Despite considerable efforts to ensure that the content of the site does not breach any copyrights, there may be instances when it has not been possible to identify the author of material which is potentially still subject to copyright. If anyone has any concerns that material on the site, including photographs, may be here in breach of their own copyright, they are asked to contact us immediately so that the situation can be resolved. The fastest way of doing this is either to leave a comment by clicking on the 'Discussion' tab of the page(s) involved or to send an email to editorial@jerripedia.org (please use Jerripedia as the subject for your email). If it is accepted that the offending content is, indeed, subject to copyright and the consent of the copyright holder cannot be obtained, it will be withdrawn from the site.
However, please note the following points:
- Copyright belongs to the original creator of an article, picture or photograph, not to the owner of one of these works, unless it has been assigned in writing by the creator to a third party.
- As far as photographs are concerned, several copies of an image may exist in a number of collections. If the image is out of copyright because 70 years have elapsed since the death of the creator, no possessor of a copy of the image (or the original negative) has any intellectual rights in that image.
- Although it is a contentious issue in some jurisdictions, in general it is accepted that there is no copyright in a flat photographic reproduction of an original piece of artwork, book, newspaper or magazine article, if the original is no longer within copyright.
- There is no copyright in factual material and just because that material may have been transcribed, processed and published in another form does not mean that copyright in the original material has been established. If the material is presented in a different format, particularly if obtained from a different source from that already published, there is no copyright issue involved.
- Copyright only extends for 70 years beyond the death of the creator of the original material and is not perpetuated in anyone who may have been assigned the copyright during the lifetime or the creator, or by their heirs during those 70 years, or who may have published the material with the copyright holder's permission at some stage.
- Ownership of material - a painting, family records, a family tree, etc - does not invest the owner with copyright
- Jerripedia photographs are drawn from a wide range of sources, and have been offered to us by many people, although site restrictions mean that they can only be uploaded to the site by administrators. This has always been done in the honest belief that the images are copyright free, or that permission has been obtained from a copyright owner. Sources for images have been acknowledged where possible, but a significant number have been drawn from three private collections, whose owners have specifically requested that they are not publicly identified.
- Historical documents relating to an individual family are regularly published in book form or on websites freely accessible to the public. This action presupposes that the owners are happy for the information to be generally available. Jerripedia's policy is to make such material available in its pages, either by linking to the existing web pages, or copying material and creating new pages, where possible with the owner's consent. As a general rule, it is preferable for ease of access, to include third party material, suitably acknowledged, within a Jerripedia page.
- Links to other websites will usually be made to the relevant page of that site, not to its home page, so that Jerripedia users do not have to navigate through the new site to find what they are looking for. Such links will usually be made within the text of a Jerripedia page, although a further link to the site's home page may be given in the Links section of the Jerripedia page.
Privacy
It is never Jerripedia's intention to infringe on people's privacy through the content of the site.
- As a general rule, Jerripedia family trees and other genealogical information do not include details of living persons, although where trees have been supplied by researchers who specifically request that basic details of living relatives are included, or have been uploaded to the site by the researchers of the trees, such basic information may be included.
- Jerripedia has a large section of profiles of historic homes and other properties. Permission to include this material, all of which is usually already in the public domain, does not have to be sought from current owners/occupiers of those properties. However, if it is felt that any of the content of a house profile specifically affects the privacy of the occupiers, we will listen sympathetically to their concerns and attempt to agree a compromise which retains the profile but may include omissions or alterations.
- It is most unlikely that reference to the lives of ancestors of living people could be construed as a breach of their privacy or in any way defamatory, but again, we will listen to any specific concerns about such matters.
Complaints
Despite the above comments, Jerripedia has no intention to ignore the concerns of those who believe that their copyright has been breached or their family privacy invaded, and we will respond quickly and sympathetically to any such matters drawn to our attention. (See first paragraph on this page)
