Passle makes it quick and easy for busy experts to comment on content they are consuming online. As an expert reads an article that triggers a thought or idea, at that very moment the Passle technology enables real-time commentary. The expert is easily able to share their opinions on the subject-matter in a timely and authentic manner. 

We often get questions around the commentary-style creation of thought leadership, so we have shared this Q&A as a destination for all of the relevant answers.

Q. Does the commentary approach to creating thought leadership breach copyright?

A. The commentary-style of creating thought leadership doesn't fall foul of copyright on the basis of fair use.

The excerpt below from Stanford Libraries explains the ways in which fair use applies to copyrighted material, including the ability to "comment upon" a copyrighted work. 

On this basis, you are permitted "limited use" of the material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright owner. 

Q. Is there a limit to how much of the original article you can reference? 

A. Yes. Passle limits the length of the quotation from the original publication to 140 words. As is the case within the world of academia, an academic would only be able to reference a 3rd party study or publication, not plagiarise large sections of the original text. Following this same methodology, Passle limits the length of the reference an expert is able to cite. Doing so, encourages the expert to lead with their own analysis and sharing their insight on the topic which makes it an additive process. 

Q. Does Passle automatically reference the original article? 

A. Yes. Passle automatically acknowledges the original publication by including a link back to view the full article. 

Q. How does the use of images work on Passle? 

The use of images from the original article follows the Open Graph Protocol which is applied by Facebook, LinkedIn and the majority of online communities when it comes to standardizing metadata. 

All of the imagery which pulls across from the original article requires an OpenGraph Tag. Without the tag, or if Passle cannot find the tag in the page source of the original article, no image will pull across. 

When an OpenGraph tag is applied to an image, it means that it can be used commercially provided that it is in reference to the original publication. 

This is the same protocol applied when sharing an article to LinkedIn for example and you notice an image automatically populates when you add a URL to your post.

Passle follows this same widely accepted protocol.