I am currently working on a project, and I am 99% sure its completely legal, but I am still worried.
I would like some advice if anyone has some experience in this or a pointer in the right direction if this is the wrong forum to post on. thanks?
(not posting any of my codes)

My project in a layman's terms:
=Create a system that helps stupid people understand big words on the interwebs

Example of use
stacy has a problem and goes to xdotcom to find out more, and she encounters words she cannot understand

instead of spending time and money looking up the definition, my system will :


My Methods
=simply by hovering over the complex words a window appears with the definition (referenced instantly from Wikipdia)

the system is designed to reference the source directly for each request (the source being wiki), but also has a function to store the definitions that are most commonly referenced to increase efficiency.

my problem

I'm worried what wiki will think if I try to market my system (and their info?). nobody will go to their site anymore and they will get no more donations and then they will sue my balls off?

but its free public information? im in the clear? my balls are safe?
continue with project or it was fun idea?

If you're really worried you should contact them not us...

Also this is a pretty silly idea for a monetizing project. It takes 5 seconds to open a new tab and google a word.

You mean something similar to this?

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-dictionary-by-goog/mgijmajocgfcbeboacabfgobmjgjcoja?hl=en-US

or this?



if you just wanna do this for a school project or as a learning experience, go for it. but there are so many free, mature alternatives that i wouldn't bother trying to compete for money.

This post was edited by carteblanche on Sep 14 2014 01:34pm

Yes this is the idea, and it for a school project I was curious about if I could use it for more than that, but it appears I am a little behind the curve.

5 seconds x 1000 employees = alot of time and money?
+ sent an email to wiki but no responses

have you read their license?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia#Access_to_content

i assume you're going to use an API of some sort.

if you EVER intend to use code you wrote for a class for profit, you need to talk to someone at your school. the dean or whoever. at my college (Georgia Institute of Technology in GA, USA), the school owns all code that you write for a class. if you turned around and tried to use it to make a profit, they can throw you in a legal shit hole. one of my computer science classes was about how to be an entrepreneur when you create something to sell, and our project was all about finding an audience, calculating costs, creating the program, and coming up with a plan to market it. of course, we weren't expected to actually try selling it, just explain how we'd do it and how much it would cost. there were a few people who inevitably wanted to actually sell it, so they had to argue with the school for several weeks before they were allowed to retain their rights BEFORE they turned in anything.