The following information is for those who are concerned about the nature of the copyright of records placed in the USGenWeb Archives.

We claim no copyright of information which is in the public domain. We require that all contributions be offered to us on a permanent basis. Please note that permanent basis does not mean exclusive basis. Additionally, we are not able to accept actual assignment of copyright. The copyright holders should remain free to use their transcription anywhere that they deem proper. We do not want to limit the submitters’ ability to publish and/or sell their own work; we simply offer an organized, permanent place to make the work available to Internet researchers - and with free access to the files. We want to offer people an opportunity to share their work with others, in a central location on the Internet to provide that permanency.

The Archives are intended for information that is in the Public Domain, i.e. that which is uncopyrightable, or the copyright has expired. The Church Records Project will not knowingly place any file online that is under copyright, without permission of the copyright owner. In placing transcriptions in the Archives, the following general guidelines have been used:

1. ALL items with an ORIGINAL publishing or copyright date prior to 1923 are public domain. Anyone, including the Church Records Project, may use them and distribute them freely.

2. For items between 1923 and 1950, in order to still be copyrighted, the copyright holder must have renewed the copyright before the date it originally expired (a term of 28 years). However, because of the difficulty in determining the renewal of copyright for most documents of this period (as well as 1950 to present), it is required of the submitter to provide assurance of non-copyright for other than “public domain” materials.

U.S. Copyright Law allows for “fair use” of copyrighted material; fair use being reproduction of small portions for research. Reproduction of larger portions of copyrighted work will require the permission of the copyright owner. Commercial use of the files from the USGenWeb Archives Church Records Project is prohibited.

Any of the above is not to be construed as legal advice.

For additional copyright information:

• Fair Use of Copyrighted Works by CETUS
• Who Owns Genealogy? Cousins and Copyrights by Gary B. Hoffman
• Copyright Stuff from Cyndi's List (This site is chock full of Reference Information.)
• United States Copyright Office
• What is a Copyright? - Microsoft Corporation
• Copyright Information for USGenWeb Volunteers