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Curation as a Derivative Work

by nmwf
5 replies
Curation sure does seem to be the de facto around here when it comes to acquiring free content, but has anyone considered that some websites don't allow it because it creates a derivative work? Does anyone even check for that? I have, admittedly, not. Esp. w/ past use of RSS.

The only controversy with curation (at least from what I've seen in the WF) has been placed on duplicate content. But it looks like the controversy is a bit bigger than that. How have people been getting away with it for so long?

The copyright office includes in its definition of Derivative Work: "abridgments and condensations of preexisting works." http://copyright.gov/circs/circ14.pdf And that's exactly what RSS feeds/blog feeds generate.

So... yeah.

Any thoughts?
#curation #derivative #work
  • Profile picture of the author GregtheWriter
    I'm not the biggest fan of content curation.

    I think you'll get a bigger bang for your buck if you're writing the content yourself or hire a team to do it.
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  • Profile picture of the author SiteNameSales
    I learned about Content Creation from Paul Smithson, the creator of XSitePro (unfortunately, no longer supported).

    Some new bloggers misunderstand this method of marketing and mistakenly consider it to be plagiarism

    Everyone can benefit with content creation when it's done properly and as long as you give credit where credit is due. You can write your own introduction to a piece, have the article continue to the site of the original author, keep the original as is with proper links and credits, etc.

    You get excellent content for your blog, the original author and publication get additional exposure (especially if you use a program like Hootsuite, Buffer or Only Wire to post the article to Facebook, Tumblr, Google+, etc).. More link juice for the original provider and you are (presumeably) providing useful information to your readers. Ever see the API or Reuters credits on a New York Times article?

    Sites like The Huffington Post and Business Insider are just a few of the topnotch publications that use this method. Personally, depending on the site, I combine original material with valuable information from highly regarded publications.

    Hope this explains some of the usefulness of content curation.
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    • Profile picture of the author Humbee360
      It is just a matter of time before website content will be treated more as assets that are owned by a Business or a Corporation, content will become much more protected.

      Much like the image and video asset market, it is not a surprise to see this type of revenue model being applied to text and created author assets.

      original content is valuable in some cases it can generate a substantial sum of money yearly.

      The thing is creative people are not as drawn to venues like this one because a successful creative, is far too busy to spend time here looking for clients, not saying there are not great clients here, thats a fact, but the truth here is productive creative talent is a superior asset to any company or business online today.

      So really the real question here should be "How Can I develop and manage creative talent to make money online?"

      You answer that question and you will have a business that will pay you many times over.
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  • Profile picture of the author writeaway
    It depends on how you 'curate'

    If you're just mashing things up or feeding materials wholesale to your traffic feeds and stripping out links, then you're in violation of copyright laws.

    However, if you're using curated materials and providing original commentary or using it for news purposes, you might fall into 'FAIR USE'. But this is NOT a slam dunk. Some courts have placed a HEAVY EMPHASIS on the 'commercial nature' of derivative content creation to find copyright infringement.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      As writeaway alluded, there's a difference between 'curation' and 'autoblogging'.

      If your idea of curation is simply posting RSS feeds, with maybe minor additions like an intro or credit, then yes, you are creating derivative works.

      The Duplicate Content issue is different, in that it's mainly a SEO concern. Those people are more concerned with jeopardizing search rank than following the law.

      Done properly, with care to add actual value to the curated portion of the content (like adding your own commentary, criticism or experience) curation can indeed provide a valuable service in a cluttered world.

      The "Information Superhighway" is looking more and more like an urban highway during rush hour...
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