Re: copying stuff off web sites

Christine Lloyd <clloyd[_at_]info.hwwilson.com> wrote:
>
> I'm not sure if this has already been discussed. If it has, I
> apologize for bringing it up again. But I was wondering if it
> is a violation of copyright law if I copied off a portion of
> someone else's web site and emailed it to someone else? (Is
> this an exception covered by fair use?)
>
> I know people who do this all the time, whether with pictures
> or text. It seems to me that it should be, in the same way that
> copying off a portion of a book or journal and incorporating it
> in another unrelated work would be. Now, I could argue that it
> fits under fair use since the person copied it for personal or
> educational use - either to send it to a friend or discuss on a
> listserve, but what if the person decides to store the information
> in an electronic archive, or their friend stores it? Or they take
> the picture from someone else's web site, alter it slightly and
> use it in their own?
>
> Any opinions or comments?

It's going to depend whether YOUR use is fair use since you've both copied the copyrighted material and distributed it.

Steve Anderson, JD
Associate Law Librarian
Baltimore County Law Library
<sanderso[_at_]mail.bcpl.lib.md.us> Received on Fri Jul 18 1997 - 10:57:39 GMT