QUESTION
How much can I copy from an online article? Can I do that?
Asked on Feb 25th, 2014 on Patents - North Carolina
More details to this question:
I am preparing a content of a presentation skills course. I will use this course commercially; I will train students on the course and provide them with the content. I would like to use online articles in my content material. How much content am I allowed to use from every single article? I don't want to steal other people's ideas , so I’m worried ethically too. I would like to know the legal percent that I can use. I heard that it's legal to use 10% of a book. I was wondering if there's a similar percent for articles. Thank you.
1 ANSWER
Intellectual Property Attorney serving Durham, NC
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Law Office of Robert M. White, PLLC
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First off, there is no set percentage of copyrighted material that may be copied by another not having permission from the copyright owner. In determining whether the "doctrine of fair use" applies to your use of these articles, a court looks at what the copyrighted work is, why you're using it (i.e. Is it commercial or non-commercial), how much you use, and any effect your use has on the market for the copyrighted work. Some examples of fair use include quoting excerpts for illustration, clarification, and criticism. In this instance, more specifics that address the concerns mentioned above are necessary to better answer your question. Please contact an attorney with these specifics before continuing your use of copyrighted material.
Answered on Mar 05th, 2014 at 7:37 PM