Thread: Law:Need resources/references on how to include concepts/materials from other sources

Hiya Folks

I am new to writing and completely clueless about the US copyright/intellectual property law. I am in the process
of writing a simple ebook. Some of the concepts and materials in the ebooks are from other books on similar subject.


How do I include concepts/materials from other sources without violating the law?. I don't mind giving credits/acknowledgements to other writers in my acknowledgement page.

I really need resources/references or books emphasizing on details on how to do it.

Thanks!

I have consulted with a lawyer about this. The copyright laws do not prevent the use of someone else's ideas, only the exact transcription of how an idea is expressed. In other words, you can paraphrase someone else's idea, but you can not cut and paste word for word from someone else's book into your own. I am assuming your work is fiction and your source is non-fiction. Other people's works of fiction have a little more protection under the law, but you can certainly use ideas that are staples within your genre. Consider how many westerns have a gun fight at high noon or how many science fiction stories have ray guns. No one can monopolize these kinds of ideas. If you were to write a story about another planet called Vulcan where the people have elevated the study of logic to a religion, you will have problems with the Star Trek people, but give the planet another name and a different religion and you will be fine. Just don't name any characters 'Spock.'

Originally Posted by cowcool

Hiya Folks

I am new to writing and completely clueless about the US copyright/intellectual property law. I am in the process
of writing a simple ebook. Some of the concepts and materials in the ebooks are from other books on similar subject.


How do I include concepts/materials from other sources without violating the law?. I don't mind giving credits/acknowledgements to other writers in my acknowledgement page.

I really need resources/references or books emphasizing on details on how to do it.

Thanks!

The easiest is to Google [Copyright and Fair Use] - that will bring up a lot of links to the official US guidelines.

From the nature of your post, you might also want to Google for [Harvard Reference style guide] and [Chicago Reference style guide] and see which most suits your needs.

If you are seeking to copy specific information from another work, and it is more than a simple quote or reference, then you really should seek permission from the copyright holder (either the publisher or the author).