Is rewriting magazine articles considered plagiarism???

[havnfun]

I wanted to pose this question to the group, because I have a friend who has a car review site. He constantly takes the articles from "Road & Track", "Car & Driver", and "Motor Trend" magazines and completely rewrites them with new titles, alternate phrases, etc... for content on his website.

I would consider this plagiarism and not the same as rewriting plr articles.

I would love to hear your guys take on this. Is rewriting magazine articles plagiarism or not?

Keyword: plagiarism
Word Count: 85
Keyword Density 3/3.52%

[golfer57]

My thought would be...

Let's say that I am researching some topic and I am reading different material. As long as I dont use some type of exact, verbatim quote, I would guess it would be ok. It is just data that you are using.

Now as far as what your friend does, I would think that would be along the same lines???? But not absolutly sure.

I to would like to hear more on this topic...

Steve
Lighted Dog Collars

[angee]

He can use the information (the ideas) but not the words - not the form in which they're expressed.

I write for several computer magazines, and last year we signed contracts to give the publisher electronic rights - we get a tiny cut. :-) So print publishers are paying attention to the online world, slowly.

Once the print media get up to speed on sites, blogs, etc. they'll start to protect their rights online. These publishers are conglomerates, so I imagine that soon they'll have the software to trace violations, and the lawyers to send cease and desist letters.

The danger for people like your friend is the DMCA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMCA

Google bans sites which violate the DMCA - http://www.google.com/dmca.html

So if your friend is taking and rewriting material, he's taking huge risks...

Cheers

Angela

[havnfun]

Thanks for the info. I will be sure and pass this on to my friend.

So, correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like what you're saying is that he can take the idea of an article he saw in a magazine, for example "Why 4-cylinder engines get better gas mileage than 6-cylinder engines", then do his own research and write his own article based on that research.

Here is another question for you. Can he use a small quote from the magazine if he gives credit to and cites reference to the magazine from where it came???

Thanks to everyone for replying to this post.

[angee]

Originally Posted by havnfun

Thanks for the info. I will be sure and pass this on to my friend.

So, correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like what you're saying is that he can take the idea of an article he saw in a magazine, for example "Why 4-cylinder engines get better gas mileage than 6-cylinder engines", then do his own research and write his own article based on that research.

Here is another question for you. Can he use a small quote from the magazine if he gives credit to and cites reference to the magazine from where it came???

He can take ideas, if those ideas are common knowledge, and if he doesn't steal from a single source. If he does, sooner or later someone will notice and file a DMCA against him.

It's true that "there's no copyright on ideas", but all writers are VERY jealous of ideas that they've come up with over several weeks of research, interviews and thinking.

If a writer (or, as is more likely, a reader of a magazine) spots the idea/ theme etc and suspects that it's been stolen, then the publishing conglomerate's lawyers will get into the act, and the least of the thief's worries will be that his Web site is banned.

Re the quote, generally yes, if he attributes it. However, as a general rule of thumb, if he takes too many quotes from a single source, then it can be argued that he's making money from someone's intellectual property.

Cheers

Angela

[Marc]

My take on this is the following, and I by no means know the law correctly so please do your homework first.

If I find something in an article I like, I will quote a small paragraph from it, then give the reference to it, and a link to the place I got it from. This is recognizing the copyright.

Then i will write about the topic that I wanted too, I mainly use that as an "authority" play since "if its in a magazine, it must be true" type mentality.

And I have never had any issues with it yet. And if you really want to use this seriously, then I would even call the magazine info line and they will give you further advise on it.

Cheers
Marc