Selling notes? Infringement?

[legaladvice1]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

If you take really good notes from a textbook (or any book for that matter) -- to the point where the notes would clearly communicate key concepts from the book -- but you remember to cite the author of the book as the source, would it be copyright infringement to profit from those notes?

What if you were just sharing the notes with some people for free? Would that still be illegal?

What changes do you have to make to your notes (in terms of content or presentation) to make it legal to share them either for free or for profit?

 

[The Occultist]

Firstly, citing sources [to avoid plagiarism] is NOT a legal requirement. Plagiarism is not illegal, and is only a concept punished within an educational system.

Secondly, while not charging money or otherwise not making a profit would be considered in awarding damages, it would not nullify any potential copyright infringement that may be occurring.

As for the rest of the advice, you'll need to wait for a more knowledgeable poster to stop by and offer their insight. In the meantime, I suggest researching publications such as "Cliff Notes" and "Spark Notes", which seem to operate along the same lines that you're suggesting.

 

[legaladvice1]

I actually read today at sutlaw.com that:

A copyright is the form of intellectual property protection provided to the authors of “original works of authorship.” This can include literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual property works, both published and unpublished. Keep in mind that copyrights protect the form of expression rather than the subject matter of the writing.

So doesn't this mean that taking notes is ok to do?

btw, cliffnotes says:

PROCEDURE FOR MAKING CLAIMS OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

If you believe that your work has been copied and is accessible on this site in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, you may notify SVP & General Counsel, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., by providing the following information:

1. the signature of the owner of the copyright or the person authorized to act on the owner's behalf.
2. a description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed
etc etc


So basically it looks like their strategy is apologize later

 

[The Occultist]

So basically it looks like their strategy is apologize later

They are likely careful enough that it doesn't come to that. But do note that no matter what sort of disclaimer they have, it would still not prevent a lawsuit if they were not on the up-and-up.