These days, the opportunities to infringe on copyrights of others are numerous, particularly as information is available online. It takes only very quick “copy and paste” keystrokes for a copyrighted article to be found in another publication.
Although others may say that imitation is the best form of flattery, in my view, copyright infringement is not a form of imitation. It is simply not right, not morally right for that matter.
If you are a blogger, news editor, or publisher, don’t ever make the mistake of committing an act that infringes on copyrights of others. If a lawsuit is brought against you, that is going to be very costly. Your reputation is at stake too. A website could also be closed down for copyright infringement.
[pullquote]As a blogger, news editor or publisher, we need to know the rules for reprinting copyrighted articles.
…ignorance of the law cannot be used as a defense, or an excuse for a wrong doing, in a litigation.[/pullquote]
As a publisher and editor, there were a number of instances where I saw some of my company’s copyrighted articles being reprinted illegally, not to mention graphics and images designed by my company’s creative director being used without our permission. A number of times too, I had to admonish others including our website contributors planning to re-publish their articles into book publications to respect publishers’ rights and strictly observe our websites’ terms of use and editorial policy.
Know the Rules
And that is what I want to share with you in this post: My thoughts and insights on how to reprint copyrighted articles safely – from my perspective as an editor and publisher, and not as a lawyer which I am not.
Most people who infringe on copyright do not even know that what they are doing is illegal. Yes, that is quite true. Many times, copyright infringement is due to ignorance. Unfortunately, ignorance of the law cannot be used as a defense, or an excuse for a wrong doing, in a litigation.
As a blogger, news editor or publisher, we need to know the rules for reprinting copyrighted articles. These rules may also extend as rules governing use of copyrighted material in radio and TV broadcasts.
Reprinting Articles
Article reprinting is the most common source of copyright infringement. Don’t fall into the wrong notion that because you are giving attribution to the original source of the article, it’s alright to reprint the article.
No, it is not alright to reprint an article — unless you have a permission (usually given in writing) from the source where the article first appeared. Doing otherwise is illegal and morally wrong.
Also, depending on the policy of the publication where the article first appeared, sometimes you also need to get permission from the author of the article.
After securing a written permission, you also need to observe other requirements which may be imposed as conditions for reprinting. Each publication has its own set of terms for reprinting like limiting the number of reprinted copies, etc. Invariably, these are the two minimum conditions: (a) no modification to the title or text of the article, meaning, the article should be reprinted in its entirety and faithfully including the title, and (b) attribution to the original source of the article in a format defined by one giving the permission.
Please note too that the publisher has the right to refuse reprinting of copyrighted articles based on reasons that need not be disclosed to the one making a request. That reason could well be that the publisher does not want the copyrighted articles to appear in publication, offline or offline, that he/she does not like.
Article Directories
I am quite aware that these days there are hundreds, if not thousands, of article directory websites that offer “free to download and publish” articles. In fact, our company also owns an article directory, TEXTCAFE.net.
At TEXTCAFE.net, which according to some sources is in the top 150 article directory sites, we do accept article submissions from article marketers which, after our review, are made available to ezines and publishers as free-to-download and publish articles.
By the very nature of their online operation, you do not need written permission from article directories to reprint their articles. But invariably, article directories allow free downloads under the following terms:
1. No changes should be made in the title or text of the article when the article is re-published. In other words, the whole article including the title should be reprinted “lock stock and barrel”, so to speak.
2. The name of the source website and its URL should be attributed as the source of the article. Usually, this attribution is located at the foot of the article.
Non-compliance with these two requirements makes reprinting illegal.
[pullquote]If you are a blogger, news editor, or publisher, don’t ever make the mistake of committing an act that infringes on copyrights of others. If a lawsuit is brought against you, that is going to be very expensive. It may even damage or ruin your reputation.[/pullquote]
Writing stories from other people’s ideas
There are occasions when you want to write a story about an idea you read somewhere. Can you legally write a story about that same idea?
Surely, you can. Copyright laws cannot protect an idea. What copyright laws protect is the way the idea was expressed or executed. This means that if a free-lance journalist called an editor with the idea for a feature story, the editor is not legally constrained from giving the assignment to another reporter. But if the writer sent in a draft of how he/she proposed to execute or tackle the idea, then the editor would be constrained by law to respect the writer’s copyright.
Media Releases
Government agencies, businesses and community groups issue, or make available in their websites, media releases to online and offline newspapers and publications. The goal of these entities is to promote their name, service, product or sponsored event to the publication’s audience – free of charge.
Although the laws on copyright may not apply to media releases, still a news editor should exercise due care in handling them.
True, news editors have a free hand with media releases. They can trash them, use them in their entirety or re-write them. Also, their contact persons do not expect the articles to have their by-line should the releases be published. The burden would thus shift to the news editor who has to make sure that the information contained in the re-written stories is accurate. Any inaccuracy would mean embarrassment to the publication, to say the least.
For this reason, as a news editor, you should have your rewritten story validated by the contact persons. Quoting a “spokesperson” really comes very handy, in this regard. Not only do the quoted statements spruce up the story, but the quoted statements are the news editor’s safeguards in inadvertently reporting inaccurate information. (Unless of course, the “spokesperson” is misquoted.)
Who now has copyright to the re-written story? You may disagree with me on this point. But my view is that the publication or whoever in the publication re-wrote the story has copyright to the article. Remember, a copyright does not protect an idea or information, but rather the way it is expressed or tackled.
What if the media release is published in its entirety, without any change? I find this a rare instance. But if a news editor publishes a media release in its entirety, then it would be safe and appropriate for the editor to disclose as a footnote that the article is a media release.
Information in media releases or the entire media release is free to publish, nonetheless as an editor or a publisher, you should make it a point to familiarize yourself with the issuing party’s copyright notices, if any, in the same manner as you would before grabbing an article in a website.
News Exchanges
News exchanges in the form of email groups or forum where free-lance writers share their articles with other members for the latter’s free use in their respective publications are like article directories to me.
Publishing articles from a news exchange would require (a) proper attribution being accorded to the writer as a by-line and to the source of the article, that being the news exchange if required and appropriate, and (b) no modification being made to the article’s title and text.
If, as a news editor, you want to substantially edit the article before publishing it, ask the writer if the changes made are acceptable before publishing the article. The decision of the writer of not allowing changes to the article should be respected.
Thank you
The parts on reprinting articles and writing stories from other people’s ideas of this post were inspired by an article written by David Kandler of CompanyNewsletters.com and also by Blurtit.com on practices in the UK. I sourced general information about copyrights from the Australian Copyright Council website.
The parts on article directories, media releases, and news exchanges are strictly mine.
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Comments? Feedback? Feel free to post your comments. And don’t forget to read my earlier blog, The two sides of tweet ownership.
Thanks for sharing… A very interesting one…
Thanks for leaving me your comments, Francis. I hope you also found the article useful.
Truly very informative… Thanks a lot..
Thanks for dropping by, Marcelo. Glad you found it informative.
Great article, very informative. I agree that Copyright is a very serious issue that most are very ignorant especially in the Internet age.
I am curious however as to your stand to licensing materials under Creative Commons, particularly, CC By-SA (Attribution-Share_Alike). Is it beneficial? Can writers get something out of it (name, reputation, monetary, etc.) Will you recommend it? To what extent? Related to that, why not license, for example Text Cafe, under CC By-SA?
Thank you very much for your insights.
Creative Commons and syndication are very good topics. I think we can explore that in our next blog. Thanks for the feedback, JC. And thanks too for visiting Text Cafe.