POLICY

Copyrights

Copyrights protect the original author, photographer, videographer, etc. from having their original work stolen or misused. In essence, if you did not create a piece of content on your blog, someone else holds the copyright to it. Therefore, you must cite your source for that piece of information (to avoid being accused of plagiarism) and seek written permission from the original owner of the content you want to republish on your blog.

Fair Use

The gray area of copyright law comes in the form of fair use. If you're reusing someone else's material on your blog for the purpose of providing criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching or research, then you may not have to seek permission. Unfortunately, fair use is debatable, so if you're republishing someone else's work on your blog, do the safe (and right) thing and ask for permission first then cite the source in your blog post.

The Role of Blog Etiquette

If you cite and link to another blogger's work in one of your blog posts, be certain you add to the information provided by your source rather than simply copying it.

Source by: Copyright and Fair Use Considerations