Copyright Information
About MeritBadge.com
In Layman's Terms

There are basically three type of information on this web site, all of which are copyrighted. The three types are:

1. information originally authored and published by the Boy Scouts of America;
2. information originally authored and published by Michael S. Kauffmann (me); and
3. information authored by others and submitted to me for publication on this web site.

What follows is a discussion of why I have the right to publish these materials on MeritBadge.com and why you do not have the right to copy my web pages.

Many people ask me how I can legally publish the copyrighted works of the Boy Scouts of America. The reason is quite simple though it is not what most people think. The BSA has a policy of allowing its members to freely make copies of its materials for distribution amongst its members. On MeritBadge.com, I have made electronic copies of the BSA's copyrighted information and placed it here so that other members of the program would be able to make free use of it.

Based on the above, you might think you have the right to simply copy my web pages and make a web site of your own with them. That is not true. Even if you are a member of the Boy Scouts of America, once their work was incorporated into my site, another part of copyright law came into effect which I will try to explain.

Publications involve two types of work. The first type of work is thinking up the text. The person who does this part is the Author. In all cases where BSA materials are quoted on this site, the BSA should be considered the author.

The second type of work is publishing the text. In the case of web sites, that involves typing in the text and formatting the pages. The person who does this part is the Publisher. The publishing rights for materials on my web site are exclusively my own because I am the person who went to the time and effort to type in the text and format the pages.

If you obtain copies of the merit badge requirements and then take the time to type them in yourself, you will not be violating my copyright. (Despite what I mentioned above, I cannot and will not legally advise you on whether or not you will be violating the BSA's copyright.) However, if you copy my work, either by cutting and pasting or by saving a page off my site then uploading it to the web, you are violating my publication rights because you are making use of my labor, not your own.

Now you're probably wondering why I don't allow people to copy my work just like the BSA does. This may sound strange but I don't think they should freely allow people to place the BSA's copyrighted information on the web. I can easily point you to dozens of web sites that have incorrect Scouting information on them. This occurs mostly because somebody with good intentions posted something to the web and then never bothered to keep the information up to date. Even I have had times when I was slow to update this web site but I have done a better job than most.

Eventually, I believe the BSA will stop allowing people to post their copyrighted materials on the web. It is my hope that the rules they come up with will allow web sites of proven merit like mine to continue to exist under some kind of license or they will at least adopt some of the unique resources found here. But if the BSA tells me I must shut down MeritBadge.com, this web site will come down.

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