Again last week I received a Google Alert that took me to one of my articles on this site copied in total on ActiveRain. This isn't a criticism of that site, as I know they have content there instructing users in copyright, but that's where I've found the last three infringements, so they're not reading it.
And, it's nice to have someone value an article I wrote enough to tell others about it, on ActiveRain or anywhere else. But, it's still not OK to copy whole articles. To the credit of the person who did it, an email from me was all it took to get an apology and a removal of their post. Again, I was told that they thought it was OK if they attributed the content to me. That is only the case if there is licensing specifically stating that, such as a Creative Commons license for attribution like one of these. If some statement about use and licensing isn't present, it's best not to use the content without written permission.
I just found a really great article detailing copyright and the "fair use" exemption that allows some limited copying of portions of a work. This article was written for freelance writers about copyright, but it's really great information for real estate professionals who blog and create Web content as well. It does a great job of explaining copyright and how to avoid problems.
Helpful information, thanks. What exactly did you mean by Google alert though? Is this in the google webmaster tools?
http://alerts.google.com will let you build alerts on keyword or key phrases to be delivered to you via email or RSS.
Can you clarify what is appropriate is someone wants to offer the information on your blog post to their readers?
For example, could I:
1) mention that I’d read a great post on XYZ.com about recent housing data reports
2) quoting the article/post: “this makes for some very confused forecasters”
and
3) then cite the author and link to the original post?
Or would this require advanced permission from the author?
Thanks!
- Jenny
Jenny,
Thanks for the comment. At the link in the post, the article gives some examples, but I do the type of things you mention all of the time. I’ll find an interesting post and quote from it with a link back to the post always. The size of the quote is where “fair use” is an issue. If the post has 100 words, a 50 word quote would probably be too much of the post, while the same 50 word quote out of 600 would probably not be a problem…with the link back.
From an original author’s point of view, if you took this post and used “And, it’s nice to have someone value an article I wrote enough to tell others about it, on ActiveRain or anywhere else. But, it’s still not OK to copy whole articles,” I’d appreciate the link to the post and be happy with your use. Fair use can be complicated, but I’ve never been contacted with a complaint about my limited quoting of the work of others. Thanks,
Jim