Plagarism or copy pasting is stealing?

Buddhist ethical conduct including the Five Precepts (Pañcasikkhāpada), and Eightfold Ethical Conduct (Aṭṭhasīla).
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confusedlayman
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Plagarism or copy pasting is stealing?

Post by confusedlayman »

I have some great information in a free app but people cant find it easily... should i usr some of the information in app and compile into pdf and sell for little cash? My job is only compailing and dont create the original content.

The original content is however found in many apps so is it free to copy paste?
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Re: Plagarism or copy pasting is stealing?

Post by mikenz66 »

confusedlayman wrote: Mon May 10, 2021 8:56 pm I have some great information in a free app but people cant find it easily... should i usr some of the information in app and compile into pdf and sell for little cash? My job is only compailing and dont create the original content.

The original content is however found in many apps so is it free to copy paste?
It's hard to answer such a general question. Is the information freely available elsewhere? What copyright/copyleft does the app use?

Some sites and apps are unfortunately not very clear. SuttaCentral spells out things in detail (since some material is copyright by publishers) https://suttacentral.net/licensing
As does AccessToInsight: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/faq.html#copyright
DhammaTalks: https://www.dhammatalks.org/index.html
and most other such sites.

For the SuttaCentral-created material, the notice reads, in part:
You are invited to copy, alter, redistribute, present, perform, convey, or make use of any or all of this material in any way you wish.
This would include making books that are sold. For example: https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/sujato/
This is somewhat in the spirit of the GNU Project's "Free (as in freedom) software".
As Richard Stallman writes https://www.gnu.org/gnu/thegnuproject.en.html
Since “free” refers to freedom, not to price, there is no contradiction between selling copies and free software. ...
Many Dhamma sites (such as DhammaTalks.org) forbid such selling. Personally, I think the approach of making the material available online, but making books available for purchase (such as the Lulu books listed above) is sensible.
It's not trivial, or cheap, to make a one-off book. However, one should read the copyright statements carefully.

Note: I have not looked in detail about how CCO 1.0 https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ works in practice. In the case of open-source software the licenses are carefully designed to prevent software based on other open-source software from being copyrighted. Presumably the case of texts is a little simpler, and the fact that the texts (such as the Sutta Central translations) are released under CCO 1.0 would prevent someone trying to assert copyright over the texts by printing them up into a book.

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Re: Plagarism or copy pasting is stealing?

Post by DNS »

I have copy-pasted some Suttas to Dhamma Wiki, but only those that are in public domain, offered for free and my distribution is also for free, no charges or money involved.
For the translations of most of the suttas and passages from the Pali Canon, the great Theravada website resource, Access to Insight is used. For the suttas and passages in the original Pali, the Sri Lanka Tripitaka Project, is used, which is a public domain electronic version of the Pali Canon. Terms of use for translations from Access to Insight and other sites with public domain translations: You may copy, reformat, reprint, republish, and redistribute this work in any medium whatsoever, provided that: (1) you only make such copies, etc. available free of charge; (2) you clearly indicate that any derivatives of this work (including translations) are derived from this source document; and (3) you include the full text of this license in any copies or derivatives of this work. Otherwise, all rights reserved.
https://www.dhammawiki.com/index.php?ti ... Pali_Canon
confusedlayman wrote: Mon May 10, 2021 8:56 pm I have some great information in a free app but people cant find it easily... should i usr some of the information in app and compile into pdf and sell for little cash? My job is only compailing and dont create the original content.

The original content is however found in many apps so is it free to copy paste?


Since you are talking about making money from the material, I'd check with the sources you are using, even though it is free, you might be violating a copyright if you intend to charge.
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Re: Plagarism or copy pasting is stealing?

Post by sunnat »

While all that is to consider, with The Dhamma an overriding consideration can be that there can be no price on something so universally precious and helping making it available even to the poorest of the poor is meritorious while doing otherwise for personal gain is not.
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Re: Plagarism or copy pasting is stealing?

Post by mikenz66 »

sunnat wrote: Tue May 11, 2021 12:50 am While all that is to consider, with The Dhamma an overriding consideration can be that there can be no price on something so universally precious and helping making it available even to the poorest of the poor is meritorious while doing otherwise for personal gain is not.
That's certainly the principle I try to follow. However, I don't think that charging for the cost of production and shipping of a book is putting a price on Dhamma. If the material can be downloaded anyway, it is simply providing another option, which is a gain in my view. For example, I would be happy to pay for printed copies of books such as these: https://forestsangha.org/teachings/book ... ge=English since I like reading them as books.

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Re: Plagarism or copy pasting is stealing?

Post by Inedible »

Write a new pdf based on the information and give credit to your source. Ideally use more than one source. Make your new pdf better than the original.
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Re: Plagarism or copy pasting is stealing?

Post by Bundokji »

You could approach the issue of plagiarism by linking it to the fourth precept. Why would people want to claim ownership of something that has been obtained second hand?

As long as your intention is not to claim false ownership, and if the app allows its users to download the information, then it could be OK. You could also reflect on how declaring that the information in the PDF are taken from the app would affect the sale of the PDF. Would including such declaration on the first page and stating that what you are charging is justified by the time and effort you put into compiling the information put you in an ethical or legal trouble?
And the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus, saying: "Behold now, bhikkhus, I exhort you: All compounded things are subject to vanish. Strive with earnestness!"

This was the last word of the Tathagata.
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Re: Plagarism or copy pasting is stealing?

Post by confusedlayman »

hi it is not related to dhamma.. it is related to some lay life stuff which has nothing to do with religion... its economics stuff
I may be slow learner but im at least learning...
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Re: Plagarism or copy pasting is stealing?

Post by confusedlayman »

Bundokji wrote: Tue May 11, 2021 10:14 am You could approach the issue of plagiarism by linking it to the fourth precept. Why would people want to claim ownership of something that has been obtained second hand?

As long as your intention is not to claim false ownership, and if the app allows its users to download the information, then it could be OK. You could also reflect on how declaring that the information in the PDF are taken from the app would affect the sale of the PDF. Would including such declaration on the first page and stating that what you are charging is justified by the time and effort you put into compiling the information put you in an ethical or legal trouble?
thanks
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Re: Plagarism or copy pasting is stealing?

Post by Gwi »

plagiarism = ruining

killing creatures is a violation
of the first precept,
but hitting people is not,
even though it is not good.


copy pasting = spreading without permission
= cheating

Gambling is not a violation of precepts,
but a wrong livelihood so it must be abandoned.
Same as the case of copy pasting.
Bahagia Tidak Harus Selalu Bersama

Dhammapadå 370
"Tinggalkanlah 5 (belantara) dan patahkan 5 (belenggu rendah),
Serta kembangkan 5 potensi (4 iddhipādā + 1 ussoḷhi).
Bhikkhu yang telah menaklukkan 5 kungkungan (belenggu tinggi),
Lebih layak disebut 'orang yang telah mengarungi air baih (saṃsārå)'."
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