Instead of printing a full complete obituary, many papers have taken to writing just a small brief announcement and then telling the reader to “subscribe” to the paper in order to see the full result.

To these papers, I say, “Fat Chance.”

I have discussed this issue with several editors of newspapers, both large and small. a while back, there was a wave across the country to cut obituaries, because newspapers knew the genealogists were using them and reprinting them. It was a loud scream of Copyright Violation! Infringement! Illegal use if Intellectual Material! Call the Supreme Court!

Let me put things in perspective for everyone.

First, an obituary, except for some trite phrasing is almost always only a dissemination of Public Information and facts. Barring the occasional celebrity, most obituaries do much more than write a lot of information into a readable format.

In the old days, newspapers employed someone who would take this raw data and format it into a readable form. Many papers today, simply reprint a form that the Funeral home sends to them. Is there really any Copyright involved?

Many years ago, Congress was debating a bill to place Copyright and other protections on databases and segments of databases. When the planes hit on 911, that legislation pretty much died. So, if an obituary is nothing more that a dataset of information, presented in a format, is is really subject to Copyright.

The newspaper people I talked to claim the Copyright is theirs because they are the publisher. I debate that because they are NOT always the publisher. In many cases they are simply an information syndicator for the various Funeral Homes in their area. They are simply reprinting what is already formatted.

Anyway, what I want you to do is join me in protesting to any paper that is only publishing the short announcements. Encourage them to bring back the full blown obituaries as a “public service.” Most editors have email addresses and all it takes is a few lines.

Dear Editor:

Please bring back full text obituaries to you online editions, free of charge as a Public Service.

Sincerely,

Simple and effective communications to make a point.