Posting Copyrighted Material

Wayne,
don't you know it's easier to beg forgivness than to ask permission???

Eric

Howdy Wayne~

I think I can answer this one: If somebody other than you owns the copyright, it would be a violation of the law to scan the material and post it here, unless you have specific permission from the copyright owner. (BTW, the author of an article or book is typically not the copyright owner!)

Publishers are always nervous about infringing on another publisher's copyright, so we'd probably take any such material off the forum with a quickness. Much like our conservative approach to "adult" language on the forums, Kalmbach is also super-cautious about anything that might land us in court. Litigation is definitely bad for the bottom line, especially for a small company like ours.

The law does make an exception for quotations of brief passages. A whole page is too much, but if a few sentences supported a point you are making, you could quote them as long as you credit the source. (After all, academic institutions couldn't function if they couldn't do this.)

As you can imagine, digital media are having a major impact on copyright law, and the "content owners" are getting touchier about these things than they used to be. The web is full of unauthorized copies of copyrighted material, usually with no adverse consequences for the people who post it. But, technically, if copyright owners wanted to, they could sue each an every violator. In fact, I heard a news item on the radio yesterday that some of the big record companies are going to start suing selected web usesrs who download unauthorized MP3s. The statistical likelihood of being one of those unlucky people is pretty small, but talk about statistical unlikelihood with somebody who got struck by lightning. [:0]

Lawrence
Thank you for your prompt response. I understand your thinking on the written word, and copying an entire page. What I was really wondering about is art work, a three view of a camoflauge plan with the researcher's description. It just happens to cover the whole page. Same response?

Yup, same holds true for images.

Hi Lawrence. Struck by lightning???Statistical unlikelihood ??? Lightning struck my house the other week[:0] and fried my modem (the only damage thankfuly) kept me off the forum for TWO WHOLE DAYS!!! nearly drove me nuts....Greg
Got back on line by theiving the modem out of my daughters pc...Greg

You can't publish it on this site, but you can post it on my site... .look in my signature for details.

Dont remove any copyright info, and if there is none.. make note in the caption where it came from with the owners name, and you will be fine.

Copy right is a big thing. And I would think as long as credit is given and you are not profiting from the material or charging for it then why wouldn't it be okay?

I know of lots of places that post news articles for example instead of posting a link. And they give credit to the author/owner

As for music and such, statistically speaking, the quality is so low that they shouldn't worry and instead look at it as free advertising. If I like a song for example I will go out and buy the album as opposed to downloading the whole thing.

But I do understand erring on the side of caution. One lawsuit could shut down this place for good.

Many years ago, my High School choir was planning a trip up to KC to compete in a competition and see a ball game. We decided to make T-shirts commemorating the occassion. Later that week, we received a call from Nike and from the Kansas City Royals organization stating that we used their logos without prior consent, and stated their intentions of suing the school district for damages. Bear in mind, no profit was to be made from the sale of the shirts, as it was cost only.

I'm just saying that even if no money is to be made from the copyrighted materials, the owners still get a little ticked if you use them without their permission. Bottom line, if you want to reproduce something, check with the owner of the materials first. It can save alot of future problems.

demono69

I have to agree with Lawrence on this issue. I am on a series of 3D art sites and the general rule of thumb is: "If it ain't yours and you don't have permission, you can't post it."

I and many other people I know have gone after sites that have published our work without permission - so be careful, life can be miserable enough without this type of headache.