The DU Lounge

UTUSN

(70,740 posts) Wed Jun 24, 2015, 09:39 PM Jun 2015

Again, any project starts with Lounge expertise, so: Are newspaper archives copyrighted?

So I took a 14 days' free subscription to an archives website and found BOO-COOs (that's Viet vet talk) articles about my great-grand peeps (good and bad). O.K., so this website brings all the crap up in random date order and no way to print out stuff (beyond Prntscn too much trouble). So I ******TYPED****** each relevant item - we're talking a few hundred items.

Now. When I arrange everything in date order and assemble it all into souvenir stuff for family, am I *******ALLOWED?!1

Besides this, somebody like whassisname (director/actor of Dancing with Wolves) or other enterprising factoid human, could turn all this into an Oscar winning thing. I don't care about that.

My question is, are newspaper archives "protected" regarding TRANSCRIPTION and then broadcasting elsewhere? Thank you very much.

5 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Again, any project starts with Lounge expertise, so: Are newspaper archives copyrighted? (Original Post) UTUSN Jun 2015 OP

Hey, femm!1 Thanks for being so consistently (& sweetly) *THERE*!1 n/t UTUSN Jun 2015 #1

Hi UTUSN! femmocrat Jun 2015 #2

*Your* answer is as good as it GETS!1 Thanks!1 n/t UTUSN Jun 2015 #3

It depends. lovemydog Jun 2015 #4

Always a good idea to document sources. malthaussen Jun 2015 #5

UTUSN

(70,740 posts)

1. Hey, femm!1 Thanks for being so consistently (& sweetly) *THERE*!1 n/t

Reply to UTUSN (Original post)

Wed Jun 24, 2015, 10:08 PM

Jun 2015

femmocrat

(28,394 posts)

2. Hi UTUSN!

Reply to UTUSN (Reply #1)

Thu Jun 25, 2015, 07:10 PM

Jun 2015

I was hoping you would get a good answer to your question by someone more knowledgeable than me. I found it interesting that you typed out all that historical information. I am pretty sure that newspapers are copyrighted. But... I think as long as you give a citation and don't try to pawn the information off as original, you are OK. Since you are using it for personal reasons, I don't see a problem.

It is like writing a research paper. You just have to cite your source. Since we have published authors here, I hope one of them can give you a better answer about if the historical records are eventually published. I think it works the same for books.

At least this will give your post a kick and some more exposure.

UTUSN

(70,740 posts)

3. *Your* answer is as good as it GETS!1 Thanks!1 n/t

Reply to femmocrat (Reply #2)

Thu Jun 25, 2015, 07:12 PM

Jun 2015

lovemydog

(11,833 posts)

4. It depends.

Reply to UTUSN (Original post)

Thu Jun 25, 2015, 07:15 PM

Jun 2015

Sometimes the author owns the copyright, usually the copyright is owned by the newspaper.

Read up on the fair use exemption to copyright protection. Understand all the factors involved. And understand that it's not black and while - it's basically a matter of balancing all the varying factors and applying a reasonable assessment.

If you're not doing it for profit you should be good.

malthaussen

(17,216 posts)

5. Always a good idea to document sources.

Reply to UTUSN (Original post)

Fri Jun 26, 2015, 10:15 AM

Jun 2015

Not only good scholarship, it covers your ass. Generally speaking, you're only in gray area if you cite extensively from a copyrighted source, a line or two isn't actionable.

Depending, however, on the age of the story and the paper that published it, copyright may have lapsed anyway. If it's in the public domain, citation is only a courtesy.

And if you're not making a profit, as indicated above, you're also covered.

-- Mal

Reply to this discussion