In recent weeks I have received a number of e-mail messages concerning copyrights. Many of the messages are along the lines of, “I gave my genealogy information to another person and now he has published it online. Can he legally do that without my permission?”
I am no lawyer and certainly am not a position to offer legal advice. However, I did find a great Web site that gives detailed information about copyrights, especially as to how copyright laws work in an online world. The information presented refers primarily to United States laws. The site is not genealogy-specific, but the information there does apply to genealogy data as well as all sorts of other information.
To learn more about copyright laws in the digital age, read Brad Templeton’s “10 Big Myths About Copyright Explained” at: http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html