Member Request - Copyright

[Pip]

I have been contacted by a member who has asked if I'd mind explaining as succinctly as possible the copyright situation again specifically with regard to text and information (not images).

It's very simple really - if I was to post on a public message board the following passage:-

"Here is a wonderful blue 'Poppi' vase from the West German ceramic manufacturer Steuler, dating from 1963 and designed by Cari Zalloni."

The exact words used and the arrangement of them to make up that sentence (which incidentally comes from my website) IS my copyright however the information within that sentence ISN'T my copyright. So one could take that sentence and rewrite it as follows:-

"This vase is from the 'Poppi' range designed by Cari Zalloni in 1963 for Steuler"

This would NOT infringe my copyright. Basically with text the copyright will apply to a person's personal opinions and their choice of words and the arrangement of those words within a sentence - the hard information within that sentence is not copyrightable.

I do hope this helps anyone still concerned about the matter.

[Carolyn Preston]

I have been contacted by a member who has asked if I'd
mind explaining as succinctly as possible the copyright situation again
specifically with regard to text and information (not images).

It's very simple really - if I was to post on a public message board the following passage:-

"Here
is a wonderful blue 'Poppi' vase from the West German ceramic
manufacturer Steuler, dating from 1963 and designed by Cari Zalloni."

But I am assuming that if we, like you did, put the statement in
quotations and indicated that it was a direct quote from whereever that
quote came from (i.e. citing this web site properly, so that it could
be found in it's original form) that would be okay.

Just for the sake of academic debate, of course.

Carolyn

[Pip]

Actually Carolyn - no. If you want to reproduce someone else's copyrighted work, even if you quote the source and give a link, you must still obtain prior written permission of the copyright owner. This is why it's always best to simply provide a link to the information you wish to convey - rather than directly quoting the info or, if you're able, to completely rewrite it.

This is how it's done on the GMB and the way it should be done here too.

There are so many misconceptions about the subject unfortunately but I have looked into it thoroughly with help from Marcus, Frank and David - as a result of the recent situation we had here with a former member.

There's no copyright abuse on this forum I'm very happy to say - despite what you might be led to believe by others and this has been confirmed to me by the Forummotion admin team also.

[Carolyn Preston]

I'm just taking this from an academic viewpoint wherein when writing
papers, etc. you can quote people, as long as you admit that you are
doing so and make it easy enough for them to find the origina. Of
course, if you put a link to the original, that's making it easy as
well. Guess I'm just not used to the newness of the technology.

Carolyn