Reproducing copyrighted information on a blog

[Hopefully]

I assume it's illegal, but just thought I'd check - if you have a blog, is it breaking copyright law to reproduce someone else's work on that blog?

E.g. I assume that, for instance, copying out a sizeable passage from a book, a recipe or something, would be illegal?

But linking to the information (for instance, if it appears on the author's own website, linking to that website) is ok?

Can anyone confirm whether I've got the right end of the stick? Thanks!

Linking is definitely fine.

Thanks OLKN. I reckon I'll assume I'm right about the other thing - it must be breaking copyright to reproduce...

Hi Hopefully

Just wanted to add that yes, it would in most circumstances be a breach of copyright to reproduce a chunk of someone else's work on your own website/blog without the consent of the author.

There are various exceptions (such as criticism and news reporting and incidental inclusion) but usually it would probably be better to link to the article than hoping to rely on an exception.

It's hard to say without knowing what your blog is about whether linking is definitely going to be ok. Depends on whether the site you're linking to is likely to object? Check the terms of the site you want to link to to see if it expressly prohibits links. If not you're probably ok.

I thought it depended on the % of the work and whether it constituted a substantial part that could affect the interests or harm the copyright holder. So you could take quotations as long as they were credited.