Word to the Wise: Keep in mind ownership issues when tempted to copy from secondary sources found online or in print sources.
When collecting items and quotes for their blog, article or book, authors may be tempted to use what are called secondary sources.
Secondary Sources
Many times if they don’t take the extra time to locate and request permission from original sources, they can experience deep frustration and a roadblock in publication of their print book or article.
If they go after permission from a secondary source they may get a reply like the following:
Please be aware that we can’t grant permission to reproduce material that we have reprinted in our magazine (on our blog or in our book) if we have merely gotten permission of another rights holder to print in ours. Your responsibility is always to determine the correct copyright holder of a work before using it. The credit lines and acknowledgments in our work may help. Then, it is up to you to make application for permission directly to the original owners or administrators.
Placing content found on the Internet onto a website or including it in a blog is publishing it!
With the use of such content in their blogs and websites, authors are infringing online, and they may be presented with a DMCA takedown notice for their noncompliance.
Authors publishing content from secondary sources in any format may be forced, with a publishing deadline looming, to stop production and begin the task of attempting to retrace their steps, locate the infringing items in their sources, and track down owners and/or administrators. They must request permission and then wait for replies, often finding themselves idol, reduced to sitting around, twiddling their thumbs, waiting for weeks or even months to publish.
Items that can be found on the Internet are sometimes used with permission, sometimes without, and in most cases, their legal use by third parties like our clients requires permission from owners/administrators other than these Internet entities.
Watch next week for ways to avoid the pitfalls of using secondary sources.
Want More About Copyright Law?
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