Are math questions available on the internet copyright protected?

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• October 3, 2006 @ 3:07amt-rex says:

  There are several websites that post various math questions, these questions are not created by these websites.
  The owners of these websites do not claim to own any of these questions either.
  However if I have a website that collates questions from various websites and post them on my website, is this a violation of any copyright?
  I don’t know how the other websites get the questions; all I know is that they are freely available on the internet for anyone to see.
  
  Thanks in advance.
• October 3, 2006 @ 7:01amwilliamsonl says:

  There was a long discussion about a similar question on this website. See the question posted by pencho and all the answers posted. You can seach by author and this should get you that discussion.
  
  Numbers and simple math problems cannot be copyrighted, but it's possible that the arraingment or wording could be. Just because a copyright notice is not posted on the page does not mean that copyright does not exist. Nor does the fact that it is in the public eye--most web pages are copyrighted even though anyone can look at them. This is why linking is often a better solution than copying.
• October 3, 2006 @ 9:03pmt-rex says:

  I read that post.
  However the question i had was what if the other website is collating questions too?
  
  In the sense. The other website collates questions in a different language and all i do is translate them and change the language a bit so i can understand it better and post them on my website.
  
  There is no real original source or i am unaware of the original source.
• October 4, 2006 @ 6:50amwilliamsonl says:

  The logic is still the same in both cases. Is there enough original, not factual information in the questions to make them copyrightable? If not--if you feel they are simple math problems--then they are not copyrighted. If they are copyrighted, do your changes have enough originality for them not to be a deritivie work? Even word problems don't have much that is copyrightable in them.
  
  I would say odds are that they are not copyrighted, but it is always good to analyze each situation based on its merits.
• October 4, 2006 @ 9:24pmt-rex says:

  The original source is probably copyrighted(probably dumps by students of real exams), however is the fact that they are readily available on the internet a good defense?
  I would think not, a clarification on this would be great .
• October 5, 2006 @ 6:40amksmith says:

  Since you write about translating these questions, it sounds like we are talking about word problems, which are very likely, in my opinion, sufficiently original to enjoy copyright protection. In translating them you are creating a deriative work and so potentially infringing the copyright in the original.
  
  The simple fact that something is available on the internet does not affect its copyright status and would not serve as a defense to infringement.

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