Using information from Books, online Wiki, etc. for Apps

butterbean

Does anyone know the legal ramifications for using info from say, Medical dictionaries, books, online sources like WebMD or any websites for that matter to make games that contain this info? Can you just cite that the "source" of the info was obtained from such sites to utilize in your app, or do you need permission?

scorelessmusic

* deleted repeat post * terrible internet connection at times... apologies :P

scorelessmusic

Personally, I'd feel most comfortable working with material under Creative Commons licenses that are explicit when it comes to sharing permissions.

From what I understand, all works automatically fall under copyright by default *even* if the author(s) don't state it (or didn't intend it but did not explicitly opt for a permissive license).

Author(s) have to explicitly use a permissive license like Creative Commons in order not to have their works fall automatically under strict copyrights.

butterbean

So with books, websites and such, it should clearly state the info is under creative commons license, or permissive license then?

scorelessmusic

Yes, definitely look for a permissive license somewhere on the material you want to use. As mentioned above, people who are willing to share would hopefully know this issue and will place the permissive license(s) in a visible place to allow reuse and sharing of their materials.

gregr209

You really have to be careful. I was about to use some clip art and read in little tiny print that you couldn't use it for a computer type game. You could use it for anything else but not a game or application. It was weird. So you really have to read 'the terms of use' agreements closely.