Hi Pat M....
I would be very interested in these comments as we have had a major
disagreement on this issue on a private website I have.  My understanding of
the law is that if credit is given to the person who copyrighted the
information and 10 or less copies are posted, the information may be used.
**** I have seen NO such rule, and if you have a citation of authority, I
would appreciate it. As a matter of discussion, "10 copies posted or
presented where" would be the first question posed by any court?

**** Truly, I do not believe this is or could be the state of the law. To
illustrate, suppose I posted one copy on my website, gave one of the 10 to
the newspaper, another to be read at a seminar or family reunion, another to
a stranger for 50 cents, another to the library, another to a local
genealogical society, and still another to a teacher for his classes ???????
By any of those actions of mine, though less than 10 copies were
distributed, it is obvious, it would seem, that I have violated virtually
every right held by the author of those works.

The restriction being that you can not include in published material without
express written permission from the author of the work or the one who
copyrighted it.
*****That is surely the law, and such permission surely should be in writing
and witnessed in order that the person using that material may be completely
safe; verbal permission sure would not suffice.

  One of my nephews pointed out another provision to the
copyright law that I did not know, that if it is for teaching or instruction
purposes, copyrighted material may be used.
**** In my article you will find the rules as to teaching, explanation and
critique, as set out by the U.S. Code.  In those instances if no
remuneration is gained or intended, and the use truly is for education only,
then such usage likely is permitted.

  For a public website, I believe the parameters are different.  Please
correct me if I am wrong.  Because of this disagreement, we have taken off a
ll pictures and other things that are not owned by the family or that we
have copies of.  Thank you.  Pat M....
**** This is a very difficult area of the law; how did you gain the photos?
were such knowingly given or sold to you such that you now are the owner and
not merely a custodian? did the actual ex-owner copyright the materials of
which you speak?  Did you gain those from a library, museum, or archives
that is open to the public?  Then too, notice that the mere fact that you
are a descendant or relative of the person portrayed does not give you any
rights as against the owner of that memento or photo (we can copyright such
materials no matter the degree of kinship if any.

Hope this might contribute to your concern.  Again, I do not know how any
court will act in future matters of intellectual property placed on the net,
and I welcome the comments of those who work with the current copyright law.

Cordially

Paul

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