Coying News Items

[ferhanz]

Is is legal to copy the NEWS items and put them exactly on your webpage. e.g google launch a service of Google TALK and the news is on there website ....if my website holds a section of Google ..can i put it exactly on my own webpage?

Farhan

[graeme_p]

No, the facts are not copyright, but the text of any article is.

Of course things like press releses will have an explicit or implict license to reproduce them

The other exception is fair use, which allows you to quote short snippets.

[lcampers]

I thought it was still a copyright violation if you got facts from a news source and rewrote them into your own article (without citing the source)?

No?

IE, a major news site publishes a statement by say a town mayor who says "I think the Internet is 4.5 times more likely to cause cancer"

Then you write an article for your website that says: mayor joe recently said that the...

Even though you weren't there?

[graeme_p]

Please bear in mind that my legal training is limited, is in UK law and is a good many years out of date.

1) facts are not covered by copyright, so you are basically OK

2) However if you re-write draws very heavilly on the original, it may stll be a derivative work. I am not sure about how far the definition of derivative work stretches. I think this is tricky enough that you need to ask a lawyer - it may cost you some money but its cheaper than getting sued.

3) I am pretty sure that copying something and attributing it would change the copyright situation.

[Beagle]

As a practical matter, unless you're more of a recognized authority on the subject than your source is, it gives you more credibility if you cite your source.