Simple copyrights question

[lux]

Can wills be copyrighted?

Thanks.

 

[actnow]

Do you mean like

Will Form

or

John F. Kennedy's will?

 

[lux]

Yes, like JFK's will, or anybody's for that matter.

Are those types of documents copyrighted? Is there any law against publishing them online or otherwise?

 

[DNQuest.com]

Wouldn't that be a public record? Public records can't be coptwrighted I believe.

 

[jberryhill]

Wills are not public records.

Any expressive work fixed in tangible form is subject to copyright.

This particular question is usually asked in the form of, "I just bought one of those do-it-yourself will kits, and I want to copy all of the forms and let a friend use them."

Can they have a copyright in those materials? Sure they can.

 

[lux]

I wanted to make a site with strange and celebrity last wills and testaments. Would I run into any problem with that?

 

[jberryhill]

The copyright, if any, would not reside with the celebrity unless it had been assigned to them by the author of the document. An odd thing about lawyers is that they do not claim copyright in a lot of the things they write, such as contracts, briefs, etc., but I see no reason why they couldn't.

I would peg the probability of "running into problems" as low, just off the top of my head, and would be interested in knowing what some of the other lawyers here think. This is not a legal opinion on the subject.

 

[HOWARD]

Wills are generally recorded and public records in the county in which the person died. It would therefore seem that public records are not copyrightable, though I am sure that there are attorneys out there who would like them to be in order to show off their craftsmanship.