I want to write a book...need some advice on possbile legal issues

[imported_Snagle]

I have an idea for a book that to my (and Amazon.com's) knowledge, has never been done before. This book will draw from content others have posted online and I'm worried about the host of this content's policy on profiting from posted content. I don't want to just email them and explain my idea because from what I understand they would have every right to do it themselves and not give me a dime.

I know some of you will say ATOT members aren't the ones to ask and that I should go talk to a lawyer. I don't have money to pay a lawyer and I'm not sure that I'd want to talk to any without having them sign a non-disclosure agreement.

I wouldn't be taking this so seriously but I am absolutely positive that this idea can make me some money. Any advice on how to move forward with this would be appreciated.

 

[ghostman]

What do you mean by "This book will draw from content others have posted online"?

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: ghostman
What do you mean by "This book will draw from content others have posted online"?

i'm confused at his concept also...are people going to be posting parts of the story or posting ideas for you or are you going to say, scour ATOT for ideas?

 

[imported_Snagle]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: ghostman
What do you mean by "This book will draw from content others have posted online"?

i'm confused at his concept also...are people going to be posting parts of the story or posting ideas for you or are you going to say, scour ATOT for ideas?

I am pretty much collecting what others have written and putting it together in a book. These aren't articles or anything that people put significant effort into writing. I am not trying to pass the writing off as my own, the book acknowledges that I have collected this text from what others have written. The only real writing I will do is the foreword, other than that this book would be a compilation.

 

[AreaCode707]

When you say "posted online" do you mean something somebody wrote and put on a website, or something posted on forums or the like?

 

[eakers]

It depends on the site. Some sites take ownership of the poster/bloggers posts (magazine forums etc) and some sites let the poster/blogger retain ownership. I imagine that you'd have to contact the person who has ownership over what you want to publish and get their permission to publish it in a book. You don't have to say what book or what the book is about, just that you would like to publish their words and if they would let you or you will pay them whatever.

 

[imported_Snagle]

Originally posted by: HotChic
When you say "posted online" do you mean something somebody wrote and put on a website, or something posted on forums or the like?

it's not exactly either, but much closer to forums.

 

[AreaCode707]

Originally posted by: Snagle

Originally posted by: HotChic
When you say "posted online" do you mean something somebody wrote and put on a website, or something posted on forums or the like?

it's not exactly either, but much closer to forums.

I would imagine that it would be much like quoting somebody in conversation then, legally.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Upon acceptance of your registration, Anandtech, Inc. (?Anandtech?) will grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited right to access and view the contents of the web site located at www.anandtech.com (the ?Site?) and the forums located therein (the ?Forums?), but only for your own personal, informational, educational or other non-commercial purposes.

^From the legal jibberish you agreed to when you registered here.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: HotChic
I would imagine that it would be much like quoting somebody in conversation then, legally.

It really depends on the context and how much you are quoting from them. Taking snippets out of something resembling a conversation that has no obvious commercial value is one thing. If someone has written a 100-page treatise on some technical topic, publishing the whole thing (even if they are giving more or less public access to it) is probably going to be asking for trouble.

This book will draw from content others have posted online and I'm worried about the host of this content's policy on profiting from posted content.

...does the 'host' have any kind of publicly posted policies on content or how it can be used?

In any case, what you really need is a lawyer who has experience with copyright law. Get them to sign an NDA and pay them for an hour or two of time to discuss your idea. You'll probably have to put in a substantial amount of work and/or money to get anything published; if fronting a couple hundred dollars to talk to a lawyer about it is a serious roadblock, I have to say that you seem unlikely to succeed.

 

[mrjminer]

I think that you'd have to get permission (or pay them all off) from the host of the forum/author of the posts to do anything commercial with it because these would be considered "private" communications despite membership being open to all for free. There is a terms of use on this site as SlitheryDee points out and the clause he quotes is there to prevent books like yours from being made rampantly. I'd presume that most other places have similar terms since a lot of the legal stuff is pretty much universal.

Do what Matthias99 said if you're seriously looking into it.

 

[50cent1228]

don't do it!