Q: I'm creating a software that uses magazines(ie. lifehacker) content, I'm planning to make money of it, is it legal?
A:
Using the creative works (magazine content) of others is copyright infringement. If that work is registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, you could be liable for up to $150,000 per work upon which you infringe. If that work is not registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, you could be liable for all of the profits you derived from exploiting that work, known as "actual damages."
If you use a copyright claimant's work without their permission, a number of things could happen, some examples are: (a) they ask you to remove the content; (b) they ask you to pay a retroactive licensing fee for your previous use of the work; and/or (c) they could sue you in federal court for copyright infringement for the amounts listed above.
If you seek to use lifehacker content legally, then you should license it, which means asking the content owner for written permission to use their work in a specified manner. You will likely have to pay a fee or a share of profits, if the content owner allows you to do this at all. Make sure you get written permission to use the work, and ensure that the scope of the permission is clearly described, as is any fee structure.
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