HI, could someone help me out please re copyright laws.

Is it or is not legal/ethical to reproduce someone else's text on a web site without their permission or is it ok if it is reproduced in full and credited to them? Thanks in advance.

There is usually a warning at the bottom of the web page that information cannot be used without their permission. Even it is not , it would not be ethical to use it without asking them

I think ..but I could be wrong , there is some dicussion about this very subject at the moment in legal circles. By implication , if you OWN the site , you own everything on it ...not sure if this has been tested out in court yet though.

Melody :)

hmm - i think there is something about it being "in the public domain" but I'm not certain :)

I think it really comes down to what it is your going to put onto the site/page.

Certain things are public domain, but other items are copywrited.

jay

Westie Lover
The short answer is No - it is not legal to reproduce a person's copyrighted work without their permission, whether on a website or otherwise.

You will have to prove the work did not have copyright protection [i.e. it was not original and was not created with some skill or judgement] or find another defence, such as the work is being used for research or private study, criticism, review or news reporting. Most publishers/authors are easy enough to find these days by email.

Regards
Cissy

Thanks very much everyone. I'm off to the WKC now - goody all those lovely Labs to look at.

cissy is right...it is not legal regardless of whether you credit the article/photo.