Posting Excerpts from Books

[Feng_Li]

I wasn't sure where to post this, so it goes in the OB...

What is forum etiquette regarding the posting of lengthy passages from a book? And what is permissible under copyright? The book I have in mind is about 70 years old.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

I wasn't sure where to post this, so it goes in the OB...

What is forum etiquette regarding the posting of lengthy passages from a book? And what is permissible under copyright? The book I have in mind is about 70 years old.

Small cited quotes are allowed as part of academic work and certainly permissible here.

We do not get into copyright issues. Not being attorneys, when in doubt, we remove them.

If you are going to use a quote of a paragraph or so, be sure to give proper credit to author, publisher and work in the proper form.

A lengthy passage from a book probably isn't right for for the Lounge though. I would be happy to look at it first.

 

[Feng_Li]

I'll run a selection by you before I post it, then. This may be some time, as I still haven't finished the book myself.

 

[TM]

I’m not a copyright lawyer (or any kind of lawyer for that matter), but there is a “fair use” provision in the copyright law. This allows for excerpts from a copyrighted work to be duplicated. Reviewers can use pieces of such a work, as can satirists. Academics can excerpt works to some degree too. However, it’s not always clear what the limits are.

A great resource for answering these questions can be found here:

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Copyright_How-To

I would agree, though, with Hemingway Jones that really long excerpts not be posted. Realisticly, few people will actually read the whole thing.

Tony

 

[Feng_Li]

I figured something in the neighborhood of two paragraphs would be long by internet standards.

 

[imported_the_librarian]

just for kicks....google books might be a good resource for quotes...?????

Just a thought.........

 

[Feng_Li]

Google books shows the title, but no readable pages.

 

[Edward]

Both English and American (as well as pretty much any other) copyright laws allow certain acts of copying where these fall within a determined list of "permitted acts" - copyright is, unlike say patent, not a monopoly right. The relevant permitted act is (in the English legal language) "fair use for the purposes of criticism and review." A couple of paragraphs, properly cited, is absolutely fine.