h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well, the title says it all, really!

I'm wondering whether guide entries can directly quote dictionaries without permission.

Or Roget's, for that matter...

Anywho know?

Spiff

Don't know for sure, but common sense would say that, since they're reference materials, it would be okay if you attributed them.

Ask a librarian...Hypatia is one, I know.

SC

I'd think they are copyright, the same as a normal book. I'd check in the dictionary itself - I know that online dictionaries are copyrighted and say you can't use them for other than personal use without permission.

So do the papers pay royalties when they quote Chambers et al?

I dunno - you asked a question and I gave you my opinion. That's a different question that I can't know the answer to.

I've seen references to dictionaries and encyclopaedias being quoted, which start, "Merrium Webster's says..." or "According to the OED..."

Would they have had to check with those tomes first, for permission?

SC

Then there's the problem of academics who often require definitions for obvious reasons...

Sorry Mina, didn't mean to sound as if I was 'expecting' an answer. Just thinking aloud.

spiff

As far as I know, as long as you credit it, a dictionary definition is fine. It's the same as referencing an academic work - which, after all, is what a dictionary is.

B

We're allowed to quote small sections out of any copyright work, for illustrative purposes. That would seem to cover using a dictionary's definition.