Copyright of scientific research articles on Steemit
Dear Steemians,
today I would like to pose a question to you, as this is the reason my blog got quiet over the last months:
How does the copyright of research articles affect posting on Steemit?
Lady Justice in all her glory
I have actually written quite a number of articles already about the topics I mentioned (e.g. the origin of the capsicum species, the works of our perception of spicyness, breeding). In these articles, I quote other papers and articles in a scientific manner to give credibility to my claims as they were shown in past research. But is this allowed? Almost everything is copyright protected, especially research papers (pervertly so!).
There is an exemption to use copyright-protected material, the „fair-use“ case. This applies e.g. for news reporting, parodies of original content and research. But this use is limited and it is kind of a „gray area“ without defined hard borders. One aspect which in general stands against fair use, is commercial use. If copyright protected work is used by other people and they post it somewhere where money could be generated (even if only through ads), this is usually ruled as a violation of fair use. Also a simple re-telling of the research story is probably not going to cut it, as re-telling is also not considered fair use, it has to be some sort of original creation. This goes on for many use cases, but unfortunately it does not look good for posting research reviews on Steemit. Especially, as Steemit posts are not deletable after 7 days, and possible copyright violation claims would probably get really uncomfortable...
Is anyone here with a background in law, that could elucidate this? I already searched Steemit for copyright related articles, but the articles could not give definitive answers. Especially in case of quoting copyright protected research articles I (and surely many others) would be very grateful for answers!
Dysprosium
P.S.: I generally do not ask for this, but this case is an exemption: If this matter concerns you, and you would like to help it solve, please resteem this post. The greater the reach, the more probable we reach someone who could help out!
Picture taken from pixabay.com
I am not too sure what you are referring about, but if you cite an article, it is fine. You do not violate anything. You are not copying anything from it, you are just indicating a source. Citing is good and fair (otherwise, any single research article would violate some copyrights :D ). Copying is not.
I don't know what law states for, for instance, quoting one or two sentence out of a text.
Hey @lemouth,
that was what confused me. I could not distinguish between indicating sources and "re-telling", which is clearly an indication of copyright violation. I thought that writing some sort of "Review" is probably ok as it is own creative work, but to blog and re-tell the contents of a paper in his own words is not. This distinction problem got me cautious. Also, sharing and citing research in the scientific world is probably different than blogging it commercially, which is basically what we are doing on Steemit. Hence, more confusion. Thank you for your response, this puts me a bit at ease!
Well, it you take every single paragraph and rephrase it, it is legally not violating any copyright I guess. But this is not something that I would upvote, share or even comment.
I often discussed a paper I have read during the week last year. I was clearly indicating what I had read, giving the link to the paper and discussing it (with maybe some more general context) on my blog. At the end of the day, there is not much from the original paper, except maybe the grand storyline. For the figures, if they are open access you are fine. If you indicate where they come form, it is fine too.
Hey lemouth,
according to the guidelines I found regarding fair use, re-telling the paper, even the grand storyline, and blogging (making it accessible to tthe public) are often regarde as Copyright violation, if there is a claim. If I understood everything correctly, that is. And when commercial use is thrown in the mix, it gets worse. I can send you links in the SteemSTEM channel if you would like. I was really hoping someone with a background in law would chip in, to elaborate. I am a bit of a 120% guy, so until I am dead sure, I will not be posting anything, sadly. :( Except completely original content. Thank you for responding!
If all the text is mine, with the proper citation, then I think it is fine. I don;'t see how I could violate any copyright when telling about some knowledge IO have acquired. Of course, there are sources, but this holds for everything.
Ultimately, I think you are right. After some thinking on the topic and after digesting the first scare, I think sharing knowledge should be fine. If I write an article and provide sources the original source stays "protected", as people without subscription cannot read them, anyway (if paywalled). As long as I do not share contents of the original paper in any sense, it should be ok. Thank you for bearing with me, some thoughts are better understood when discussed!
Discussions are always welcome! I am glad to have been able to contribute!
It is not a good idea to directly quote material or reproduce figures from a non open access publication. However discussing an articles findings in your own words, with out reproducing anything is fine. Just cite your sources and your good to go.
Hey @justtryme90,
as I pointed out in response to lemouth, the distinction is what is giving me a headache. Not even at university we are allowed to reproduce figures of closed source publications, but the "re-telling" matter and the commercial use made me a bit (over)cautious. I would like to thank you as well for your response, as any insight on this matter calms my nerves!
It is even more confusing, since in my language to cite and to quote are homonymous (same words).
Hey @thomasbrod,
as a German, I can relate. It is just "zitieren" which can also mean both... And, as people posting on steemit from a different country, also two different sets of laws apply, depending on where charges would arise. So better safe than sorry, but when one respects some key factors, it is actually quite doable. But I respect the people who license e.g. their pictures under CC0 more and more, as this is the only true sharing!
Taking the creation of another person, unknown to the owner, or not calling the maker it is very bad ethics @dysprosium
Hey @yusrizakaria,
well, that is evidently clear - the case I am worried about is that if you cite a research article properly, copyright still applies - making it very difficult to figure out if and how the material can be used.
Started looking around, after reading your post. Usually, when I write in other forums, there is no commercial aspect. With Steemit, perhaps reassessment is necessary. MIT guidelines for using research articles may be found here (perhaps you've seen it already): https://libraries.mit.edu/scholarly/publishing/using-copyrighted-content/. This article, I think answers some of your questions. The information will help me to be more confident as I go forward on Steemit. Thanks for raising the issue.