HJ's copyright - question to mods

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Tue 6 Sep 2005 21:15
HJ's copyright - question to mods - andymc {P}
"This entire Road Test, including photographs, is copyright of www.honestjohn.co.uk and may not be reproduced in any format without prior permission of www.honestjohn.co.uk which can be emailed at letters@honestjohn.co.uk."

I saw this quote for the first time today, at the end of the updated Mazda5 review.
From time to time, I have posted quotes from HJ reviews or the CBCB on two or three other motoring forums where someone may have asked questions such as "I'm thinking of buying a such-and-such, are they any good?" or "My such-and-such broke down, has anyone come across this problem?", etc. I always post a link to the site in the hope that this will generate more hits, and I always attribute the quote to the site. Is this acceptable, or should I from now on just say "Do a search at honestjohn.co.uk"?

PS - I thought I'd post this as a thread rather than send an email to mods, simply because I think having this clarified might help other backroomers who I'm sure have done something similar. Cheers.
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andymc
Vroom, vroom - mmm, doughnuts ...
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Tue 6 Sep 2005 21:22
HJ's copyright - question to mods - Stuartli
What you have been doing is commonplace on the Internet worldwide - the one major sin when quoting specific comments by some posters is failing to give credit to the original author or source.

I suspect that HJ would be delighted if brief mentions of his website and road tests brought in an even wider audience and contributors.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Tue 6 Sep 2005 22:09
HJ's copyright - question to mods - Baskerville
The generally accepted rule for quoting is that you can quote up to ten percent of a published work as long as you attribute it and as long as it is used for "illustrative purposes," that is, it's not ok to take ten percent and publish it as is. Incidentally the copyright notice is unnecessary in law as HJ can prove it's his original work, but it is necessary to prevent wholesale theft by unthinking people.

The Internet is changing the way writers deal with this issue though. There is an increase in upfront payment for copy and no copyrights for the creator, and an increase in enforcement. It's safe enough ripping off other people's work if your website is never viewed, but once the hits go up you will get caught eventually. Things can get out of hand pretty quickly on the Internet and a lot of pages get taken down every day.

One thing that is starting to appear more and more online is the Creative Commons system of licensing, which allows for a range of rights reserved, depending on what the text is intended for. I'm starting to use this myself for some of my older work:

creativecommons.org/
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Tue 6 Sep 2005 22:12
HJ's copyright - question to mods - Dynamic Dave
PS - I thought I'd post this as a thread rather than send an email to mods,


This is actually one for HJ to answer, not us. As he does not have time to read each and every item posted in the forum, I'll drop him an email so that this grabs his attention.

DD.
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Wed 7 Sep 2005 00:46
HJ's copyright - question to mods - andymc {P}
Righto - thanks for that.
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andymc
Vroom, vroom - mmm, doughnuts ...
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