Do questions in exams get copyrighted?

[kiropyckoticks]

I've been gathering test questions. They are almost general knowledge like ("What is the biggest continent") or something specific like biology quiz, computer quiz etc.

[kiropyckoticks]

I am worried about if a book that contains the questions will sue me for putting the quiz in the book to my compilation. although I dont acknowledge the ownership for such information.

[stapel]

Can't you write your own tests? Why are you needing these other people's test questions for your site? What are you trying to accomplish?

I don't know if specific questions are generally regarded as copyrighted, but can't entire tests (like the Stanford-Binet or the SAT) be copyrighted?

Information, per se, such as the relative sizes of the continents, isn't copyrightable, but composition of that information, such as the phrasing of a question and the graphic that illustrates it, can be.

If you're doing a review, such as "this is an example of an outdated and culturally non-neutral question from an old-style IQ test", then using other sites' questions should be acceptable under "Fair Use". But if you're taking other peoples' tests from other peoples' testing services and creating your own tests for your own testing service, then likely your use would be frowned upon.

So please clarify what you are planning on doing with these questions. Thank you.

Eliz.

[kiropyckoticks]

Well, I guess i am not committing some copyright issues since most of the questions I use is considered as "general body of knowledge".

[hunderdown]

Even if the questions are general knowledge, a particular compilation of them CAN and will be copyrighted by the testing company. Testing is big business.

If you are putting together your own collection, using questions from several different sources, AND writing some of your own, then you MAY be in the clear.

If you want to be sure, though, don't go ahead based on opinions you hear here. Most of us aren't copyright lawyers, and you haven't given us much detail. You should show what you propose to do to a copyright attorney.