Commenting on other site's news

[ketanco]

This might be a basic question but for a blog or a news website on a particular subject, say you see a good news story somewhere...I know you just can not copy that story on your site, however are you okay if you take the key points of the news and reword everything and show the source, or is it not okay because you are getting all the news details from that source, such as the details, the numbers mentioned, and all the necessary information to summarize. In other words, is there a copyright issue if you (with your own wording) summarize a news story from elsewhere on your site (but all the necessary info is taken from that site)?

[6StringGeek]

Facts are facts and are not copyrighted. Using someone else's words and claiming them as your own does fall under copyright protection. If you use a quote from someone's blog you should credit your source.

Laws also vary from country to country...but here's some info for the US:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use