Hello, I'm not sure the best way to say this, so here goes. I have a client that has listened to all my great advice on how to best present their website, gain visitors, and get their site well known (higher in the google ranks). I mentioned that writing quality content and keeping it freshly updated was a great thing to do. Then, they presented me with a question that I was not able to give them an answer that I felt comfortable with. They read a magazine article that contained useful content that they wanted to put on their website. They already knew a good bit of the information that was mentioned. I guess essentially what they want to do is summarize what the article said in their own words and be able to put it on their site without violating any copyrights. How differently does something have to be wrote to not violate copyrights? In trying to think of more suggestions for him as to what he should do, I was wondering would it be less of a problem if he tried to base the subject off a few articles and list references? At what point does an article become your own? If there is any sites that would reference any of this, or if you have any advice let me know. Thanks!
IANAL, but my understanding is that there is no bright dividing line between an infringing derivative work and a completely unique work. Sure, you can tell the difference at the extremes, but there is a gray area in the middle. I'd say the best thing to do is to base the new article on facts collected from several different sources, since facts and ideas alone can't be copyrighted. Then, after collecting the facts, write the article from scratch, in your own words. People shouldn't be able to tell which particular magazine article was the basis. From the U.S. Copyright Office : http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-fairuse.html
If you are interested in more technical discussion, see: http://www.ladas.com/NII/CopyrightInfringement.html Footnote 8 is relevant to your situation: Simple paraphrasing probably does not change the article enough for it to escape copyright infringement.
Nonny, your info was of exclusive value to me too. What you say *to base on facts*, taken from different sources, remains to me the best way to deal with any already available information. /However, the matter of copyright I am sure will remain enough vague, for working with words is fated to raise questions./
There is a forum to post about copyright and legal issues, and there is another thread inside this forum in which people discuss in deep about content property, have a look at this thread http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=207133
An excllent writer can summarise the article and coumoflage it with his/her writing. You cannot copyright a general idea. So the loophole leaves scope for improvisations but the writer should be judicious with the approach!
To make the work fall under the "fair use" clause of copyright, you should read the article, close the magazine and write everything from your memory, in your own words, without directly copying. Also be sure to mention the source. As a tip I suggest presenting the data acquired as a point of view from somebody else and then complete the article/s with your own view on the subject. Hope this helps. Best regards, George
This thread inspired a post on my blog, where I have detailed the issue much more extensively. You can read it here Regards, George