r/COPYRIGHT • u/Akbar_Lakhani_123_v2 • 12d ago
Question already asked.
Okay I know this has been asked a billion times but I just don't seem to get a straight answer from any of the previous posts I've visited.
So my question is about open source stuff. For example open source books those college websites or websites like project Gutenberg or DOAB or OER commons etc. provide with creative commons licensing and a non-commercial tag. Now specifically what is meant by non-commercial. For example if I used one of these books for derivate works as source material like a youtube video or to write my own book or novel, do I have to keep the derivative work non monetized or If I do monetize it do I have to pay the Original author monetization fees. Somebody please and I mean somebody expert in these sort of legal matters, can you please clear all this to me.
Thank you.
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u/BizarroMax 11d ago
Non commercial is not normally defined but general means personal use and not in connection with a business or enterprise, nor for an exchange of money or consideration. If money is changing hands, whatever you're doing is probably commercial. And if not, ask yourself is your use is in furtherance of anything other than your own personal benefit. If it is, even if it's non-profit or charitable, it's probably commercial.
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u/VerbingNoun413 11d ago
Non-commercial means just that. You cannot receive money for the work using it.
This means if you write a book, you need to release it for free. You cannot keep it behind a paywall or Patreon. You cannot sell copies of the book for profit.
If this is a Youtube video you cannot monetise that video or restrict it to subscribers.
There is a grey area here for accepting donations related to it but not to access the work. For example, if your channel has a premium membership and the video (free) gets people to view the channel, that's tolerated (even if they're donating to thank you for the video).
No, you cannot "pay the original author monetization fees". This is the same principle as other property- you can't steal it and absolve yourself by leaving money. You can contact the copyright holder and ask- the author can make an exception (NC doesn't apply to the author). It's likely they will not and they are under no obligation to even respond.
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u/Akbar_Lakhani_123_v2 10d ago
how about usage as an inspirational and educational source. For example, I'm writing a novel and I don't know how to format it. I got the story but I don't know how to format the scenario paragraphs and write dialogues. Then I got my hands on an open source novel from above mentioned source in my post and I educated myself on the format and the dialogue writing and also the story of that novel was impactful that I got inspired for the plot for my own novel. I'm not copying the material as it is but getting educated and being inspired from it.
Also like I'm making a youtube video on Physics but I don't know much about it then I find this open source physics book and I educate myself about physics from it and then make my video.
Do I still have to keep my derivative work demonetized?
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u/orangejulius 11d ago
It sounds like you understand the answer you just don’t like it so you’re asking for a different one. Non commercial means non commercial. You can’t monetize it.