Rewriting a copyrighted article

tongyun · 05-07-2009, 12:49 PM

How much does a copyrighted article have to change so it no longer violates copyright laws? There will be times when I'll read an article and think it's pretty good. By the time I'm done rewriting the article, you couldn't tell the difference between mine and the original. Is that good enough? I don't want to break any laws.

slider · 05-08-2009, 10:32 AM

I was told in the past that if you added 25% new material you would be OK. I don't know for sure if that is the case though. It might depend if it is a technical work or just an article.

busybee · 05-08-2009, 07:04 PM

25% is the ratio to make the SEs not realize that it is duplicate work. If you are going by US copyright law, the entire article must be written to the point that the original author wouldn't recognize it as his work. For copyright law, you can't use more than a snippet (and that with attribution only) or it is considered a derivative work.

Aries Wren · 05-13-2009, 02:07 PM

You'd have to take it, and rewrite the whole shebang. You could still get done for infringement though, it's simply not a good idea to plagiarize anything. Even if you can get away with it, you'll still get a reputation as a plagiarist.

shogun · 05-13-2009, 03:24 PM

I believe, that legally, every article that it is rewritten and it is not your original work, it is called plagiarism.

On the other hand, for publishing on your website a 25% original content is enough. After all, you can't tell the difference between a rewritten article and an original one, only if the two articles are put side by side...

05-07-2009, 12:49 PM	#1 (permalink)
tongyun Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 38	Rewriting a copyrighted article How much does a copyrighted article have to change so it no longer violates copyright laws? There will be times when I'll read an article and think it's pretty good. By the time I'm done rewriting the article, you couldn't tell the difference between mine and the original. Is that good enough? I don't want to break any laws.

05-13-2009, 03:24 PM	#5 (permalink)
shogun Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 12	I believe, that legally, every article that it is rewritten and it is not your original work, it is called plagiarism. On the other hand, for publishing on your website a 25% original content is enough. After all, you can't tell the difference between a rewritten article and an original one, only if the two articles are put side by side... __________________ GDI - Online Business Opportunity with Guaranteed Signups!

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05-08-2009, 10:32 AM	#2 (permalink)
slider Junior Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: New Mexico Posts: 14	I was told in the past that if you added 25% new material you would be OK. I don't know for sure if that is the case though. It might depend if it is a technical work or just an article.

05-08-2009, 07:04 PM	#3 (permalink)
busybee Junior Member Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 26	25% is the ratio to make the SEs not realize that it is duplicate work. If you are going by US copyright law, the entire article must be written to the point that the original author wouldn't recognize it as his work. For copyright law, you can't use more than a snippet (and that with attribution only) or it is considered a derivative work.

05-13-2009, 02:07 PM	#4 (permalink)
Aries Wren Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 46	You'd have to take it, and rewrite the whole shebang. You could still get done for infringement though, it's simply not a good idea to plagiarize anything. Even if you can get away with it, you'll still get a reputation as a plagiarist.

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