Copyright and Related Issues
This is from the 'Access to Insight' website.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/faq.html#copyright
(1) Are the articles here in the public domain?
No. They are protected by copyright.
(2) Are the articles here protected by copyright?
Yes. You may copy and redistribute any articles from this website, provided that you abide by these two basic principles:
You may not sell any articles copied or derived from this website.
You may not alter the content of any articles copied or derived from this website. (You may, however, reformat them).
The files on this website are made available to you thanks to the generosity of dozens of authors, translators, publishers, and transcribers, who contributed their efforts with the explicit understanding that their work would only be given away free of charge, as an expression of dana. You may download these files to your computer, print them out, read them, share them with your friends, copy them to your own website, translate them into other languages, and redistribute them electronically -- provided that you do not charge any money for them. They are not in the public domain. You may reformat the files as you please, but you may not change their content without first obtaining permission from the author, translator, or publisher.
Some articles contain additional copyright notices with specific additional rights and restrictions spelled out by the authors and publishers; please read and abide by these notices. If you reprint or republish any of these materials, please acknowledge the original author, translator, or publisher, as appropriate.
If you have particular questions about the copyright status of anything offered here, please let me know.
(3) Are the articles here governed by an "Open Source" or "GNU" copyright?
No. The articles here do not conform with two key principles of most "open source" software licenses:
You may not sell anything that comes from this website. (Open source licenses allow you to sell software.)
You may not modify the content of any of the articles that come from this website. (Open source licenses allow you to modify software.) You may, however, reformat the articles in any way you like.
(4) May I copy your pages onto my website?
Yes, provided that you make them available free of charge.
(5) May I reformat the articles from your website?
Yes. As long as you don't alter the content, you may reformat pages to your heart's content. You may convert the files to Microsoft Word, PDF, or any other proprietary format. You may extract excerpts from any articles, provided that you somehow indicate that they are excerpts. You may alter the "look" of the pages to match the style of your own website.
(6) May I sell copies of materials from your website in order to raise money for a non-profit cause? OR May I sell copies of materials from your website if I charge just enough to recover the costs of printing, etc.?
No. The amount you charge is irrelevant: if you charge one penny or one thousand dollars, you're still selling. It doesn't matter if you're hoping to make a profit or not. What you do with the money you receive is irrelevant. These teachings are to be given away, not sold.
(7) May I require people to pay for reproduction costs or postage?
No. Requiring someone to pay for the cost of reproducing these articles (photocopying costs, cost of a floppy disk, etc.) or for shipping costs (packaging, postage, etc.) is equivalent to selling. If you were sending a birthday gift to a beloved family member, would you enclose a bill for the wrapping paper, ribbon, and postage? Of course not. A gift is a gift.
(8) May I include a short excerpt of an article from your website in a publication that I plan to sell?
You must first obtain permission from the author of that article. Please contact the author directly, or contact me for more info.
(9) What's wrong with selling Dhamma books?
This is from the 'Access to Insight' website.