Copyright Issues Raised by Reviews of Articles from Medical Journals

I have developed a website to provide research supported information for a rare health condition. I did this because it is a disorder that I suffer from and I have found the existing websites on this subject to be vague, unsupported, and somewhat misleading. My site reviews the relevant academic literature and provides analysis and some mild criticism of the existing research (there is not that much and it's not that complicated so it was doable). Everything is properly cited, of course. I would like to know if it is likely that I would be targeted for copyright infringement from the publishers for discussing results of the various articles I am reviewing. This analysis includes some key results but no figures or tables are directly taken from articles without permission. It seems to be on par with what is disclosed in a traditional literature review article but I'm not sure. I'm also wondering if it would be wise to create an LLC for this site just to be safe.

I’m afraid that your very general description of what you plan to do is not enough to know if you would be engaging in any copyright infringement. For that, you’d want have a copyright attorney review exactly what you plan to post for advice on what is ok and what could lead to you trouble. Even if you are not infringing on someone’s copyright interest that won’t prevent you from being sued and having to defend yourself.

The concept of Fair Use allows you to post parts of copyrighted articles for legitimate review purposes. Your description sounds like it may qualify though as Taxing Matters points out that in a keyhole here, we have a hard time making a true determination. As he aludes, the Fair Use defense is something you make once they start legal proceedings against you, it's not some magic wand that prevents them from suing you.

Making an LLC won't magically shield you from liability. You're always responsible for your own acts.