If I copied your exact words from an email and...

Sounds risky to me, unless you were talking about something very generic, like,
"Make Money Fast!" But if you take someone's complete sentences without permission, they could accuse you of stealing their content -which would be true. You could stick to describing the sales funnel technique in general terms, or ask permission to use someone's exact words.

Non-Hypothetical Answer: YES.

Very wrong. Why not ask the person's permission first? They might say no. Don't they have that right?

Just my two cents

you definitely want to ask for permission before using some else content.
if you don't ask the owner make sure you if them the credit.

Copyright of correspondence is not as simple a matter as some believe, but in general, yes; it would be - at the very least - inadvisable.

You might use the ideas and concepts from mailings like that which you've received by opting in to people's lists, but it's not a good plan to use the words.

Without permission, yes, that would be wrong.

1. You could be weakening MY commercial interests.
2. You would be profiting, at least in part, from my work.

Would I personally go after someone if I found out? You bet I would, and you can be sure I am not alone.

HOWEVER...

If you were to ask me ahead of time, there is a very good chance that I would give you permission, especially if I had some input into how my message was presented.

Anyway, YOU don't get decide how to use my words, I'M the only one who gets to decide.

There are some exceptions for fair use, but those are very tricky.

All the best,
Michael

The majotiry of us post content and I am sure we would wnat to receive credit for our hard work.

How would you feel if someone plagarised your work without permission?

I would never copy something word for word and use it as my own. Not good at all.

Its best to ask permission of course before you go about in using their content, even emails if you plan to use them word by word.

.. Chances are people will be OK if you want to feature their emails on a "best practice email" report, as that recognizes their work and builds their authority.. :-)

It is absolutely wrong. You will have to take the permission of the person whose work you have been taking otherwise it will be taken as plagiarism and you may even get sued even if it is amongst the bulk mail!

My advice is to be unique , sure you can learn from others but is better to have you own "identity" because you have big thoughts you won't want to be just a copycat.
If some of you clients/followers will know you will lose all credibility.
Better learn , think and be creative that copy others work like a machine.
Also if the guy from who you stolen the info finds out , it will not be very good for you

I was thinking about creating a product that talked about the best rock songs from the last 4 decades. I will also include a nice big set of CD's that have all those songs on them.

I should be ok to sell this, right?!

Answer THAT question and you have answered your own.

Emails are subject to copyright just like anything else. You can quote them or disclose them or share them within certain boundaries, but they are copyrighted material just like any other written work.

If bought a product (in the WSO section) that was "compiled" with copyright infringement - did you report it?

I should think that asking permission would be the appropiate action to take,nevertheless i would not use it unless you have the permission in writing.
Who knows!

You should ask permission

I have had well known marketers copy my email messages word for word and they caught the wrath of EBR over it. The same would be true if my emails were copied and used in a book.

yes this is not a good habit,but you can modify that email before put it in your listing or any where.

I have to admit, I LOVE swipe files.

But having recently had copy swiped from me (in the same time frame and in the same marketplace, no less) -- I'm not sure of my views anymore.

Especially when one recent WSO touted pulling not just headlines, but bullets, guarantees and more from other WSOs.

At that point, it's starting to feel like a heck of a lot more than just "fair use" of my copyrighted (or, actually, my and my client's) copyrighted material.

(Apparently headlines, titles and such are not copyrightable -- but I am not a lawyer -- but for those, I guess ... swipe away. Other stuff ... you're walking on tricky ground here.)

I think people who offer such amalgams of swipe material of copy from emails, salesletters and the like really need to be on the lookout, because those whose stuff they are making money off may not be all that charitable.

And I hope people who create those wso compiliations etc are either reading this, or are put on notice that those of us who have our stuff swiped ARE watching ...

Live JoyFully!

Judy

Heidi

Can anyone look them up?
And, if so, how?

I'll wager that everywhere a person can look them up (eg a library), there has been some sort of financial transaction that has gone on that has benefited the paper.

Taxpayers pay for the libraries, the libraries pay for subscriptions.

I don't know that NYT actually publishes all of their stories on the Web, and many newspapers have been retreating their content behind paywalls.

You have an awesome product on getting free images and I highly recommend it.

And you attended my TalkMarketingNow.com show with Michelle Brouse about issues regarding bringing up a stock photo site.

So you know how tricky and treacherous these shoals are.

regarding this:
Like I said above, don't think headlines and titles are copyrightable.

And, it may be that the people's whose copyright was violated were unaware.
I know there have been such products on, I think it was, Cosmo headlines.

And, it's probably one of those things.

An occasional instance might be either not seen or might be ignored.

But when more and more folks do it or try to do it, then it becomes more noticeable, can more likely detract from income potential, etc.

And yes, there can be issues around using testimonials from WSOs.

I have, more than once, gone after and requested permission to use testimonials in WSOs when the copy was going to live somewhere else on the web. And that's not even something I've recently started doing. It's just good (if time consuming) practice.

Live JoyFully!

Judy

In general if you are ever doing something that may be ethically questionable, don't do it. Having a good relationship with as many people as you can is much more valuable than some "quick money cut and paste" tactic.

The laws, the rules, the regulations -- they are so confusing and beyond comprehension at times that they defy defining what "ethical" means, unfortunately.

This is by no means tossing a bone to sliding the meaning of ethics so as to be worthless, but rather to speak to a higher sense of what ethical might mean.

For example, "Do onto others as you would have them do unto you" seems like a pretty good start in all your dealings.

Don't give up on that simply because, at times, it can seem like an impossibly high standard. Keep working to find a meaning that works to bring you peace, and be at peace with others.

Live JoyFully!

Judy

I am faced with the same problem (though probably more technical).

I have PayPal holding my funds from one client as they believe he is using an unauthorised credit card.

They require me to send email correspondence from the client.

My email signature mentions no content will be sent to any third party... hmm.

I bought a WSO that matches the description Heidi gave.

Honestly, I bought it, because the author did not verify that the particular Product Title was not used before.

His Product Title matched exactly a Product Title I had created. I bought his, expecting his to be mine repackaged.

His was unique, in that it was not my product.

But Heidi is right...

Top 200 WSO's:

• Subject Lines
• Headlines
• Sub-Heads
• Bullet Points
• etc.

I know that most forum boards have an agreement that you
have to 'check' which normally includes that your posts
will be considered public domain. I definitely can't remember
if the WF has such in its agreement but most forum boards
by default has that language.

In the copywriting world it's very common to have products
that are made up of the "top 100 headlines" and other
swipe files.

My (limited) understanding is that if your purpose doesn't
compete with the original use of the letter/headline then
it will be considered fair use.

I once thought about creating a product where I would
critique/analyze famous sales letters but I was also
concerned about the legality of using the sales letters
and definitely would not want to try and contact all
those copywriters to ask permission.

But I see swipefiles for sale all the time and I know
there is no way the compiler contacted all those
writers.

I would judge a compilation of the best WSO headlines
to be 'fair use'. And I doubt you could copywrite,
sorry, copyright a headline anyway. (But I'm not
a lawyer neither play one on TV)

-Ray Edwards

This is the relevant bit from the warrior forum agreement:

found here:

WarriorForum - Internet Marketing Forums - Forum Rules

You will need to log out to access that page though. I don't know if that agreement is easy for someone already logged in to find!