Outrage over newspapers charging online to read obituaries

·       I’m not the only one unhappy with newspapers and Legacy.com making money from obituaries, then blocking others from seeing them without making a payment.

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·       The Fairmont Times does this.

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·       A funeral directors web site suggests:

·       “When you are writing an obit ,create a standard document template that includes your funeral home's web address at the bottom of the obit file you send with the copyright symbol and year clearly shown directly beside your FH's contact information. This copyright symbol will encompass all of the content in the obituary. Use this template for every single obit you email to your newspaper.

·       “You may even want to include a disclaimer with each obit file sent to your newspaper clearly indicating that your FH is the creator and owner of the information in the obit. Work that is copyrighted cannot be reproduced or altered without your permission or your FH receiving published credit as the source.”

·       If the Fairmont funeral homes would follow this procedure, even the Fairmont Times would see that they do not own the rights to the family’s intellectual property and let the obituaries be seen without charge by anyone online. Newspapers are charging people for someone else’s work.

·       Not very fair. And not even legal if someone is irate enough to pursue it legally.

• To read the article for yourself, click on http://connectingdirectors.com/articles/5302-who-is-in-control-of-your-obituaries-legacy-com-sold-two-weeks-ago

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