You are correct in that copying the entire article would infringe copyright. Posting an excerpt without using it as a component of an original work also infringes copyright, so you’re not out of the woods yet. Though this practice is common on blogs, it’s not actually kosher with the Copyright Act. You can usually excerpt a work though if it is but one part of a larger original work you’ve written, and the excerpt is quoted, attributed, etc.

In other words, if you transform your post into a commentary or discussion on Krugman’s article, then quoting it is appropriate. If you simply say, there was a great article, here’s a link and an excerpt, then you’re in an area that some consider grey and I consider infringement.

You studied poli-sci at SFU, and I’m sure wrote your share of papers, quoting authoritative sources as parts of your work. Though blogs are of course less formal, and MLA, APA, McGill, and other style guidelines do not apply, the rules of copyright are the same. You don’t have to make sure that one type of source is underlined and another is italicized – even the McGill Guide used in law was not as strict as the MLA Handbook I used in my undergrad – but you do have to watch for plagiarism. If it would constitute plagiarism in university, there’s a decent chance it would violate copyright as well.

As you can see on this blog, I’m not a big fan of overreaching copyright enforcement, but I do believe in its fundamental principles, and certainly those embodied in the principles of “moral rights” or “droits d’auteur”. There is also the simple legal question of whether what you are doing, under current law, can get you in hot water. My opinion is that it can. Of course, I’m not a lawyer… and the usual disclaimer applies.

Most important is this: People don’t come to your blog to read someone else’s article. They come to your blog to read your opinion on someone else’s article. Be good to your audience and give them what they want.

Sorry the link on the Guardian site is no longer working…

Great post!

Question for you.

This is more of a copywrite issue but maybe you can help me.

I posted this entire article from the Guardian by the Economist Paul Krugman http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/dec/06/paul-krugman-financial-crisis-2008 on my blog and someone emailed me saying I had violated copywrite. (great article by the way)

I Googled what is acceptable for the use of copywritten materials and excerpted the article and then had posted a link to the article.

Do you think this is the best way to proceed?

Here’s a link to the post. http://www.mikestewart.ca/blog/2008/12/18/why-vancouver-real-estate-is-doing-what-its-doing-by-paul-krugman/

Btw – where can I find the link for a poll, I love the idea and would have those on my blog.

Thanks in advance!