Discussion:
What is the name of your state? New York
I am in the process of creating a daily calendar that will include quotes regarding certain subjects (you know, like a quote-a-day). I plan on using well-known quotes when possible but will probably use quotes from other sources (including several "favorite quotes" websites. This is a commercial endeavor, not a non-profit.
The quotes will stand alone and will not be used to "sell" any third-party product.
Do I need to get permission from the person who said each quotation? How do I handle dead people, like Thomas Jefferson? If the quote came from an interview in a book, do I need to get permission from the book's author?
Answer:
Short quotations are OK. If your quote is an entire essay or poem then you will have issues (unless copyright has expored on those works)
Also, if you are pulling these quotes from another website or book that has compiled the quotations, then you may be violating their copyright since they have taken the time to assemble the quotes in a certain format. It all depends on how much you take from any one source and whether you are copying just text or text and formatting. google for "fair use" and "quotations"
including this link

Answer:
Also, if you are pulling these quotes from another website or book that has compiled the quotations, then you may be violating their copyright since they have taken the time to assemble the quotes in a certain format. Just one minor point, pulling the quotes from a compilation would really only be infringing if the alleged infringer used the entire set of quotes AND it could be proven that there was some "creative" selection criteria used in picking which quotes should be included in the compilation. Copyright does not protect the work involved in assembling the quotes, or the "sweat of the brow" in creating a compilation. See Feist v. Rural Telephone.
Answer:
pulling the quotes from a compilation would really only be infringing if the alleged infringer used the entire set of quotes AND... Actually, I was thinking of copyright of the formatting if it was distinctive enough - Thinking of the LexisNexis case where a competitor copied its court records along with distinctive formatting and commentary.
Also, sites can have terms of use for the quotations, which may ban wholesale copying or use of spiders to extract information - this would be more of a contract issue than copyright though.
Copyright does not protect the work involved in assembling the quotes, or the "sweat of the brow" in creating a compilation. Quite right, I was referring to the fact that it was an assembly with distinctive selection, coordination and arrangement of quotes. The time involved in putting it together doesn't determine whether the copying of the work is infringing.
Answer:
Actually, I was thinking of copyright of the formatting if it was distinctive enough - Thinking of the LexisNexis case where a competitor copied its court records along with distinctive formatting and commentary. You are correct, of course -- I guess I missed your meaning in the original reply.
Also, sites can have terms of use for the quotations, which may ban wholesale copying or use of spiders to extract information - this would be more of a contract issue than copyright though. That would be an interesting case, to see if such a contract could be enforceable. I would doubt it -- this would be a case of something that is not protectable via copyright, and trying to fashion an IP protection by wrapping it up in contract language. Such shenanigans have been found to be clearly unenforceable in the patent world -- once a patent expires, you can't hold someone to a license or a contract -- but I don't know that it's been tried in the copyright arena...
And conversly, this is exactly why you cannot use copyright to protect things like recipes, or methods of doing something -- if you could protect the "functional" aspect of an otherwise "creative" work, you could effectively prolong your patent monopoly from the current relatively short period (20 years) to effectively forever (life + 70 years).
Quite right, I was referring to the fact that it was an assembly with distinctive selection, coordination and arrangement of quotes. Correct of course, but the "selection, coordination and arrangement" has to meet a certain level of "creativity" -- not just any old "selection, coordination and arrangement" will do, even if said "selection, coordination and arrangement" were unique.