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Would it be wrong to paraphrase my notes on a course as blog posts?

by Mike Schwenk
16 replies
Hello,

I'm planning to really dig into a particular course that I haven't had enough time otherwise to complete.

As a way to help maintain my focus and add a twist on my studies, I created a blog related to my pursuits. The main part is over 1,000 pages, which I plan to shoot for 30-50 pages a day. That will allow me to complete this part in about a month.

What I wanted to clarifiy, is would it be any sort of infringement if I were to paraphrase my notes that I take each day and make them blog posts? Obviously I would have to make sure that if I write something down word-for-word, I change it.

If I do this, would it be ok to note what this course is? In theory, if someone is interested in that course and I am taking notes on it, they could just get a lot of the info just by following my posts and save the purchase themselves(which I would agree is no good). Of course, just how much value would be contingent on how thorough my notes are.

Even so, I would probably just highlight my notes. A page-long blog post for 30-50 pages worth of studying doesn't sound too harmful.

Thoughts?

-Mike
#blog #notes #paraphrase #posts #wrong
  • Profile picture of the author Igor Kheifets
    No, it wouldn't.

    Because anything we know-we learned from someone else.
    (or at least-most of it)

    So, if you're sharing the same material but in different words, your
    own unique words-it's completely legal and you have nothing to worry about.

    Igor
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    • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
      You could blog about your progress without actually posting the content of the course.

      Better still - does the course have an affiliate program? If so, maybe you could, with the author's permission, drop a few hints and tips and then point people towards your affiliate link.

      That works for me, promoting a friend's teaching website. She even reads through my posts to ensure I haven't made any stupid mistakes.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author Shannon Herod
      I am not a lawyer and cannot give you advice on whether or not it would infringe copyright laws, but I can give you my opinion.

      It is okay to take your notes and put them on a personal blog. But, it is not okay to share that personal blog with the public. meaning make the posts private.

      The author of the products that you want to take notes on is selling the product to support his business, support his family and to produce cash flow. So, if you basically take the cliff notes and put them on a free blog it could possibly hurt that business.

      So, if I was you I would keep your notes to yourself. Like I said that's not legal advice it is just my opinion.
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  • Profile picture of the author mr2monster
    Copyright pertains to the written word (and other forms of creation), not an idea.

    i.e. you can state the exact same idea as someone else so long as you don't do it with the same words.


    CliffsNotes? SparksNotes? Pretty much exactly what you're talking about doing here...


    But, as others have said, don't take legal advice here.
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  • Profile picture of the author MisterMunch
    I think I knew everything inside "4 hour work week" and "The long tail" from articles around the web, interviews, blogs from the authors, promo from the authors.

    The more you get to know about something, the more you want to find out more. So if you drop clues from the book as long as you are reffering to it, it only sounds like the book has a lot of valuale content and would increase the value.

    Edit: I was reffering to discussions about what you have learned, and not notes. And I am also no lawyer.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Schwenk
    Yeah, I guess I wasn't really trying to check on the legality of the issue as much the ethics of doing so.

    I think I'll just get in touch and get their own opinion...

    Thanks for all of your input.

    -Mike

    @Alexa - The course is Clayton's main copywriting course, QuickStart.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Thorsett
    I second the idea of posting generic notes and becoming an affiliate -- after all , isn't this the main idea behind review sites?

    Also, not a lawyer, not your lawyer, this isn't legal advice.
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    • Profile picture of the author Mike Schwenk
      Originally Posted by Michael Thorsett View Post

      I second the idea of posting generic notes and becoming an affiliate -- after all , isn't this the main idea behind review sites?

      Also, not a lawyer, not your lawyer, this isn't legal advice.
      This is pretty much what I meant by paraphrasing to begin with. To clarify, however, I don't mean that the blog is to serve as a review site.

      Rather, something like a blog post with pages read, amount left and highlights of what that day's reading taught me. Again, this is mainly to help me focus, so I would be writing what I have personally gained from the material (this would be done by summarzing my notes).

      It wouldn't be to discuss the course directly. I hope that makes sense. Possibly not, because this is somewhat a matter of perspective. One could argue that by posting notes, I am discussing the course. I get that and understand if someone else has the same view.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tony Vercetti
    That depends on the course and any terms associated to it. Normally, copyright only applies to the actual words used, not the "ideas" presented in the course, as there are many different courses which share the same core ideas.

    The only time this would not be allowed is if there were items in the terms & conditions of the course saying something like you will not disclose the contents to anyone else, etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    You bought a course. That information should not be shared by you. I assume the course is for sale ... costs money to join. Don't rob the course owner of his product.

    If you are discussing what you're learning in that course, it's just the same as discussing that course. Whether or not it is legal doesn't matter to me. It's just wrong.
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael Thorsett
      Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

      You bought a course. That information should not be shared by you. I assume the course is for sale ... costs money to join. Don't rob the course owner of his product.

      If you are discussing what you're learning in that course, it's just the same as discussing that course. Whether or not it is legal doesn't matter to me. It's just wrong.
      I think it is determined in the way that the course is discussed, and the depth of the information shared in the discussion.

      When I took a course in income tax preparation from H&R Block, I discussed with people what I was learning. The whole point of taking the course was the end result of being able to advise people in income tax matters.

      The course presentation itself, on the other hand, is the course, and should not be copied. But the information gleaned from the course is a viable topic, in my opinion.

      It's like what someone said upthread -- ideas cannot be copyrighted, only the expression of the ideas.

      (Still not a lawyer.)
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      • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
        Banned
        Originally Posted by Michael Thorsett View Post


        When I took a course in income tax preparation from H&R Block, I discussed with people what I was learning. The whole point of taking the course was the end result of being able to advise people in income tax matters.
        As far as I'm concerned, taking a tax course and implementing what you have learned in your job is a whole lot different than taking a course and paraphrasing the course in your blogs posts.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ryan D
    Banned
    I don't see it as a big deal. You can take a book and write a review/synopsis, same with a movie, and you can definitely go to a seminar and give an overview of hte speakers talks and lessons.

    That's just me though.
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  • Profile picture of the author MajorTom
    If you are paraphrasing "notes" from a course, then, presumably, your "notes" are paraphrases of the content from the course. That makes its it 2 degrees of separation/paraphrashing from the original content.

    In my non-legal opinion, I would say you are fine as long as your "notes" are not a direct transcript of the course and your paraphrasing is really paraphrasing.

    I'm sure that helped.

    Best of luck,

    MT
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Schwenk
    To further clarify things, just incase it came across this way:

    I wouldn't intend to "paraphrase" the course for the sake of that specific information being my content. I would do so to list my thoughts on what I have learned.

    Perhaps I should have used the word "summary" (there is technically a difference).

    In that case, one could interpret the question to be: "Would it be wrong to summarize what I have learned from a course on my blog?" To which I'm sure many would agree is quite normal.

    As a rough example of what I could mean:

    "As I was reading my pages for the day, I learned that "direct response" is regarded as a more scientific form of advertising. According to the course I am studying, this is mostly due to the fact that results are constantly tested and tweaked until the best possible results are achieved."

    You get the idea.

    Just wanted to clear that up...

    -Mike
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