Am I allowed to make derivative works and profit off of ads next to them, not the derivative works themselves?
<p>Basically the title, I want to create a tool that makes what I think are derivative works (word clouds made of other peoples words).</p>

<p>If I wasn't selling the works could I profit off ads next to them?</p>

<p>Or alternatively, since I technically only created the tool that makes them, not the works themselves, could I sell the word clouds?</p>

<p>You are not allowed to make a derivative without permission of the copyright owner. However, you are allowed to advertise. So you run the risk of an infringement lawsuit for your unauthorized derivative work. There is a concept of "fair use" under which you might be able to do limited copying, but your plan doesn't clearly fall within the realm of fair use (it's also not clearly outside – it is unclear, and you would need a paid analysis by your copyright-specialist attorney). The thresholds for infringement in copying musical lyrics are lower than in copying from a scientific book. Since it is not clear what you are doing with these words, it's hard to say whether your derivative work is "highly transformative" (that would help in your quest for fair use). Since you are planning to make money off this, that will count against you. You do need to present the details to your attorney, who may advise you to just pay a license fee for use of the lyrics.</p>

<p>You could get sued in numerous jurisdictions: I described "fair use" which is the most liberal escape hatch, but which only applies to US law. In the UK, you would be dealing with <a href="https://www.dacs.org.uk/knowledge-base/factsheets/fair-dealing.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">"fair dealing"</a>, and there, this use does not fall in the category of fair dealing.</p>

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