Kirkpatrick Genealogy

Copyright Notice

"Anything you write in the U.S. is instantly copyrighted, without any sort of notice required. But if you want to prosecute someone for using it without your permission, it helps a lot to have evidence that you intended to protect it. Publishing a copyright notice with date does that. It is not necessary to register copyright with the U.S. government, although it is a good idea to do so with books at least.

Quite a few commercial enterprises, from magazines to CD publishers, have been swiping posts off the Net, printing them up, and selling them for profit. I--and many others--object to that. I do not object to an individual genealogist taking some of my research and adding it to his own WITH PROPER CITATION. My notice allows the legitimate scholarly user to copy a post without having to bother with writing me to get permission.

I vehemently object to someone taking my research and selling it without my express permission and payment of royalties. That's why I append the copyright notice. You are welcome to use a similar notice on your posts, but you are not required to do so. Don't use it if you don't mind people taking your work and doing whatever they please with it."

©1996 Kathleen Much Copying is permitted for noncommercial, educational use by individual scholars and libraries. This message must appear on all copied material. All commercial use requires permission.

This page created 25 Sep 1996 (revised 09 Jan 2000) by Daniel C. Kirkpatrick (kirkpatrick@oocities.com)

©1997-2000 Daniel C. Kirkpatrick
Copying is permitted for noncommercial, educational, and genealogical research use by individuals. This message must appear on all copied material. All commercial or use for profit requires permission.