We often encounter client work that, in our eyes, relies too heavily on Wikipedia. Some “borrowers” copy Wikipedia content into their work without understanding the responsibilities and the consequences of such heavy borrowing. Authors, bloggers, and contributors to articles, books, and blogs are responsible for the intellectual property in their work. It is important to be aware of […]
For the last three weeks we have been covering the use of secondary sources. We talked about avoiding a halt in production of our work or a DMCA takedown notice due to an unwise use of secondary sources. We talked about how and where to look for items in copied content that may be from […]
As we have pointed out in Part I and II of Secondary Sources, it is wise to seek out secondary sources in a search for original ones, but remember that often these sources will not serve an author in the same way original sources do—in any attempt to comply with copyright law. Below are some […]
More and more, we are seeing our own clients inadvertently make a use of secondary sources that constitutes infringement. This occurs most often today in uses of material obtained from websites, blogs, and aggregators. Publishing content from the Huffington Post, photos taken from Pinterest, text taken from Facts on File, and still images taken from […]
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 […]
As writers, we have been taught that in researching for our work, we should, whenever possible, go to the original or primary source—to get our information straight from the horse’s mouth so to speak. Because many times this activity is a time sucker, we choose a less demanding path. We get it through the grapevine. In other words, we […]