Is it copyright infringement to copy verbatim from a source when citation of said quote is given?

Question

The situation arises from a public LiveJournal comment. The author of said public post now says I am in violation of her copyright and therefore open to litigation and/or removal from the site where the quote is made unless I remove the quote.

The review in question is my own and thus not a problem with copyright infringement since I own the rights and may publish it in any way I choose without or without citation, although I chose to cite the review and provide a link. The copyright infringement allegations come from the author who mentioned my review in a public LiveJournal post that I quoted in its entirety without comment or editorializing in any way. I wanted people to read the review and her response and judge the merits of each.

I originally had a link to the public post but she made the post friends only. I had copied the public post in its entirety because I had a suspicion that she would lock the post and keep those who aren't friends from making an informed judgment. The post mentions the review but then descends wholeheartedly into attacking me personally without answering my judgment of the book, except to say that I "trashed" the book and her personally out of professional and personal malice.

Answer 1

I'd go with the "fair use" argument. Fair use is a defense, meaning that you're being charged with infringement and you're saying that if it's found to be infringement, then that infringement should be excused because your use falls into a "fair use" exception.

If you look at the fair use part of the copyright statute, 17 USC §107 (which I've pasted in at the end of this mesasge), it gives general guidelines for what is fair use. It sounds like you're using the quote to comment or criticize, which are two of the uses allowed. There's a further analysis that can be done, but a lot of that hinges on affect on market for the work that you're quoting, really; I'm guessing that's not going to be a huge issue.

While the portion of the material that you use doesn't have to be large to be infringing, odds are good that if it's just using a small amount, it will be found to be "fair use." Attribution of the work doesn't matter in terms of being for or against you. There's no intent requirement in copyright; you don't need to be acting with any sort of bad thoughts or malice to be found to be infringing. (Although if you do act willfully bad, it can raise the penalties if you're found to be infringing.)

Another argument for your use, which is similar to the argument used in the major parody case of Campbell v. Acuff-Rose (the "Pretty Woman" case), is the likelihood that you'll be able to licence the information regardless. That case regarded a song that was found to be a parody, and the court found that rights holders were less likely to license songs for such uses. So, it was not unexpected that there wouldn't be a licence, but as long as the work was a parody, it was a fair use.

Personally, I'd give a similar argument for a critique. Odds are unlikely that she'd give you use of a statement for a critique, but that doesn't mean you can't make a "fair use" of the statement.

Answer 2

It's certainly NOT copyright infringement because you cited it and there's nothing the author can do to you about that. However, you can get caught up in using it period without asking her if you could use it. The reasons behind this are: did you use it in a way that would portray the author's work or the author in a negative or untrue light, when you used the quote, did you separate it from a complete quote (are you using just a part of a whole quote) that could change the meaning in any way, and can you prove that you aren't using it frivolously (that is, do you have a reason to use it that is important and there's no other way to obtain the same effect)? All these questions will come up and if you can't prove them you may be in some trouble, but not jail time or fines. The worst that's going to happen is you will have to inactivate the website or your membership or take the quote down.

Hope this helps. And remember that you can easily settle this by talking to the author, this way it won't go so far as litigation.

Answer 3

It may be.

As a person wrote above, the question is whether it is "fair use." There are several factors as to whether something qualifies as fair use, including how much of the work you quote, what use you put it to (for instance, are you making $ from it, is it for educational purposes, and are you causing the owner to lose sale by replacing their market.) In some circumstances, it can be fair use even if you are not directly commenting on or criticising the work.

Citing the source is largely irrelevant to the issue of copyright violation. It matters in the scholarly / journalistic question of plagurism, but that is different than copyright violation.

This isn't new.

If you think the author is serious, I would take down the quotation. You might well have the "fair use" right to use it, but if you get sued, it will be expensive proving you have the right.

Answer 4

It might fall under "fair use".


If you are commenting upon or critiquing a copyrighted work--for instance, writing a book review -- fair use principles allow you to reproduce some of the work to achieve your purposes. Some examples of commentary and criticism include:

quoting a few lines from a Bob Dylan song in a music review
summarizing and quoting from a medical article on prostate cancer in a news report
copying a few paragraphs from a news article for use by a teacher or student in a lesson, or
copying a portion of a Sports Illustrated magazine article for use in a related court case.

Answer 5

Yes. It isn't plagiarism, but it is copyright infringement.

For more information try Ivan Hoffman's web site, www.IvanHoffman.com.

Quoting something in its entirety against the rights-holder's wishes is always infringement, and probably always actionable.

Answer 6

what's the radical for? professional use or college paintings? the suited place to look could be someplace else different than Yahoo solutions, seek for professional help as some people at here could say sure and others no. for my area i think of whoever made the music extremely won't see your novel and that i doubt they are going to do something to you whether they do discover out, as long by way of fact the music is used in a favorable way.

Answer 7

It is now, if the author claims ownership, or even produces it on anything, in any medium, it is. Unless the creator of theoriginal work has given written consent or signed a release.
We are under a new law, was passed in 1998, but is just now being noticed.
http://www.wipo.int/portal/index.html.en
http://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2006/03/article_0002.html
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/drm/default.aspx <<<

Answer 8

Not if you cite the author and publication. You are A-Okay, buddy!