Hello, I want to add some info about the countries to my site personal about coins. I would like to use (part of) the text of the Krause SCWC. Can I do it ? Should I add any type of copyright notice ? Should I contact Krause publications and ask for permission ?
Contact Krause publications and ask for permission if you plan to post copyrighted material on a website, beyond what copyright lawyers would consider "fair use" (a very compliex legal concept). Actually, the prudent course would be to consult a copyright lawyer first.
The real problem is "how much is too much" I'm sure if you just want to quote a few pages, it's "ok" but if you are planning to rip let's say 50% of the source content, then yes, it's a problem. But again, you are doing a good job in researching what is wrong. Kudos to you.
Are you making money off the site? If so then go see a lawyer. One of the many things I do on the side had a question kindof like this. I took my question to a lawyer and got a pretty good answer...also I now have that connection in case I ever get sued or questioned about it. Speedy
No it wouldn't. Citing the source of the material is not the same as having permission to use it if the material is used verbatim. But as long as you put everything into your own words you can use the information and then cite the source. Getting permission, written permission, is the best way to go.
Depending on what kind of "country" info you need, you may be able to get it from other sources. For example, the CIA Factbook https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ provides quite a lot of information (not numismatic though) about the countries of the world. That would AFAIK be public domain material ... Christian
And a lot more reliable than the Krause information, some of which is questionable as to it's accuracy.
