Rules Regarding Copyright: ***ALL MEMBERS MUST READ***

[Broil]

Well, thank God al-Reuters is allowing quotes and links and headlines.  Too bad most of their stuff is about the Middle East wars, how someone got blown up in Afghanistan because of American insensitivity etc.

Actually they're right to put some focus on the quagmire thing, but I do get sick of reading about the small stuff over there.  International news should be international, not just American fuck-ups.

[rdocr]

Copyrights

Enough of AP. Here is what I do when dealing with this problem. As holder of a fist full of copyrights, I am sensitive to their protection and feel an obligation to respect the rights of other writers. Some of my articles go back nearly sixty years.

“The walls of writing are bricks of original thought mortared with plagiarism.” author unknown.

Whenever I want to use something that is copyrighted- that's just about anything, I write to the author or company employing the writer and simply ask for permission. to use it. Anything written by an employed author, belongs to the employer, unless arrangements were made beforehand.
I have yet to be refused.

I state the purpose for which the excerpt is intended and assure them that they will be fully recognized as the source. Try and find a writer who would refuse further distribution of their works.

Companies, on the other hand, may even go so far as requiring editorial rights to my material. My response to this is to send a “please cancel my request” note and forget them as a source. I have even had this happen when I requested the use of a photograph.

I offer to send a copy of the publication or a tear sheet, if they choose. Then I put their responses in a safe place, called "Permissions", as well as a copy of their response to be kept with the background file for any book I write.  I also keep copies of any permissions I give to others.

As to my own stuff, I want two things:
Identify my full name and company and copyright date..
Identify my company as the source from which the entire publkication may be obtained. (In plain language, that is an advertizement for my works.)

If I find that several sources use the same information, I state this as a consensus and join them, not stating their original source, since none of them have done this.
The biggest violators are teachers and universities with the advent of copy machines. They will copy entire chapters for class distribution without so much as recognition of the source.

A company, Copyright.com. , has taken on the challenge of securing royalties from universities and libraries for such copying in the name of the author or holder of the copyright, for a slight fee.

Government publications and material from Universities that was written with federal grant support, are in the public domain and we are free to use this material, although I usually ask permission as a matter of courtesy.

Photographs, especially from News companies, are jealously guarded and obtaining a copy with use permission can be quite spendy. I always seek the source of a photo before I use it. In any case I state the source and photographer, if possible.

It was bad enough before the Internet, but now it is nearly impossible:

As a professor, I kept track of articles in a half dozen relevant periodicals. I could recall recent articles for about six months passed. As I read student’s papers, I could cite their sources in the margins, if they had not. Too much copied material in a student paper called for a rewrite- submitted along with a copy of their original paper. Now, with the Internet, I read of professors using Google or other search engines to check the originality of student papers. I am glad I missed this problem.

As to copying an Ebook or book CD, I can only pray that enough people buy the book so that we may continue eating. For the most part, my prayers have been answered. Most people choose to keep their integrity intact.

Ralph

[cindy]

I have only written one book and it was a genealogy book that I self-published to coincide with a family reunion.  I have extensive footnotes and bibliography.  I had asked everyone I could think of who might be at the reunion to send me photos, and I asked that they not be professional.  Naturally, most people DID send professional photos, as those are usually their best.  I did track down every photographer and got their permission.  The only one that made things a bit complicated was the Sears photo studio, but I eventually got use.  I also had a couple articles from a small-town newspaper and they had no problem with me copying them for that purpose.  I gave everyone proper credit.  The copies I made of very old photos (pre-1949, at least in Canada) and of very old church and census records I discovered are in the public domain.  However, I still gave credit where it was known.

My own opinion when it comes to my book and the research I did for it is that I would let any other genealogy buff use it, as long as they give me credit.  I did a short chapter on my great great grandmother's line in Ireland and a lot of that particular research was done by a woman in the U.S. who had been to Ireland.  She told me to use anything I wanted.  I thanked her in the book by name and included her website address. 

When I was actively researching (haven't been lately), I did happen upon my name on a few websites.  They were sites maintained by people I had shared information with and they gave me due credit.  However, if I were to go online and find a website where my work has been reproduced without acknowledgement (that has happened to plenty of genealogists, I can tell you), I would be livid!

[AP]

Maybe we should just link the foreign press and try to become our own journalists. It will probably further increase the accuracy of the LATOC reality barometer. Let the AP turn to dust. This is an opportunity for the LATOC Forum to intellectually expand. Put your logic hats on and break out the calculators.

What did I ever do to you??   

[guitarbuddy]

When you are referencing a mainstream news source in your posts, post ONLY the headline and the link. Do not post any quotes or excerpts or photos. No copyrighted material, not even a sentence or two. Yes I understand the concept of fair use. But the MSM is in panic mode over their financial situation and is targeting bloggers and forums as the scapegoats for their problems. It has gotten to the point where I will get a takedown notice or phone call over things you would think are totally innocuous.

Yeah, I predicted this would happen a while back. I can't count how many times I've been in discussions about "fair use," but the bottom line is you have to pick your battles. 

[Klopdx]

Someone with authority tell me if this is a feasible solution to the AP thing:

Simply go to Google and do a search on the article title, then post the link to the search in your thread.  We can click on that the Google link and then click the article link ourselves.

As an example:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=Ps&q=+Iraq+to+Blackwater%3A+Get+out&aq=f&aqi=&oq=

[EyesWideOpen]

Very early in this thread the Ultimate Authority-JDD-posted that no, you cannot even do a Google or Yahoo link to a link.