Thank you for being so precise with copyright issues, This
is exactly how I understood it. The use of reference
material for private research is permissible as long as the
research project is not published with the intention of
making money. One of the purposes of writing sources is to
give credit where credit is due. Once again, Thank you.  I
don't want Mickey or Barbie in my research project, so
Mattel and Disney have nothing to fear from me.
Frances

Kathy Hudson wrote:
> 
> I'm going to wade into the copyright fray a bit late, but having worked
> in copyright (several years ago) perhaps I can simplify it for everyone.
> My experience was in the music industry, but I believe that the
> principles are the same. Here are a couple of examples of copyright
> infringements:
> 
> 1. Wierd Al Yanovich was a DJ in LA and one morning he starting singing
> to the tune of Queen's 'Another One Bites the Dust' - 'Another One Rides
> the Bus'. My boss heard it on the radio, by 10:00 a.m. we were on the
> phone with Wierd Al telling him that (1) he had to pay us for using our
> song and (2) if he did it again without prior permission from us & the
> writer (prob. Freddy Mercury) we would sue him. Freddy Mercury & Screen
> Gems owned the tune and you cannot substitute words & get away from
> copyright law.
> 
> 2. Old song: 'No Way to Treat a Lady'. A razor company made a commercial
> using a totally different tune and words -- however, the INTENT was the
> same. 'No Way to Shave a Lady'. We won this one in court. You cannot
> borrow the intent of copyrighted material.
> 
> 3. Richard Pryor hummed a bar of music from 'Close Encounters' during a
> comedy sketch that was recorded. We won that one too. No permission & no
> payment. If material is copyrighted, you must receive permission from
> the owner & generally pay $$ if you will be making money yourself from
> the use of the material.
> 
> That's really, in my opinion, usually the bottom line in copyright
> issues. If you are going to be making money from copyrighted material
> you are going to have to pay money (a license fee) before you can
> legally use and claim the material as yours. If you are not going to be
> receiving money from someone else's intellectual material then usually
> you can get a gratis license (i.e., schools wanting to perform 'Close
> Encounters' or use quotes in yearbooks were generally granted gratis
> licenses to do so).
> 
> I don't think that you can copyright public domain material as 'yours'
> but I think that if you compile public domain or uncopyrighted material
> (i.e., church birth records) and copyright your compilation before
> publishing it, then you've copyrighted what you have done/compiled, not
> the original records. Someone else can go compile and copyright their
> list of the same birth records, but it has to be original work not
> simply copying your work. Steve Coker's response to this public domain
> question was right on.
> 
> Elizabeth Russo can compile, organize, index and publish her ancestor's
> stories, copyright the material as she presents it. She cannot copyright
> the individual stories under her name as the author. Only as author of
> the collection of stories with credit given to the original author.
> 
> By and large, no one will 'get in trouble' with copyright issues if you
> are not trying to make money from the material, are not doing it
> intentionally or taking credit for someone else's copyrighted,
> intellectual material. There are exceptions and some company's have a
> reputation for being very heavy-handed when it comes to their
> copyrighted material. Disney will sue if you use one of their images
> without consent -- they have sued little daycare centers for using Micky
> Mouse. Mattel will sue if you use images of Barbie or the Barbie logo
> without permission.
> 
> By the way, the old mail it to yourself & it's copyrighted is a bunch of
> bunk. You have a file a copy of the material with the copyright office.
> 
> If everyone uses common sense, credits original author's, etc. then all
> should be well.
> 
> Kathi Jones Hudson
> 
> 
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