Can I reprint lists from a magazine article?

[playitsafe]

I want to start a website that would be based on using rankings from articles that rate the top products in various categories. Traffic to be website would be generated by interest in the lists I can find. The purpose of the site is to describe those products, using the manufacturer's images and descriptions, and have direct links from those same products to sell them through affiliate programs. My question is: if I give full credit to the source – author, publication, title of article, etc – can I cite those lists and base this website on such content? I don't need to reproduce what the article said about the product, just the ranking.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

If I understand you correctly, this is done all the time. I don't think you have any problem reporting a fact - what rating a web site gave to an item. Many aggregators do this legally and typically provide a short excerpt that is gladly provided by the sites themselves in the hope of obtaining additional traffic.