copyrighted vs non copyrighted content

[beantown]

I am currently thinking about possibly making a "how to ....." site. I want to gather a lot of information on this topic from the web. I plan to put everything into my own words. I want to avoid any copyright problems in the future if I decide to go ahead with this. The problem I am having is figuring out if the information on any other "How to ......" sites or discussion is considered all opinion(copyright) or is it an idea or fact?? Has anyone else had this problem? For example, lets say my site was "How to write movie scripts". There are a number of different ways to write movie scripts and let's say one site listed a number of different things to include in the script. Would I be able to use some of their content in my own words? If anyone could give me an example of what I would be allowed to use on my site, that would be great. Thanks for your help.

[dtobias]

You can't copyright facts... you can only copyright a particular expression of them. Thus, a paraphrase in your own words shouldn't be a violation, if the material is factual. (Fiction is somewhat different, as something can be a violation if it involves characters and situations too similar to those of a copyrighted work, even expressed in different words, since a fictional work is a creation of its author, not a fact. For instance, Captain Marvel was sued for being too similar to Superman [the case dragged on through the 1940s and 1950s before they settled], and the creator of the Russian character "Tanya Grotter" is currently facing suits from the creator of Harry Potter.)

There are other intellectual property laws with different characteristics that must sometimes also be considered: trademarks, which protect a particular name or logo (and have been extended to protect "trade dress", meaning the overall look and feel of something in commerce), and patents, which actually do protect a particular factual idea no matter how it is expressed, but used to be limited to tangible physical processes, until the 1980s when software patents began to be issued; these days, people are coming out of the woodwork to claim that just about any concept related to the Internet is patented by them, and demanding royalties.

[Anthony Ng]

Mind you that COMPILATION of non-copyrighted materials could be copyrighted.

[beantown]

Say another site about "How to write a movie script" gives a step by step process on how to write one. I would think everything besides picking up a pen and paper would be considered opinion. Or is it still considered fact even though there are different ways to write a movie script? I wanted to make sure I don't steal anyone's work. I may be looking too far into this.

[Anthony Ng]

I guess some FAQ about plagiarism might be useful:

http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html

Still in high school?

[beantown]

You would think after high school and college I would know this but its been a few years since writing all night term papers Thanks for the link.