Copyright

The small print

Copyright has become a bit of a dirty word recently, so I take this opportunity to make my position clear(er).

All the contents of these web sites are my own work except where explicitly stated and permission has been obtained from the author. The bulk of the materials are my own transcripts of old history books which are well past their copyright expiry date. By this I mean that it is 50 years or more from the date of the death of the author. The 50 years was changed to 70 years in UK law some time in 1996 but is not retrospective. There are one or two small exceptions where I have extracted a short passage of a more recent work to illustrate particular points. This is usually regarded as “fair dealing” under the relevant acts, but I will retract them if the copyright holder objects.

In the case of the Family Tree website, there is a lot of information collected there from different researchers. I have tried to credit each one in the footnotes but it is a difficult task. If you think I have missed out a reference to your work, then please let me know and I will put it right.

I claim my own copyright only on the layout and style of the web pages, not on the data contained therein, most of which is in the public domain either due to age or because they are incontrovertible facts. I could probably claim more, particularly in the collection of data regarding the location of records, but I don’t. You are welcome to make extracts for your own research, family or local histories or whatever just so long as it doesn’t just republish the style and format of my pages—e.g. the colour, logos, graphics etc. I would also appreciate a credit and a back link if possible.

“Use the Source, Luke”

All information provided on this site (and by me by email) is necessarily secondary, probably worse. All information should be checked against the original documents. I cannot be responsible for the accuracy of any of this information in any way, we are all fable, even the clerks, recorders, enumerators, printers, proof-readers and scribes who created the original information.

Feedback

I would be interested to hear from you if you have any problems or concerns with any of this, or if you think I have breached your copyright in any way. I am sure we can sort it out in a friendly fashion.