Can I share or re-publish material I find on Inspiration Peak?
Answer: This is actually two questions and we'll start with the first...
If you'd like to share a quote or poem with your friend or you'd like to add it to your scrapbook or maybe you're a teacher and want to write it on the chalkboard for your students to read and think about - please feel free. This is what they refer to as 'personal use' or 'fair use' and copyright law does make exceptions for this.
But if you're interested in publishing, distributing, making copies of, or putting something on your website, there are some important things you should know.
Almost all creative works written after 1923 - poems, short stories, songs, etc. - are protected by copyright laws. So if you intend to publish or re-distribute someone else's work, even if you don't plan on selling it, you must have permission from the author or copyright holder. There are penalties for what they call 'copyright infringement' and they can be very severe so please - if ever in doubt - get permission.
Also, please keep in mind that Inspiration Peak cannot give you permission to publish someone else's poem or short story unless we hold the copyright. (In most cases we don't.) For permission you must go through the author or the publisher.
Copyright law can be very confusing but there is a lot of useful information that can be found on the internet. Do a 'Google' search for 'copyright information' and you'll find answers to many of your questions.
Related Topics:
Do you accept original poems, quotes or short stories for publication?
