how can i do this legally

Lol I cant get sued or something? thats what im worried about.

it would be a bitch if I succeeded then got sued n had to give it all back lol

List your sources linking back to their books on Amazon, who you're hopefully an affiliate with. Win-win situation.

^ thats effin genius.. thanks

To be on the safe side, read the TOS and End User Agreement with a fine tooth comb. If they explicitly state that no reproduction in part or its entirety cannot be published in any way whatsoever, then don't. The other thing you can do is contact the "owner" and state your purpose, you will want to get written consent from the content's owner. The moral is, don't do onto others what you wouldn't want to be done onto yourself.

Under the DMCA act, if you reproduce any copyrighted material without prior consent, you can get sued, even if it's just one sentence. You might think you are well-doing by giving credit where credit is due but the material's owner might not see it this way. We live in a society where people sue for any reason even if they are in the wrong, cover your butt!! Receiving court papers blows... I got sued for an accident where I was evidently 100% not at fault, even though I knew I was going to win, still gave me sleepless nights.

After all, you don't want to give away all your profits + punitive damages for one sentence.

Hope this helps

That's the exact mentality that means the FTC and other bodies worldwide have had to bring in rafts of regulations.

Do as Paul suggested. Ask the original copyright holders if it's ok to quote their work - otherwise you could find yourself on the wrong end of a Cease and Desist notice.

If you put it in your own words and use your own pictures, you're fine.

Yep you are right on your way to being sued and owing people a lot of money! You may not be arrested, but you sure can be shut down and sued. People with that kind of attitude will surely go down sooner or later and lose everything. So yeah, keep up the great thinking and we'll see ya on the side of the road with a card board sign!

Excellent question... there is such a thing as "fair use" in
copyright law... click the link to read about it... if you still
have questions the best thing to do is consult with an
attorney who specializes in this type of law...

U.S. Copyright Office - Fair Use

Tsnyder

Maybe it's late and I'm tired, but this is one of the worst threads I've seen on the forum. Anyone reading this thread - just ignore it. The advice is bad and should not be relied upon.

- Giving credit to something improperly taken is not a defense to a copyright suit.

- Listing a source to something improperly taken is also not a defense.

- Thinking the owner will be cool with your great efforts that is for some reason to their behalf is typically not how the owner views the situation.

- Rewriting sentences does not make it yours. It is called a derivative work and likely a copyright violation.

- Assuming the Internet is the wild west and lawsuits don't happen is a huge mistake.


I'm sure the OP can find a why to write about different self defense techniques without infringing anyone's copyright - even finding some good quotes and sites to link to. If not, then you may not know enough about the topic.

Think of it as a research paper done in school. Your teacher would not be happy with mass copying of material. Your teacher would not be happy with sentence rewrites either. On the other hand, they would want to see citations showing your research to authoritative resources.

If you show you are trying to do things right, instead of trying to steal material but barely stay on the right side of the law, you shouldn't have any problems.

.

:rolleyes:

Fail.

Never steal, especially from martial artists. They know how to hurt you.


In all seriousness, if you are actually an expert and you know what "all the most effective tactics" are, just create your own product.


I would be interested in the details what you are doing. I am also in the martial arts niche with a high quality list of buyers and a decent list of subscribers. If you are interested in a joint venture, let me know. I have created dozens of martial arts products and would be happy to help you with that.

I am also just now getting into having a blog, so I could learn from you as well if you already have one that is well established.

You should be able to write the same stuff, using your own words, I would think. With the knowledge that you must have from your experience in this field, what is stopping you from just rewriting the same stuff, or giving your own take on the subject?

You can quote to a certain extent, but don't go over board as then you are breaking the law. Don't ask me where the line is as I am not a lawyer and I don't know. You should know it when or if you do it.

yes though its the net u can get into legal trouble.

just quote and give credit where it is due.

"bla bla bla" [quoted from example.com]

something like that will do.
dont need to be professional. at lest u give credit.

Unless is a secret martial art technique, you can take the source of the book and rewrite it in your own words (take longer but is bulletproof).

Use your own pictures if you don't have it use royalty free pictures or see on the source of the book who has the copyright of the pictures and contact them to use it.

Another thing you can do is go to a dojo and ask the sensei if you can shot a video with a demonstration of some techniques in exchange of adding on your website their dojo info to get more students.

PS. If you do the last step make sure that the demo is practiced on other student and not in yourself that could be painful... trust me I know!

Do you write your own content for your blog or do you out source it? If you write your own blog it shouldn't be too hard to rewrite the sections in your own words, or even though I personally dislike them you could use a content spinner to make it unique from your source.

If you are also a practicing martial artist a copywrite infringment could possibly end up in a physical challenge at a martial arts tournament.

I would be very careful, and follow Paul's advice.

You can "borrow" the information without quoting it verbatim.

Put it into your own words and you will have unique content.

Nobody can stop you from (or sue you for) teaching your own
style that you made up by combining different aspects of other styles.

Think about it, when you go to the bookstore, there are thousands of books
on the SAME subject and hundreds of books about the SAME type
of martial art, whether it be Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Judo, Etc.

As long as you're not quoting the other books verbatim, you're in
good shape.

This way, you don't have to give credit to anyone else and basically
give free advertising to your competitors! Unless of course you were
promoting their material as an affiliate...

Of course, consult a copyright lawyer for a 100% accurate explanation.

Being a martial artist for many years, I've seen hundreds of books on
the SAME topic over & over again, just in the author's own words.

Best,
Shane

Lol... As long as you give credit back to the original source you will be fine

@Kay King,
I am new to these forums and don't seem to have the "Thanks" option yet, but that was very well said, so here is your "Thanks!" from me.

@cosmokid,
yep, like yoga, martial arts are not static, and were never meant to be. As for whether or not it is new, most people market martial arts in the same way the market magic medicines:

1. "This is the ancient secret that has worked for thousands of years."
2. "This is something brand new that nobody else has discovered yet."

p.s. Yoga + martial arts = awesome


@CDarklock,
Yep, you're pretty much right about that... Technique names can be copyrighted, and some of the actual movements are patented in rare cases, although not all countries recognize the patents.

Neither method really works very well. Names can be changed by the rip-off artist, and having a technique or tactic patented makes its essence available to the general public anyway. Instead, most martial artists simply refuse to teach any "secret" technique to anyone they don't trust with their life. (Ougi and the like are generally very powerful after all, giving the person control over life and death of human beings... You don't give that to someone who you don't trust with your own life, or someone who has to ask the difference between right and wrong... not for any price!)


***

I very strongly discourage the idea of re-writing the work of someone else in your own words. It is still essentially plagiarism. Especially in the martial arts, you will quickly be seen as a fraud, as most martial artists who read books read so obsessively that they smell like ink and dead trees. :p

You shouldn't be selling information if you're not an expert. And if you are an expert, you probably want to make your own product, anyway. :confused:



Finally, taking a bunch of techniques and tactics from different styles and combining them into one method is a lot like taking a bunch of leaves from different trees and gluing them onto one stick.

What you end up with is a very silly looking tree that won't live very long.

If you're thinking about taking pictures and information directly from other sources, and putting them into your product, you probably can't. Yes, it is theoretically possible, but the time and effort involved, along with the likelihood of actually getting permission from the various sources, may make it difficult to get your book/product together in a decent amount of time.

Also, when bringing in sources from outside, keep in mind that some if them may require a royalty for using their information or images, even if in a very small way, and if you've got several involved in your project, the royalties may exceed the profit you'd normally achieve.

Better to review a wide variety of sources during your research, and create a totally new product based on a synopsis of available information, written in your own words, with accompanying graphics that are newly generated to provide the visual stimulous needed, without copying any existing graphics or text. Yep, this is a lot of work, and there may not be as much demand for your product when it is done to actually make a product, but if you really believe in your niche, you may need to try anyway.

Always cite where you're taking stuff from... you can always put an affiliate link towards the book/course and make some money from that.

Beware of FTC, copyright infringement, etc. Stay clean!

Tangible writings are (writings that are physically seen- books etc.) are subject to copyright and protection. The Copyright Revision Act of 1976 governs as copyright law. Its a Federal Statue and there are no state copyright laws. The act establishes the requirements for obtaining a copyright and protects copyright works from infringement. Copyright infringement occurs when a party copies a substantial and material part of the copyrighted work without permission. The copy has not to be either word for word or the entire work.
Read More Here >> copyright dot gov/title17/
Hope it helps!