Copyright Clarification Note


All original work on these pages is copyrighted. Any pure facts, public domain works transcribed verbatim and all materials attributed to other sources are not covered by this copyright. No author can claim copyright for pure facts (e.g., birth, death dates, etc.) but I do claim copyright for my formatting style and original descriptions of the facts as presented. I have taken great pains to identify my sources for quotes, photographs and other family history information. Obviously, I have no copyright claims on that.

This copyright is only intended to protect my work from commercial exploitation by others. Anyone may freely copy my material for non-profit use if they attribute me as the source and provide a link to this web site: http://cunneyworth.com or to any relevant page included in this site. Please refer to Accuracy of Information for a cautionary note.

My goal here is to follow the sage advice offered in the TIPS FROM READERS column, "Examining False Copyright Claims" by James F. Ramaley, Ph.D. (ramaley@hotmail.com) as published in the newsletter, RootsWeb Review, 30 November 2005, Vol. 8, No. 48. To be very clear, this copyright makes no claims on anything that is not my original work.

Dr. Ramaley writes:

"Amateur genealogists (by definition) do the work they do, not for profit, but for the fun of discovery of ancestors or cousins and to learn about history. There is no commercial motive and, in fact, some amateurs become apprehensive about using information if they see a big Copyright Notice in the information they are using or want to include in the family tree compilation".

"Bottom line? I believe that we do a disservice to the genealogical community by asserting false copyright and I would like to see the practice stopped. People would be more willing to publish (online and off) their own family histories and include an obituary from Grandaunt Kate -- if they were not intimidated by a false copyright notice".