Copyright Retsrictions
I have obtained digital copies of the birth and death records of several of my ancestors from the UK General Register Office and Scotland's People websites. Are there any copyright restrictions that would prevent me from attaching these documents as sources?
Answers
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Good morning @WilliamShufflebotham
You may find this thread useful, with an informed opinion from FamilySearch staff.The important part:
So, I verified that it is a violation to post those images found at the Library or FSCs to Memories. If you wish to keep the image for your own records, great. If the archive contract allowed for the image to be used publicly, it would not have the current restrictions. This also applies to buying a record from an archive and uploading it here, such as certificates ordered from another website. You are welcome to create a source or a memory with the transcription and a note that you hold a copy.1 -
In specific regard to placing copies of GRO certificates in Family Tree (Memories) I found this paragraph at https://cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/information-management/reproduction-of-birth-death-marriage-certificates.pdf :
In the light of this and other articles I have previously found, I have added some copies of GRO BMD certificates to deceased individuals' profiles I have added to Family Tree.
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I believe this applies to Scottish certificates, too, but would emphasise my reply (above) is specific to certificates obtained directly from the General Register Office for England & Wales.
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@WilliamShufflebotham - you need to check the conditions on ScotlandsPeople for the Scottish Situation. It takes a while to sort through but essentially the National Records of Scotland regard publication of stuff (images) on FamilySearch etc as needing permission. (By the way, this is about contractual Terms of Us, rather than Copyright). However, in order to save everyone a huge amount of hassle, there is a blanket "no formal written permission needed" in place to allow a single user to post up to 20 images. To be clear - the count is by user so I could post 20, @Paul W could post his 20 etc.
Caveat 1 - this applies to NRS images. Roman Catholic images are, I think but am not sure, subject to a separate explicit permission needed regime. Check for yourself if necessary.
Caveat 2 - FamilySearch are at liberty to protect their own interests and bring in their own, more restrictive rules, if they regard policing all these different regimes as too difficult.
Caveat 3 - I Am Not A Lawyer and I could have missed something in everything I wrote above. I did check before typing this response but I could still have missed something.
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