A reminder about posting copyrighted materials here
 

Generally we frown upon the wholesale copying and pasting of copyrighted articles found elsewhere on the Net, especially if they are publicly available articles.

When we're made aware of such copyright violations, we're required by law to remove the offending article.

If you'd like to post something about an article you find online, please feel free to go and post a short summary of the article (or an abstract, or the first paragraph or the like), along with a link to the full article for folks to read if they're interested.

Please refrain from posting entire copyrighted articles without first obtaining the author's explicit written permission. Exceptions can be made for articles that are behind pay walls and are for educational or research purposes, but these should be few and far between.

Thank you for your cooperation!
DocJohn

I have probably been guilty of this on occasion because it confuses me.
I have gotten permission from some but when it's out there, in print, and I own the book or what ever....how can it be wrong to share it as long as I give credit to the author. :confused: Told you I was confused! *grin

It's a reproduction and distribution issue. Posting a link though is not infringement. :)

The safest way to post articles, research, etc etc is to give the link, cite the source and then post either an abstract or snips from it

what we need to try to avoid is just copy and pasting the whole article, paper etc.
that is when we can sometimes get complaints from authors, publications etc.

:cool:

Doc John - that Is why I love this place?!!!
 

I never 'cut and paste' I merely copy 'n paste the links to the web sites for others to read and decide. Straight unedited info...
I do believe I avoid copyright infringement that way, especially IF it's out there on the net....Do I not?
The MORE info we can get to people 'unedited' and without agenda, the more folks can learn about their medical issues and begin to deal with them as they should be dealt.
The more I learn, the more I know I need to learn soo much more. - sigh. - j

Yes, posting links is 100% A-OKAY!!

Thank you!

Thank you. I really like it when folks note the title, source, include the first paragraph and of course the link. The addition of info from good articles w/ links has been a wonderful addition to posts and this website.

I must say I'm very glad that posting the web site, along with the first paragraph is a good thing...


I think I like it here.:wink:

I think a cool thing, on a personal note (and not legal), is that when someone posts a link of something I find very informative, I want to go to the site to browse, learn more, etc.

It's just a really cool thing for me on a personal level as well. :)

KD

It is nice to see that intellectual property/copyright privileges and protections are appreciated here! Nothing like working so hard only to find that some (not here) are indifferent to what those protections entail. When folks lift and spread such "property" in entirety, it does undercut and hurt. And, as someone on the end of folks doing such, it is so very time-consuming to bring it to a halt. Like, that's totally successful. Not.

If something is worth sharing, my belief is: It's also worthy of full attribution and a link to the original source - not a total copy/paste of the original. Creativity doesn't magically happen; it's underwritten by skill and research, etc. It's just not ethical or fair to "rip off" the original work and the context in which it is presented.

Anyone who has also worked freelance knows what I mean.

:)

I always feel as a writer, if I'm writing something , I need to back it up with the source. I feel with the age of Internet, most people are either unaware or uncertain as to how to give credit where credit is due. I say always back up with a link! :D Thanks for this thread

Indeed, and a citation goes a long way toward credibility.

Mods, do you wish us to report blatant violations in posts?

OMG...now we have copyright police! :p

hehehe weeeel we sure dont envision a Community Cops Team ms Alffe :D

but if there is a question on copyright then, yes, a report or a PM to any of us cant hurt just so we can check with the OP. We also need to remember that sometimes members post their own writings too :)

most specifically we just need to be careful about anything that is a direct copy and paste of an entire article, paper, newsletter, or posting from anywhere else, and especially without attribution.

preferred method is always title, author/source, short snips or abstract and then the URL link for more.............:)

I have a couple of questions/comments:
 

First..I have found that links to newspapers, die very quickly. For example in our Health News forum, some links are gone after 30 days.

In those cases where there is important data, I've copied the whole article with a link, and including author. I learned this the hard way when I lost a very good
article on Vit C and cancer... I should have copied that one. It is totally gone now and I can't retrieve it.

Secondly--Some places have a "send email to a friend" on the page. Doesn't this mean they allow some copying? For example, I have a membership to ScienceNews, and some articles are not available to the general public.
I rarely, but have copied them here, with citation of course, when I have extremely good data to share. They say right on them--email to a friend.
Isn't that sort of what we are doing...here..sharing with a "friend"?

I always give the author and location of anything I quote. I thought the copyright restrictions applied to making money using others words without permission.

I will say I emailed AAFP (Association of American Family Physicians) for permission to use a picture they have in one of their website monographs.
They give the address to email them. And they never answered me...EVER
So I used it anyway on another board. So if they really cared you'd think I'd get a yes or no! sheeesh.

I tend to not post entire works by others here. That really just wastes bandwidth, and just seems impolite to me. If I find something, then the link is good enough for me. (except where they have very short temporary lives).

The "send to a friend" email option - might just send a link back to the original page.

I've never sent one to myself to check that, and each site may do those differently also.

It's complicated, and while I'm not a lawyer, I'll try and explain what I've learned over the years in dealing with this issue online...

1. You're welcomed to make a copy of any article you find online and save a copy to your computer for your own personal use. In fact, every time you visit a webpage, a copy is already being automatically made in your Web browser's cache. So if you read a newspaper article are are afraid it will "disappear" (it's usually moved into a pay-only archive), that's a good way to keep a copy for your own personal use.

2. Emailing a single copy of an article to a single person is something that is permissible under copyright laws.

These kinds of two uses above are covered under a legal doctrine called "Fair Use." Fair Use basically says you may make copies of copyrighted material for your own personal use or research. Emailing to a single friend (or 3 or 4 friends) is an extension of this kind of use that some websites allow because they hope it will drive more traffic back to their website someday. That means you're also allowed to share an article via PM here to a few friends.

However, when we post something here to NeuroTalk on the forums, we're no longer making a copy just for our own use or sharing it with a single friend. We're making it available to everybody on the Internet and it's no longer "personal use" (and may or may not be covered by the Fair Use doctrine).

If you post a copyrighted work here for "educational or research purposes," it may be allowed under Fair Use. But we'd greatly prefer that whenever possible, you simply link to where you found the article online, because that is completely allowed and won't ever get us into trouble (whereas posting copyrighted works here may).

Thanks,
DocJohn

PS - If you want to learn more about copyright in a relatively easy-to-understand format, I like this page:

http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html

I am so relieved to read that you think it's complicated...I thought I was just stupid! ;)

No, it is very complicated--
 

--inasmuch as the Internet is a relatively new medium and most of the legal cases that wil one day decide these gray areas have not even been joined yet.

Dr. John's guide is as current as any, and he acknowledges that there may be broad questions as to whether full copying is permitted depending on the number of people involved--the definition of "personal use" is ambiguous on-line--and whether or not any profit may be involved. Where this gets hazy is in situations, say, where an article is copied to a nono-profit site, but that site may be partially supported by advertising, and driving more eyeballs to it "benefits" the advertisers and/or the site (which may get a higher rate from the advertisers based on views) . . .

For the meantime, since I recognize Mrs. D's dilemma, I just tend to post links, with a citation in the post IF I include any text at all in the post from the link, and I do "favorite" really relevant things on my computer AND often make a copy to my hard drive if I suspect it's from a site where the link will expire. If the link does expire and I have to send it to someplace else, it goes with a full citation.

May I quote you on that? *grin :wink:

Hello,

I fully agree with the warning about respecting copyright, which is a matter of law. Another important issue is plagiarism which is an ethical matter. I have not observed any problem with either of these on this forum.

If you want to find out what happened to another forum, where blatant wholesale copyright theft and plagiarism was allowed, you are invited to visit my web site; URL at end of this message.

Select the link in the orange banner at the top of The B12 Betrayal Home Page, then select the Copyright Theft or Plagiarism in the new menu on the left.

Paul

Fair Use Allows you too post up to 65 words. Just include the link where you get it. So what's the problem??? Copy and Paste the relevant part up to 65 words ONLY.

Actually, from my understanding of the case law that defines "Fair use," there is no word limit on what constitutes "fair use." If an article is 65 words long, and you copy the entire thing, that is not fair use (unless you're doing so for educational or research purposes). Without getting technical, there are a number of factors a court would look at to determine whether the use is "fair" or not. Percentage copied (usually less than 10%), is one of those factors.

As mollymcn, there very well may be appropriate exceptions for educational or research purposes here, but we drew up our guidelines to strike an easy balance between what is easy for others to understand and to set a guideline that is readily followed. :)

DocJohn

Handbook-of -FoodDrug-interractions/doc 1351344 -scribd.com
 

Hi DocJohn, I found this link fascinating and easy to understand. Quite extensive in scope and indispensable for responsible and proactive protective measures for those on multiple long term drug use. Fairly up to date; food indexes; interactions, warning combinations; and nutritional status of problematic nutrients or lack thereof. I hope you will post this in the appropriate link for me. I also would like to know if you have seen this before or not? With respect and warm regards to all..

hello tinglytoes

this thread is related to our copyright guidelines so not too sure what you are asking? I also could not find the document you mention?

if that is a useful site related to medications, I would suggest that once your membership status allows you to post links, you add it to the useful websites sticky thread on our medications forum, or if it is something that you wanted to draw to DocJohn's attention specifically, you could PM it to him

How do I post PDF's
 

I want to post some pdfs of aticles for my forum but they are all too big. does anyone know how to compress them or make them smaller> I use a mac. Thanks,
jkl

[How do I post PDF's
I want to post some pdfs of aticles for my forum but they are all too big. does anyone know how to compress them or make them smaller> I use a mac. Thanks,
jkl ]


As long as they don't violate any copyright rules, and if they aren't available for online viewing via a link , I believe breaking them into sections and posting each section as post in the same thread.

If it is linked somewhere online that would be the easiest way to share.

These are articles that have been published in medical journals that I have ordered through my local medical library. Are they copywrite protected?
Thanks
from the local medical library

It should be on the top or bottom of the pages, or check with the library to make sure.
I'd hate to see you go to all the trouble of getting it posted and us finding out it is copyrighted and having to remove it.

Or if you do a web search on the title & author , names, dates and such something should come up and maybe then you can find out if it is copyrighted or not.

Many papers & articles are fine to copy & keep for your own personal use, but when you post, or distribute it, that is where the legal factors come into play.

ok. I'll check. Its too bad decause there is alot I want to share.

Just bumping this up as we are having some complaints from other sites due to copyright material being copy/pasted here.