Forum Moderators: not2easy
This is not the product area but should serve as an example to clarify my situation. If you were given a Photoshop tutorial book and were asked to rewrite the tutorials and build a site that closely follows the books' index for structure - would you do it? Is it legal?
no; no.
You can take 'small' excerpts, but I think you would have serious problems if you rewrite the tutorials and build the site accordingly.
There are some exceptions when it comes to taking sections for critical reviews, but not as voluminous as you described.
I think a better solution would be to consider going to the author and get permission based on the author making a percentage of the monitized pages (since it appears it is based on his/her efforts).
Steve
would you do it?
Naw, that ain't my kind of thing.
Is it legal?
Depending on what you mean by "rewrite", it will probably be legal.
For example, if their "chapter 5" is all about how to paste the face of a celebrity on someone else's body, and the fifth section of your tutorial covers the same thing, yet you have created all your own examples, and written all your own text *from scratch*, then there is no infringement.
On the other hand, rewriting each sentence, but leaving each sentence in the same place, will run great risk of getting you nailed as a derivative.
Simply changing a few words here or there, such as changing your example from Julia Roberts to Cameron Diaz will get you nailed.
Taking a copyrighted book which is organized in a certain manner and mimicking that organization is almost certainly a copyright infringement. Your client may never get called on it, but that's a technicality. Shoplifting doesn't become legal just because someone gets away with it, and neither does copyright infringment.
If a person finds themselves wondering whether or not they're about to breach a particular copyright, chances are they're about to breach that copyright.
Go to USA gov't website at
www.loc.gov/copyright to learn more.
Also, remember this only covers copywrite protection for USA. You would need to research the request if the rebuild is to be used in different languages say..Mexico/Brazil/Russia
CaboWabo
Copyright laws protect more than the specific words in a specific order on a specific page. They protect ideas, too, and structure and thought-products...the whole peice of literature.
Wrong. Oh how incredibly wrong.
"Ideas" are absolutely NOT covered by copyright. From the copyright FAQ:
How do I protect my idea?
Copyright does not protect ideas, concepts, systems, or methods of doing something. You may express your ideas in writing or drawings and claim copyright in your description, but be aware that copyright will not protect the idea itself as revealed in your written or artistic work.
Structure can be used as evidence of copying, but is not in itself proof of copying.
The test is "substantial similarity". If by rewrite you mean replace each sentence with another different sentence that means exactly the same thing, then you are looking for trouble.
If you use the orders of the chapters as a guide to write a tutorial in a manner that leads to learning in an efficien manner, yet you do a real, complete rewrite of the content, then it is not infringement.
If your rewrite would get you credit from your college professor if he is familiar with the work you are rewriting, you are most likely okay. If the prof would ding you for plagerism, you most likely are not.
If you feel like you are copying you probably are. If you feel like you are truly rewriting, then you are almost certainly not copying. (unless you are lying to yourself, but in that case you have even bigger problems)
It is absolutely NOT illegal to get ideas from other sources. This is known as "research" and "education".
The whole reason for copyright is to expand the public knowledge, not to protect the creation. That is just the method that is used to encourage releasing the information to the public
A non-fiction work does not have a "story line" or "characters". In the case of a tutorial you are dealing with facts and the efficiency of instructions. You cannot copyright a fact.
And what few people realize is that you cannot copyright the most (or even reasonably) efficient instructions. "The restrooms are out the door, down the hall on your left" is not copyrightable. Once you remove the facts and the efficiency, there is nothing left to copyright.
While copyright gives you some control over derivative works, with no story, no characters, no protection of facts, no direct copying, no indirect copying, and taking into account the efficiency of learning a program, there just isn't much left to define it as a derivative.
I certainly would not recommend doing it, but if it is a true rewrite, and you are taken to court you will most likely win. But you can certainly be brought to court, and that ain't no fun. And since you are going to all the trouble to do a rewrite, why not reorder it some to improve it.
And, as cabowabo notes, you'll get business/webmaster opinions here. For legal advice, consult an attorney in your jurisdiction who will review your facts in depth.
This is an area where believing what you want to believe can be very very costly. Get good, professional legal advice.
