Handing the US government further justification for its ongoing crackdown on the Internet: Gizmodo reports that in response to the Feds shutting down the extremely popular file-sharing site MegaUpload, the “Hacktivist” collective “Anonymous” have shut down the websites of the…
A federal judge in Oregon has ruled that a Montana woman sued for defamation was not a journalistwhen she posted online that an Oregon lawyer acted criminally during a bankruptcy case, a decision with implications for bloggers around the country. Crystal L. Cox, a blogger from Eureka, Mont., was…
AP says they aren’t concerned with bloggers copying a passage then adding their own thoughts, but will send cease-and-desist letters to those who, say, copy entire articles with no commentary. I’ve always made a point of quoting as little as…
The Associated Press has always come down hard on internet sites that inappropriately (in its view) reproduce its content. Now, it’s going to go even further. AP will now actively monitor news sites looking for evildoers and they sure have…
AP backed off their threat of a lawsuits against the Drudge Retort (a liberal site) for quoting 40-80 words from their articles. They now say they just want to protect their headlines and the lede from being posted elsewhere. (So…
Erik J. Heels explains clearly and succinctly what Fair Use is. For blogging, Fair Use would be using maybe a few paragraphs, then adding your own commentary. You can also just re-phrase what the author said (with a link back),…
Since running a series of posts on fair use, I’ve changed my blogging style and rarely directly quote other sources now – and the blog is better for it. Many blogs routinely quote multiple paragraphs from other sources. While this…
Continuing our series of posts on fair use. Melanie Votaw, friend, author, and freelance writer, details what bloggers need to know about fair use. (printed with her permission.) Points for bloggers to remember when using a writer’s work 1. Internet…
From the US Copyright Office The distinction between “fair use” and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission. Acknowledging the source of…
From Wikipedia on Fair Use The fourth factor [the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.] measures the effect that the allegedly infringing use has had on the copyright owner’s ability to…