Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Quotes and Copyright Law

As I have found time to do some reading online of subjects that I take an interest in, I am going to post some quotes from the material that I've read if I think it is either important or applies to me in some way. I've already done that in some instances. I am not entirely knowledgeable of copyright law, so I hope, that by posting clippings from articles, I am not breaking any laws or causing the articles' authors any discomfort. I have read a small bit on copyright law and as far as I know it is safe for me to post quotes from the material that I read. If you are an author of any of the material that I've posted, and you would like the information removed, please let me know. I of course will not post articles in their entirety unless the copyright has expired, as in cases of many old religious or esoteric texts in which the author is no longer alive. My purpose for posting these quotes is for commentary related to subjects seen on this blog and personal growth for myself and others who may be interested. I am not attempting, nor am I interested in, making money using your material. I hope I am interpreting this copyright law correctly. Here is the link to what I've read if anyone is interested: http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-fairuse.html#howmuch Unfortunately for me, it is actually very vague, so I hope I don't end-up in jail or get sued.

(I plan on posting the above in small text at the bottom of my blog, so that if anyone Googles their own name and finds quotes of their material here, they won't want to kill me. If they do want to kill me, I plan on begging mercy.)

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Sophia, it is alright to use quotes as part of your own writing. This is known as fair use and is not against the law.

Sophia said...

Thanks for bringing relief onto my worried soul. :)

Some say I worry too much.

Anonymous said...

My words are freely offered here as coming from someone who remains

Happily_anonymous

Vincent said...

Your reference is to US copyright law only. There are other inhabited parts of the earth's surface with copyright laws of their own.

Sophia said...

Happily_anonymous,

Thank you for your generosity. :)

Sophia said...

Vincent,

Hehee... I forgot about the other inhabited parts of the earth's surface. :)

Well, most of the material that I've been quoting comes from - as far as I know - American authors.

I know that ignorance is not a plea, but I'm hoping that if I step on anyone's toes, they'll take mercy on me. I had a hard enough time learning about the U.S. fair use policy. I have no idea about foreign copyright law! *sigh* This world is complex sometimes.

Vincent said...

I think you will be OK, Sophia if as you say elsewhere you get your quotes from the internet itself, where they have been made freely available without you paying for a book.

The only instance where it would be wise to ask permission would be where the site explicitly places restrictions.

In other instances, if you mention your source, preferably with a link, you are doing a favour to the owner of the material (assuming they actually do own it!)

Sophia said...

I would hope that instead of anger they'd feel appreciation that I gave their material some publicity. Most of the time it just depends on if the person wants to be a pain or not. For instance, as you know, I have an online art gallery in which I display some of my works of art. I have run into my art on various pages of the Internet before, and I never took offense. Instead, I was glad that the user enjoyed it and shared it with others who would, it turn, enjoy it as well. Not to mention it stroked my ego to see my works publicized elsewhere. :) I don't know how I'd feel if my name wasn't attributed to them, but as far as I can remember, I've never run into that problem.

goatman said...

In discussing the word "runcible" with jim, I came upon the following (speaking of quotes):

I

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!'


II

Pussy said to the Owl, 'You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?'
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.


III

'Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.'
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.
(by Edward Lear) Seems if the quote is attributed, it's OK.

"The Runcible Spoon Cafe and Diner" in Nyack NY is where I came upon the word from a fellow blogger. Seems this is the only useage--not even in OED. Means a spoon with three tines kinda like a spork.

Sophia said...

Goatman,

That was so delightfully comical. I've been chuckling over it. What a good time! A pussy and fowl, who would've thought!

Edward Lear seems to be a real riot!

Thanks for sharing, and for teaching me a new word. "Runcible".... hmmmm.....