accessed from the Internet Archive.   They are almost 70% through with scanning the catalogs.  Currently you will find issues from the 1920s through 1978.

This is exciting.  One of the problems genealogists face is trying to determine if genealogies published before 1978 are still covered by copyright.  As the catalogs and cards become accessible online we will be able to find out without sending a researcher to the Copyright office card file, or guessing and hoping that we’ve made the right choice.

Check the food blog alliance

Research Copyright. com  On Writing: Recipes and Copyright Law

The Open Source Cook  Recipes and Copyright Law

C-Net Pirates in the kitchen: Recipe copying ‘rampant’ online
But Genealogy is not all about recipes, although recipes definitely have a part in genealogy so I would like to end today’s blog by highlighting a “genealogy blog”

I would like to suggest that anyone who already blogs, is planning to blog, has a website, is planning to have a website or would like to use items from a blog or a website check out  Janis’ Genealogy Blog  where her   Copyright and Collaboration  page outlines some realities of  copyright and the use of her materials.  Most genealogists out there are happy to share, they just don’t want you to take credit for their material.

Make it a rule to link rather than copy.  It’s a great way to keep everyone happy!

The US Copyright Website states “Copyright law does not protect recipes that are mere listings of ingredients. Nor does it protect other mere listings of ingredients such as those found in formulas, compounds, or prescriptions. Copyright protection may, however, extend to substantial literary expression—a description, explanation, or illustration, for example—that accompanies a recipe or formula or to a combination of recipes, as in a cookbook.”

Only original works of authorship are protected by copyright. “Original” means that an author produced a work by his or her own intellectual effort instead of copying it from an existing work.

So, we come to the question, what makes a recipe subject to copyright?  The definition above gives the answer.  Most recipes have directions, descriptions of how to use that list of ingredients, explanations of the process, pictures of the final result, and the best ones give a little bit of the history of the recipe as well.  So the mere ingredients of the Cherry Pie would not be subject to copyright but the written description of the process to create it might be.  The more creative the telling of the recipe, such as my Mother’s Spamburgers (complete with my sister’s fantastic art work) the more likelihood copyright applies.

The Copyright Office goes on to state that if you want to keep a recipe secret you probably shouldn’t publish it or file a copy with the Copyright Office.

So…….in a sense recipes are like genealogies.  Our basic family group sheet is just a list of facts.  Births, marriages, deaths, census listings, military service, no matter which fact it is not subject to copyright law.  What makes a genealogy subject to copyright?  The descriptions, the explanations, the process of combining facts to make a whole, the thought process used to compile the families.

How often have you heard, “I shared my genealogy and they put it online?”  While there might be some ethical problems with this, it is usually not a copyright issue.  Unless they use “your stories” and include your thought process in making connections they are only posting facts.  Like the recipes, if you want to keep it secret you might not want to share.

Be creative.  Turn your genealogy into a wonderful story and you will have copyright protection for your work.

But here’s one last thought….a shared recipe resulted in a better Cherry Pie.  A shared genealogy might well do the same.  You might find new collateral family and they may lead you back to earlier generations, or even better those new found relatives might have stories that they are willing to share with you.

Great-Grandma died without a will in 1940.  Her only child Grandma inherited everything she had, including the recipe box.  Grandma now became the hit of the party circuit, the provider of “the pie.”  Grandma died in 1965 and left everything she had to her two children Mom and Uncle Harry.  They easily divided the treasures of her life….except the Cherry Pie recipe.  That they shared.  Uncle Harry, a wonderful cook, received a copy of the original card and the recipe box.  Mom received the original card.  Both now became the hit of every party with their contributions of the pie.  In fact, Uncle Harry even made an improvement to the original, adding something special to the crust.

Uncle Harry died in 1990 and willed the recipe box and all it’s contents to his daughter, Jill.  Mom died in 1994 and left her estate to be divided in 6 parts.  One part went to each of her 5 surviving children and 1 part was divided 2/3 to her deceased son’s daughter and 1/3 to his widow.  They now were all entitled to the recipe.

So, in 2011 Jill submitted the recipe to a contest for the best Cherry Pie and won a $5000 prize.  One of the requirements to the submission was that the recipe be previously unpublished and that company holding the contest would be able to highlight the recipe in it’s next cookbook.  Mom’s daughter, Jackie, was dismayed as she was in the process of writing a cookbook called “Great-Grandma’s Cherry Pie.”  Each claimed the other didn’t have the right to publish the recipe.

So the question is, who own’s the copyright to Great-Grandma’s Cherry Pie Recipe?

Well…. Jackie by virtue of her mother’s will would be entitled to a 1/12 share (1/6 of 1/2) in the Cherry Pie recipe.  Her siblings would also have 1/12 share each, her niece 1/24 and her sister in law 1/36).  Jill on the other hand, was bequeathed her father’s entire share and thus would be entitled to a 1/2 share of the copyright to Great-Grandma’s Cherry Pie recipe.  But….Great-Grandma died in 1940.  The copyright to unpublished works extends 70 years beyond the death of the creator.  It is 2011 and therefore the Cherry Pie Recipe is no longer subject to copyright.  It is in the PUBLIC DOMAIN!   Jackie can publish her book without any complications of copyright from the company that held the pie contest, hoping for an exclusive.

Jill, in fact,  submitted  Uncle Harry’s improved recipe.  Uncle Harry did not die until 1990 so his changed recipe is subject to copyright until 2060.  Jill owned that copyright and can happily enjoy the $5000 she won and the company does have an exclusive on the changed recipe.  Jill shared her bounty by having a big party for her cousins and their extended families.

The preceding account is fictional.  No such Cherry Pie recipe has come down the generations from my Great-Grandma.  However, my daughter is the hit of every holiday gathering  with her wonderful Cherry Pie.  Don’t ask her for the recipe, she’s not telling and it’s likely to be another 130 years before it hits the public domain!

Happy Holidays!!!

Feel free to add something OTHER.

Your comments are also welcome.

Like everything the answer is never simple.  Tom Jones, CG in his lecture “Honesty, Courtesy, and Confidentiality: Ethics for Family Historians.” (available on CD from JAMB Productions) suggests using the ”Rule of Three.”  If you use more that three words, put it in quotes.  If you use more than three paragraphs you need permission.  This works well for books and many scholarly articles.

What happens, however, if you are talking about a BLOG.  You might have only three paragraphs, putting them in quotes and reusing them is not justified under the fair use concept.

Universities generally suggest a 10% rule.  If you use more than 10% you should have permission.  This means 10% of each of the parts of a whole, so using more than 10% of the whole, of a part, of a section, of a chapter, of an article, etc. would violate the concept.

This works well in many cases, but think about a “How To” genealogy book.  You might have a chapter on vital records, one on courthouse research and another on archives.  Each of those might have a page or two devoted to each state in the US, or perhaps each county in a state.  What if you took all the information on a particular state and use it in another publication.  You would have most likely used less than 10% of any particular chapter or section, in fact perhaps as little as 2%.  You would have used very little of the whole, definitely under 10%.  Yet I think you would have violated the spirit of Fair Use by using all of the information on an identifiable topic.

So, to keep things easy, I suggest you use a combination the rule of 3 and the 10% rule.  If you use more than 3 words put it in quotes, if you use more than the lesser of 3 paragraphs or 10% seek permission.

There are other factors involved in deciding whether a use of copyrighted material is fair,  this at least is measurable.  Set a standard for yourself and stick with it.

Want to read more – check the following Copyright Blogs

Stanford University’s Fairly Used Blog

The Copyright Alliance

The 1709 Blog

Photographs fall under the same rules as other copyrighted materials.  You own the copyright to pictures you take.  You might not own the copyright to pictures taken of you.  Unless the photographer gives you copyright you do not have the right to post your wedding pictures, your school pictures, your baby pictures and more. Well for most of us our baby pictures, unless there is a photographer imprint on the back, are probably safe.

So what are the rules.

1.  If the picture was taken after 1989 (consider it published for simplicity sake at the time a copy was given to anyone) then the photographer and his heirs own copyright for 70 years after his death.

2.  The photographer can assign his copyright to anyone including someone who contracts his services, but if there is no statement of that fact then he retains the copyright.  This rule affects wedding, school and other pictures taken by professionals.

3.  If the picture was taken before 1 Mar 1989 and after 1923 it might be in copyright, but it would require a copyright notice on the picture at the very least. (For an easy to follow chart showing the terms of copyright follow the link to Cornell University’s copyright website on this page)

4.  However, that notice could be on another copy of the picture so err on the side of caution if it is a picture of someone famous or taken by a famous photographer.

5.  Ownership of a photograph does not give you copyright.  Remember there can be multiple copies of the same picture, so although you can try to restrict use of a photo you have in hand, you would have to be able to prove that any use actually came from your copy.

6.  If you digitize a photograph that is out of copyright you will hold a copyright to that digital image.  If someone downloads that digital image and uses it on their website or in a digital publication they have violated your copyright.  However, if someone prints the picture and then uses that in a subsequent publication they have not violated your copyright.  You hold no copyright to the original picture.  Once an photograph is in the Public Domain it remains there.

©

Sharing Your Content and Information

FACEBOOK  —  ”You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings. In addition:

1. For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it 
2. …
3. …
4. When you publish content or information using the Public setting, it means that you are allowing everyone, including people off of Facebook, to access and use that information, and to associate it with you (i.e., your name and profile picture).
5. We always appreciate your feedback or other suggestions about Facebook, but you understand that we may use them without any obligation to compensate you for them (just as you have no obligation to offer them).”

Such was the case at the FGS Conference in Springfield this month. The talk was on Wednesday morning and throughout the rest of the conference I was stopped on a regular basis by attendees, some jokingly opining that they should give up because they couldn’t use anything in their genealogies, some stating that they had done everything wrong but would try to do better, others happy that they could stop others from using their material.  There were also many that had information and websites to share. The exciting thing was that everyone seemed enthused by the topic, and wanted wanted to discuss one point or another.

Among those sitting in the room was Dick Eastman, who made copyright a topic for his newsletter last week. See Copyright Myths .  The thread of questions and comments resulting from this newsletter are very telling and show some of the misunderstandings that exist.

It is my intention to use this new blog to explore the idiosyncrasies of copyright, post updates to copyright issues and create links to great copyright websites.  First, however, I plan to take a much needed vacation to recover from managing the finances for Springfield.  Check back in a few weeks for the next installment.  ©