Can taking notes violate copyright?
<p>Can a person violate copyright by taking notes? For example if I am reading a book and want to copy a full paragraph, word for word, into my notes and don't cite it, is that copyright violation? What if the notes are online (Google Drive) and I want to add a picture, and I copy and paste a picture of McDonald's or a famous piece of artwork into it. Technically, would that be breaking copyright?</p>

<p>My understanding is that fair use has nothing to do here as fair use applies to something (sort of) new.</p>

<p>Well, actually, fair use is maximally relevant. Copyright means, put simply, <strong>DO NOT COPY</strong>. Citing or not is irrelevant (plagiarism is a whole other non-legal kettle of fish). Technically, what you describe is violation of copyright. However, under <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107" rel="nofollow noreferrer">section 107 of Title 17</a> (the copyright law), you could attempt to defend yourself against an infringement suit on the basis that your action was "fair use". See this <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/q/7683/4501">LSE q&amp;a</a> for the essentials of fair use. </p>

copyright