Uploading Ancestry images to other tree websites?

Ancestry's Ts & Cs state:

2.2 Your Use of Ancestry Content
When accessing Ancestry Content you agree:

• To use Ancestry Content only in connection with your personal use of the Services or professional family history research;
• To download Ancestry Content only in connection with your family history research or where expressly permitted by Ancestry;
• Not to remove any copyright or other proprietary notices on any Ancestry Content;
• Not to use significant portions of Ancestry Content outside the Services, or in a manner inconsistent with your subscription; and
• To contact us to obtain written permission to use more than a small number of photos and documents that are Public Domain Content.

If users need written permission to use more than a small number of documents on the Ancestry site which are in the Public Domain it stands to reason that Ancestry do not allow unrestricted use of images which are not in the Public Domain.

Bear in mind that Ancestry themselves are in many cases going to be limited by the agreements they have with the owners of the content - anyone who has visited a record office will know how restrictive their terms usually are, and in some case the records offices are dependent on the agreements they have with the owners of the documents they hold but do not own (such as parish registers).

 

They say in plain English what you can do, which keeps it simple. The key phrase is 'personal use' - publishing can never be personal use.

Adding images to a public tree on any website (even Ancestry), or publishing them in any other way would, in my view, breach Ancestry's terms.

 

Most record offices place restrictions on the use of images which would prevent them being uploaded to any public tree (and probably to a private one too, though who's going to know?).

Note that the excerpt from the Ts & Cs above relate solely to content provided by Ancestry - there are other restrictions in the agreement including this one:

Not to resell the Services or resell, reproduce, or publish any content or information found on the Services, except as explicitly described in these Terms

 

This is always the case with intellectual property - it is up to the proprietor (or their representative) to take action, and they tend to do this only when there is a blatant breach. But this discussion is about what is permitted, not what you can get way with if you're prepared to take a chance.

 

You can be sure that if anyone stated publicly that it was OK to breach Ancestry Ts & Cs, they would have their lawyers on to them without a moment's thought!

I was personally involved in several intellectual property disputes when I was running my software publishing company and I can recall that more than 40 years ago a case that was settled "on the steps of the High Court" involved costs of £5000. That's not damages, it's just one side's legal costs. That £5000 would be more like £50000 today - it's not worth taking the risk.