Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Ohio

I have a question about who "owns" the material on a website, specifically legacy.com. Essentially they post obituaries, presumably written by the family, online. These obituaries can also be found in publicly available newspapers as well as through the newspaper archives.

For instance: The Miami Herald's obituaries can be found here

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/herald/obituary-browse.aspx?recentdate=0&type=1

I want to make use of the obituary listings, essentially compiled, to make a profit. Howver according to the legacy.com TOS they essentially "own" these listings.

Scope. Legacy.com, Inc. grants you permission (which may be revoked at any time for any reason or no reason) to view this Site and to download, integrate via authorized social media application, email, or print individual pages of this Site in accordance with these Terms of Use and solely for your own personal, non-commercial use, provided you do not remove any trademark, copyright or other notice contained on such pages. No other use is permitted. You may not, for example, incorporate the information, content, or other material in any database, compilation, archive or cache. You may not modify, copy, distribute, re-publish, transmit, display, perform, reproduce, publish, reuse, resell, license, create derivative works from, transfer, or sell any information, content, material, software, products or services obtained from this Site, except as specifically noted above.

Probably hard to tell, but who has the rights to these obituaries? The families who wrote them, the newspaper, or legacy.com who publishes and manages them online?


Asked on 4/03/11, 5:27 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Kevin B. Murphy Franchise Foundations, APC

As a Franchise Attorney I think the bigger picture is copyright. They have a prominent copyright notice on their website, so if you "copy" the information and use it for a commercial purpose, expect a copyright infringement lawsuit from them. Consult with a good intellectual property or franchise attorney in your area for specific advice.

Mr. Franchise - Kevin B. Murphy, B.S., M.B.A., J.D.

Franchise Foundations, a Professional Corporation

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Answered on 4/04/11, 6:47 am


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