Actually, copyright issues do not deal with ideas--that falls under patent
protection. On the other hand, copyright protection does extend to the
publication process insofar as any original work of authorship that is
fixed in any tangible medium of expression from which it can be perceived,
reproduced or otherwise communicated, is subject to copyright
protection. Thus, anything I write (including this message), draw, film,
record, perform, etc. is protected by copyright. Technically, if you
download this message to your hard disc for storage, print it, hand copy
it, or otherwise reproduce it, that act is a violation of copyright
law. Copyright protection does not extend to ideas, processes, principles,
procedures, discoveries, etc. The rule of thumb is that copyright protects
the expression of ideas, but not the ideas themselves.
Under copyright protection, the owner has exclusive rights to reproduce and
distribute the work and to prepare derivative works.
Terry is correct that you can put a link to an article on your web site,
but you cannot legally download the document for storage, printing or
display without permission.
The fair use of copyrighted material is a fairly complex issue. Protected
material can be used without permission in criticism, news reporting and
teaching. But still there are specific tests involved including how much
material is used, if there is any commercial benefit to the user and/or
loss to the owner (this complicates things in the classroom when you try to
pass out a photocopied chapter out of a book rather than having the
students buy the book). Recently, a case was decided against a scientist
from Texaco who photocopied 8 journal articles and stored them in their
personal files. The decision allowed for copying the articles for
immediate use. The violation occurred when the papers where archived in a
file cabinet. This has obvious implications for downloading documents from
web sites and storing them on your disc. You cannot copy such material in
order to use it or store it unless you have permission. Other relevant
court cases have ruled that a 2 Live Crew parody of Roy Orbison's song
Pretty Woman is ok, but that a full length adaptation of Gone with the Wind
was not. One was an extensive copy for the purpose of parody, the other
was just a copy for financial gain. Also, one can video tape tv programs
for one-time time shifted viewing, but not for long term storage or other
purposes.
Note that you can legally use the ideas, methods or data that are found
within a work and this would not be a copyright infringement (other
protections such as patent, and trademark may apply, however). Note also
that plagiarism of ideas generally is not afforded legal
protection. Rather, this is enforced by institutions (eg., universities)
and professional societies. Thus, I could take Mike Behe's idea of
irreducible complexity and all of the examples he published in his book and
publish my own book with fear of legal sanctions, as long as I did not
simply copy his book or use his same organization. However, I may risk
professional sanction by doing this.
Finally, copyright protection is automatic on any original work you
create. You do not have to have the work registered in order to be
protected under copyright law.
Anyone so inclined may copy my comments above :-)
Steve