When it comes to copyright infringement, there are a few commonly misunderstood aspects of what you can and cannot legally do with someone's work. Here, we'll work through three common issues so that you can make your best judgment and avoid copyright infringement.
Q: If I translate a book from another language, do I have to ask for permission to publish the translation?A: Yes. To understand why this is true, we have to look at the definition of something called a "derivative work," something to which the owner of a copyright has exclusive rights. Essentially, this is anything that was based on an already existing work, without which the new work could not have existed. Since your translation obviously couldn't have existed without the underlying work, it would be considered a derivative work. An as a copyright owner has exclusive control over derivative works, publishing a translation of a copyrighted work without permission is copyright infringement.
Q: If I find a picture online, can I use it as long as I mention where I found it?A: No -- if the work is copyrighted (which, given that an author automatically holds a copyright in the work that he or she created, is likely), your use is infringement regardless of whether you attempt to give proper credit to the author. While this seems harsh, there are two obvious reasons for this. The first reason is that distributing or displaying something is one of the specific exclusive rights granted to a copyright holder; the fact that you are mentioning whose work you're displaying does not allow you to take that person's right to control the display and distribution of the work away. The second is that given the reaches of the Internet today, you can't assume that crediting where you found the image is crediting the author at all -- if you don't see any contact information for the author, it's always safest to assume that the website you found the image is infringing on the auth or's copyright as well. You can always try emailing the webmaster about the image's origins.
Q: Will I get in trouble for copyright infringement if I review movies on my website?No, reviewing movies is considered fair use. According to the US Copyright Act of 1976, reproducing a copyrighted work "for purposes such as criticism [or] comment . . . is not an infringement of copyright." However, keep in mind that associated material on your website, such as photos of actors and actresses or movie trailers used without permission, likely do not constitute fair use.
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