Copyright and the internet

[Indelible]

Would it be breaking copyright to copy-and-paste an entire article from a periodical onto the internet? I know that the rules of copyright are that you can photocopy an article, or 5% of a book, so does that mean you can also copy the article online?

Hmm. As long as you state clearly where it came from (publication and date) then surely it's ok

It's not plagiarism that way.

ideally, you should ask permission f the original creator of the content, credit them and also link back to them.

Yes it would be a clear breach of copyright to put an entire article from a periodical onto the internet.

It is a common misunderstanding that you can photocopy an article or 5% of a book. There is no such provision in copyright law. Copyright is breached if you copy a substantial part of a copyright work without permission. In the context of copyright law, "substantial" is not about how much of the work you copy. It is about the significance of the part of the work concerned. Even copying a single sentence from a 1,000 page book could breach copyright.

Stating clearly where the article came from does NOT make it ok. It is still a breach of copyright.

In order to put the article on the internet you need permission from the copyright holder. That may be the periodical concerned or it may be the author of the article. Your first move is to contact the periodical to request permission.

Pry I don't think that's entirely correct. For example you can quote a passage from a book when writing an article about it.
Instead of copying and pasting, why not do a whole link to the original?

I was trying to keep it simple and avoid going into "fair use"

Some copying is permitted for:

• non-commercial research and private study
• criticism, review and reporting current events
• teaching in educational establishments
• helping visually impaired people
• time shifting, i.e. recording a broadcast so you can watch it at a more convenient time

Some of these exceptions only apply to certain types of copyright work. Some require acknowledgment of the copyright owner. Some have fairly specific restrictions. None of them give a blanket right to photocopy an article or copy up to 5% of a book. Indeed, if one of these exceptions applies you may be able to copy more than 5% of a book. The 5% figure (or 10% - I've seen both quoted) does not appear anywhere in copyright law.

As far as I can see the action suggested by the OP does not fall under any of the "fair use" exceptions.

What prh says.

Don't be afraid of asking for permission though. If you're doing it for non-commercial reasons - you're not going to be using the article for marketing etc - then they may well be fine with you using it for free provided you attribute it properly. But it is important that you get their permission first.

OK, thanks all - very useful.