Intellectual property question: If I attend a lecture on an historical figure, takes notes and

[zonkers]

use those notes generally as components in a published manuscript which contained many other facts, can I get in trouble legally? Let's say the historical figure lived a hundred years and the notes I took contained info like where he worked, when he worked there and events that took place during his time working there. I mean, if these are facts that the lecturer found out by doing research -- facts he he did not create but found out somewhere else, does it still count as intellectual property infringment?

[pitohui]

1. facts aren't copyrightable

however you should check the facts elsewhere to be sure they are facts and not just one lecturer's half remembered memories and/or opinions

[Whoa_Nelly]

2. Agree..and would think that anything you write into your manscript as fact

should be cited using MLA or APA guidelines.

[KitchenWitch]

3. If you are unsure, I would cite the lecture and lecturer in whatever style

you are supposed to do the citations.

[NNadir]

4. No matter what the legal situation is, it is best ethically to cite one's references.

[zonkers]

5. This is true. Thanks everyone.

[begin_within]

6. You can't copyright an idea; you can only copyright your unique expression of that idea

in a fixed, tangible form. A concept or theory about a historical figure isn't copyrightable, but the unique expression of that concept or theory in a fixed form, such as a specific set of words, a picture, etc. is copyrightable. Much more information on copyright law is at this page:

http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html

The most pertient portion of that page is this section:

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What Works Are Protected?
-----------------------

Copyright protects “original works of authorship” that are fixed in a tangible form of expression. The fixation need not be directly perceptible so long as it may be communicated with the aid of a machine or device. Copyrightable works include the following categories:

literary works;
musical works, including any accompanying words
dramatic works, including any accompanying music
pantomimes and choreographic works
pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
motion pictures and other audiovisual works
sound recordings
architectural works
These categories should be viewed broadly. For example, computer programs and most “compilations” may be registered as “literary works”; maps and architectural plans may be registered as “pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works.”

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What Is Not Protected by Copyright?
-------------------------------

Several categories of material are generally not eligible for federal copyright protection. These include among others:

Works that have not been fixed in a tangible form of expression (for example, choreographic works that have not been notated or recorded, or improvisational speeches or performances that have not been written or recorded)

Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans; familiar symbols or designs; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring; mere listings of ingredients or contents

Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries, or devices, as distinguished from a description, explanation, or illustration

Works consisting entirely of information that is common property and containing no original authorship (for example: standard calendars, height and weight charts, tape measures and rulers, and lists or tables taken from public documents or other common sources).

[zonkers]

7. Thanks B.W. Great link.

[skygazer]

8. You can but it would be extremely sloppy research

You can't know that the lecturer did proper research and so you can't know that information is factual.

Take notes but then verify the facts and note the sources in the manuscript (I recently read a book in which the author cited a book review for a couple of facts - I wasn't impressed).

[Coventina]

9. In the process of writing my thesis, I was told that unpublished

material, i.e. lectures, are not acceptable as a source. (Because I attempted to cite some material I had obtained from a lecture).

But then, maybe that is something that is true only for the academic world.

Anyway, it didn't take me long to find a published source for the material.

On edit: grammar

[pitohui]

10. yeah that must only be true of academia

unpublished material is certainly acceptable as a source in some situations or there would be no one who first published the lectures, letters, conversations, interviews, anecdotes in the first place! -- there is some point at which any material was once unpublished

i often used previously unpublished material (interviews, my own experiences) in informal magazine writing back in the day -- either the editor trusted me or she didn't and if she didn't, why hire me in the first place

i didn't know what the OP was writing, from context, i can see that we're all assuming it must be for classwork