Friday, September 18, 2009 at 5:21 PM
Any copyright attorney--of which I am not--can verify what is contained herein. If you have doubts, consult an attorney. As a published writer, I have performed extensive research on copyright law, to protect myself and my works. What follows is a condensed version of my research: Under copyright laws, any material produced and published using public tax dollars, i.e., municipal, county, state and/or federal, is automatically placed in the public domain at the time of publication. Hence it is not copyrighted and can never be copyrighted. Any documents produced by any governments at any level, local or otherwise, such as marriage licenses, contracts, manuals, corporate registration documents, etc.) are not covered by copyright law, including photos and personal or "private" information. They are freely viewable by the public, and freely reproducible where allowed. Due to privacy issues, many governments won't allow copying but will allow making notes. This is one way news reporters get background information for stories. While you may feel your right to privacy has been violated, publishing your "public domain" photo without your permission is not against the law. At any rate, it's probably best to seek permissions for photos if you have the slightest doubt.
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