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War Diary Copyright - Can I use excerpts in a book?


andymr1

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I've searched around the forums for some guidance on the following, but have been unable to find any answers. I would welcome any advice from anyone with information regarding the following.

I'm publishing a book shortly and would like to include about 20 lines from a 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards war diary from 1914. My questions are;

Am I allowed to do this, are there any copyright or permissions I need to obtain?

If yes, could you advise how I go about getting permission and does it cost a packet?

If I just use a single line from the war diary do the same rules/laws apply?

If I'm not allowed to publish a line verbatim, I guess I'm allowed to re-write the overall 'gist' of the words. Is this allowed?

Any help appreciated.

By the way my book is going to be self-published and I guess will only run to 100 copies, I dont intend to publish widely so won't be selling thousands. It's more a personal 'story' for distribution to friends and family.

Regards

Andy

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Andy

For any WW1 official war diary held at The National Archives, you are free to use as much as you want in transcription, print or web, as long as you credit its source (TNA and piece number etc.). The only thing that you can't do is use an image of any part of the diary even if you've taken it yourself.

Sue

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Thats an interesting question, what if the war diary excerpt didn't come from the NA but as photocopied at the RHQ?

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  • Admin

Thats an interesting question, what if the war diary excerpt didn't come from the NA but as photocopied at the RHQ?

At least for a transcription, pages 10 and 11 should cover this scenario

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/information-management/copyright-related-rights.pdf

If you wanted to publish the actual copy you got from the RHQ, you'd need to talk to them.

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Superb.

Thanks a million for the advice all. Very clear.

It's very much appreciated.

AndyR

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  • 2 years later...

It's a Crown Copyright work and the guide that SPOF has indicated should be followed. The source of your copy is irrelevant but should be quoted.

Chris I was researching this topic and found on the TNA website a 14p doc on copyright. It has a questionnaire which is confusing (is the author known) etc but to me look like crown copyright lasts until 2039 or 125yrs.

ref: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/search/search_results.aspx?Page=1&QueryText=copyright+war+diaries&SelectedDatabases=BOOKSHOP|RESEARCHGUIDES|WEBSITE&SearchType=Quick

what do you think?

It wld be great if they could give us some guidance. I want to use a quite a few extracts from diaries without having to put it in my own words. Is there anyone from TNA a member of this site?

regards

Lina

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Chris I was researching this topic and found on the TNA website a 14p doc on copyright. It has a questionnaire which is confusing (is the author known) etc but to me look like crown copyright lasts until 2039 or 125yrs.

ref: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/search/search_results.aspx?Page=1&QueryText=copyright+war+diaries&SelectedDatabases=BOOKSHOP|RESEARCHGUIDES|WEBSITE&SearchType=Quick

what do you think?

It wld be great if they could give us some guidance. I want to use a quite a few extracts from diaries without having to put it in my own words. Is there anyone from TNA a member of this site?

regards

Lina

You are allowed to use extracts from TNA war diaries under Crown Copyright, whether the copyright has expired or not.

From TNA website:

Many of the public records held at The National Archives are subject to Crown copyright. You may quote or transcribe from Crown copyright documents freely and without formal permission. However you must give the document reference number and acknowledge The National Archives as custodian of the document.

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The up-to-date rules are in http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/information-management/use-of-tna-materials.pdf. From page 4 of that document:


You are free to transcribe, translate, index and quote from published or unpublished Crown copyright material among the records as extensively as you wish and you may publish the results in any format and any medium: in accordance with the terms of the

Open Government Licence.

Information on the nature of Crown copyright may be found in our guide

Copyright and Related Rights.

Publishing images of the records is rather more complicated

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As we all know copyright is a minefield of Bouncing Bettys.

As a young journo I was taught that fact are simply facts and cannot be copywrite in themselves.

Quoting the exact text in which they are found is in breach if over a certain length and etc. etc.

So you rewrite - using the facts - in such a way that it does not use the original words along the lines of "Private Joe Bloggs noted ... ' and then use the facts.

It's a technique I have often used and as far as I am aware the same rule still holds good.

But keep in mind I'm now merely an old ex journo and life the universe and everything is more complicated.now.

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A useful flow chart for determining UK copyright is here:

http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/pdfs/copyrightflowchart.pdf

There is also recent government legislation to make easier the public use of "orphan works", images for which no copyright holder can be found, in the form of The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act (ERRA),

for which a useful link here:

http://www.ipo.gov.uk/hargreaves-orphanmyth.pdf

There have yet to be details of what "diligent" research actually means. If the UK follows the Canadian model, it will have to be proven, documented and exhaustive. A Google search won't cut it. Nevertheless, it could provide wider access to cool stuff that GWF members are unearthing.

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