In a message dated 6/10/2006 3:09:33 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes: The good news is that the possibility of a law suit is small. Section 412(1) of the Copyright Act says that unless unpublished materials are registered with the Copyright Office prior to an infringement, the copyright owner cannot sue for statutory damages or attorney's fees. This takes away a lot of the monetary incentive to sue; the other major driving force might be privacy concerns. In short, your proposed online exhibit may be illegal, but the likelihood that you will be sued is low. And if you are sued, the damages that can be held against you are likely to be low. You just have to decide if you like this type of argument. ******************** Another issue is the good will of the donors. If the work was donated with the idea that it will be preserved for access to serious researchers or their descendants, and it suddenly appears on a public website without their permission, they may feel left out or "used." Also, if the work is "stolen" from your web site and used for a commercial purpose without permission, you may be held partly responsible for making this possible without permission. Mike Csontos A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org. For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname *or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>