Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Kentucky

Re: Can I copyright?

Probably not. For starters, this sounds like a public record you have acquired, which would not be copyrightable. Second, it sounds like a collection of facts, which also would not be copyrightable (like a telephone directory). Finally, it sounds like you would not be the author � someone else authored these records, so no matter how creative they may be, even if they were copyrightable by the author, you are not the author.

You could, however, take the non-copyrightable information and rearrange it, mixing in new material, and presenting it in a way that would allow you to copyright your work. For example, if you relied heavily on those records plus other information you researched (old newspapers and genealogies, for example) and created new material, such as a brief historical/biographical snippet to accompany the more interesting entries, you could copyright it.

If copyrighting it is important to you, consult with an attorney in advance, so you can plan a creative way of presenting a new work based on the records. But consider, also, that you may not really need copyright protection if what you plan a limited run of the copies for a fairly small segment of the public. So what if someone photocopies a few more for friends? So what if someone goes to the trouble of scanning it and posting it on the Internet? If those actions would not significantly impair your objectives in reproducing the information, then you could feel proud increase public access.

Re: Can I copyright?

The literal answer is "yes" but it would do you no particular good if you did. Facts are not protectable -- some courts upon a time had supported a "sweat of the brow" test for compilations of data (like baseball statistics), but the US Supreme Court killed that entire theory in a case concerning the white pages telephone directory. Later cases held that the data in the yellow pages is unprotectable, but the organization of the business categories satisfied the "minimum creativity" test.

For your purposes, there is no way to organize your data in a creative way (your users would demand listing organized alphabetically and by location), so, no matter how difficult or expensive it was to obtain the data, it will not be protectable by copyright.

Best wishes,

LDWG

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Re: Can I copyright?

if the book is just a list (like a phone book), then you cannot obtain copyright protection...if the book is more than a list (ie; has photos or commentary), then copyright protection is available. you can find out more by going to the US cooyright office website