Can I use existing dictionaries (American Heritage, Merriam Webster) to compile my own derivative dictionary?
El Paso, TX
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Posted 8 months ago in Intellectual Property
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I am interested in creating an online dictionary that offers features not offered by many other popular online dictionaries, and I would like to be able to use an existing word list and be able to paraphrase definitions from other dictionaries in order to use them in my dictionary. I would not copy anything that is protected (fonts, word usage, style, format or layout, etymology, etc.). I would simply like to be able to use paraphrased versions of each definition without getting the pants sued off of me. Paraphrasing would be a combination of the text contained in the two aforementioned dictionaries, and not just from one or the other.
Best Answer (as selected by the question's author)Daniel Nathan Ballard
This attorney is licensed in California.
Posted 8 months ago.
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The below does not constitute legal advice, does not form an attorney-client relationship, and should not be relied upon to take or refrain from taking any action.
The copyright that attaches to dictionaries is quite thin --- but it nonetheless exists and protects the publisher's selection of words, the particular way the definitions of those words are phrased, and the supplemental information provided such as the words' etymology, slang applications, and usage examples. I think you would be teetering on the edge of infringement -- if not falling over -- if you take 2 dictionaries, copy their word lists, and paraphrase their definitions into a consolidated "new" dictionary. The publishers of those dictionaries would likely object. If the raw material for your dictionary was 50 dictionaries, however, and you exercised creativity in selecting the particular words and crafting your version of the words' definitions and added your own supplemental information then the publishers of those dictionaries would have no complaint. Additional Answers (1)Lu Ann Trevino
This attorney is licensed in Texas.
Posted 8 months ago.
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These comments are made for educational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. No attorney-client relationship exists between us.
If you truly follow the protocol you described, you should be safe. Your work can't look like any of your competitor sources. Obviously, the word list would be very similar, but your interpretation, analysis, and visual presentation must different.
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