Is it legal to create a summary newsletter of published articles, a bit like THE WEEK

[Oakenlee]

Hi

I want to thank you for reading this post.

I want to set up a company that summarises information for professionals, a bit like THE WEEK. I believe that so many people are overwhelmed by the amount of stuff that they need to read to stay up to date.

So I am proposing a summary newsletter, that does not replace this reading, but gives subscribers an understanding of what is going on and links to the full articles to get a full picture.

The first field that I am looking at is in the medical science field, it would look to summarise key articles and publications from throughout the published materials for people in UK, USA and AUS, they would be written by journalists and be virtually plagiarism free (I have used plagiarism software on trial pieces and they are between 98% - 85% original, score reduced when attributed quotes are used).

I am trying to do this through fair usage but I am not sure if it applies in this case.

There would be a small fee for this summarising less than $5 a week.

So is it legal?

Thanks

Oakenlee

 

[FlyingRon]

We can only address US law here. You might be able to get away with this under fair use or you may not, depending on what you mean by summarize. Also be advised that fair use is not something that you can deflect lawsuits with, but something you assert as a defense once you've been sued.

Further, if you're doing this online you may find your material knocked down by your provider in response to DMCA complaints.

 

[quincy]

Hi

I want to thank you for reading this post.

I want to set up a company that summarises information for professionals, a bit like THE WEEK. I believe that so many people are overwhelmed by the amount of stuff that they need to read to stay up to date.

So I am proposing a summary newsletter, that does not replace this reading, but gives subscribers an understanding of what is going on and links to the full articles to get a full picture.

The first field that I am looking at is in the medical science field, it would look to summarise key articles and publications from throughout the published materials for people in UK, USA and AUS, they would be written by journalists and be virtually plagiarism free (I have used plagiarism software on trial pieces and they are between 98% - 85% original, score reduced when attributed quotes are used).

I am trying to do this through fair usage but I am not sure if it applies in this case.

There would be a small fee for this summarising less than $5 a week.

So is it legal?

Thanks

Oakenlee

I agree with FlyingRon that what you are proposing could fall under the US Copyright Act's fair use doctrine, which is a limitation on the exclusive rights held by copyright holders. As FlyingRon noted, fair use is not permission to use copyrighted material but rather an affirmative defense to infringement, should the copyright holder take exception to what you have written and take you to court over your writings.

Here is a link to the Copyright Act's 17 US Code §107, Fair Use: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107

In summarizing an article, the tricky part can be in capturing accurately what the author has written. You cannot change the intent or meaning of the author with your summary. In other words, you must understand exactly what it is the author is conveying in his article. You also cannot quote more of the copyrighted material than necessary in your summary. You must attribute the source as the copyright holder requests and requires. And you cannot affect negatively with your words the market or potential market for the copyrighted work without risk.

Countries vary, sometimes in significant ways, in their laws on copyrights. You must investigate these laws prior to implementing your plans to publish summaries and links to the articles you have summarized. You would be smart to consult with a publishing law professional for a personal review of your proposed content, to best ensure you are not crossing any legal lines.

As a note, "virtually plagiarism free" is not enough. You need to be very careful you are not plagiarizing or infringing on anyone's rights. Otherwise your risk of a lawsuit increases.