Write Attribution or Meet Me in Court
Disclaimer
I am not a lawyer.
The advice in this article is not legal or professional advice. Do not rely on the advice in this article without speaking to an attorney or other professional.
Intro
The title is an exaggeration because I do not think that we will meet in court.
- First, I do not want to tell you where I am now, but you and I are most likely living in a different country—although still on the same planet.
- Second, I do not want to spend a lot of money, time, and energy to win a case.
Those two reasons are enough for you to feel relieved if you do not attribute me correctly, at least for now—I am not threatening.
Background
I write this to make it clear for those of you who want to copy and publish my articles.
I learned that copyright trolls exist. Who are they in this case? They argue people who copy their materials with a Creative Commons license do not give proper attribution. For example, Photographer Larry Philpot won a lawsuit against Independent Journal Review (IJR) because of an image licensed under the term Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported. That happened because IJR made money with the image and did not put Philpot's required attribution.
The lesson: be very careful when you use someone else's work, especially when money is involved.
Scope
If you copy an entire article or more than 50 percent of the total words of an article, you must give me attribution.
If you copy one or more of my articles but do not publish them or make them publicly accessible, attribution is not necessary.
This article does not cover every situation. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Proper attribution
To attribute me properly,
- link to the original source; and
- write my name; and
- add the article's license.
For example, if you copy the entire article of Copying and publish it on your website, you must tell the article is written by me. This means you can write the following:
For the license notice, do not just say "Creative Commons licensed." Be specific. You must state clearly the license name.
License is a legal contract by the licensor, me in this case, and you who copy my articles and publish them in any form. Everything must be clear.
To be safe, every time you copy my articles, in whole or in part, always link back to the original source and never claim that the article is yours.
Discussion
I hope this article makes you feel comfortable and safe when you copy and publish my articles on your website. Do not worry about me taking legal action. We can discuss and find a solution without spending lots of money and time.
If you still have doubts, feel free to contact me. Happy copying.
Summary
- You and I are probably living in a different country.
- I do not want to spend a lot of time, money, and energy to meet you in a court.
- Be careful when you copy Creative Commons licensed works.
- If you copy and publish one or more of my articles, you must give proper attribution.
- If you copy and do not make the copy accessible publicly, you do not need to write an attribution.
- An example of proper attribution: Copying by Vanza Setia / CC BY-ND.
- State the license's full name.
- To keep things simple, always link back to the original source and never claim my articles or my words as yours.
- Contact me for clarification.