I'm curious about the rights of ownership regarding problems presented in math textbooks. Can a math problem in general be considered intellectual property of its "inventor"? I'm assuming textual word problems can be "owned" in the same way other literature is by publishers/authors but it becomes more gray with purely numerical expressions. Is it merely a contextual ownership, for example, say no other math author can include such a problem in another textbook or is it more inclusive regarding other mediums like software or blogs etc where money is being made? An "elucidation" here would be much appreciated, thanks.
Can someone copyright/own a math problem?
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1You can include other people's problems and ideas in your own work, but you're expected to be polite and cite their authors. – 2010-10-16
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6This is not law.stackexchange.com. However, look up "fair use". – 2010-10-16
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0hmm, this is an interesting question! :) – 2010-10-16
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1@Nate: "fair use" does not answer the question. I asked lawyers about this over the years and never got a conclusive answer. If this is not a place to discuss the question, I don't know a better one. Mathematical problems are not necessarily the same as generic "text" for purposes of copyright and it is also unclear if there are any direct legal precedents involving mathematics books, papers or problems. – 2010-10-16
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0Wolfram [blocked Cook](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Cook#Work_with_Stephen_Wolfram) from publishing his work for a bit, so at least in some cases reproduction may be illegal. – 2011-06-07