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Guglielmo
When Permission Is Needed
For the student that makes one photocopy at the library
of a limited portion of a book or journal as research
for a paper or class assignment, it is not necessary to
get permission because this is clearly within the
exception of fair use. As the scope of copying expands
to multiple copies or posting a copy online, the fair
use issue should rise to the occasion of a full,
four-factor fair use analysis. If the copy project
appears to exceed fair use parameters, then you should
get permission. Here are some general guidelines for
determining whether the project exceeds fair use
outright and if permission should be obtained. You
should get permission for:
- Course packs or copies of textbooks, journal articles, or other materials that will be used as the sole course materials for any class in which a textbook is available and traditionally used.
- Any copies that are sold or used in some commercial venture with no educational, research, or commentary purpose.
- Any copies widely distributed or posted online that
create a substitute for the original product that was
copied.
Where to Get Permission
You have determined that you must get permission before
you copy materials, but how and from whom? From
whomever holds the copyright or has the right to give
permission on the rights holder's. The source and
method of getting permission will vary according to the
nature of the materials you wish to copy.
Print Media - Materials with text content that is
published, such as books, articles, magazines, and
journals-whether published digitally online or in hard
copy-will typically be copyrighted in the publisher's.
It is customary in the publishing industry for
publishers to buy the author's copyrights for a split
of the profits or "royalties." Therefore, you can
always go directly to the publisher and seek
permission, but the process has some drawbacks. Many
publishers have no procedures in place to process
permission requests. It is very time consuming, and
many publishers may not even respond to the request. An
agency may have authority to grant permission for the
publisher. Most publishers are members of the
Copyright Clearance Center, or CCC.
Start your quest for permission there.
Copyright Clearance Center
222 Rosewood Dr.
Danvers, MA 01923
Phone: (978) 750-8400
Web: www.copyright.com
E-mail: info@copyright.com
You will need to establish an account and provide the
following reference information about the materials you
want to copy:
- Title
- Author
- Book's date or edition
- Portion of the book you want to copy
- Standard number or ISSN, ISBN or LCCN
The process is expedited if you do it online, even
getting permission nearly immediately in many cases. If
the CCC doesn't have the title you are looking for,
then you must try and contact the publisher directly.
Most information about the publisher's identity and
contact is on the same page as the copyright
notice.
Images or Photos - You will have to go directly to the
image's artist, or creator, or photographer for
permission. Unfortunately, what you will encounter is
little or no information about the artist or
photographer, at least from the image or photo itself,
because rarely is any information displayed on the
image or photo. But you can greatly simplify the task
of getting permission by choosing the images you want
to use from a collection or database where the
permission is either available under a subscription
license or there is enough contact information to
locate and contact the artist or photographer. All the
photos you see in this Web site were chosen from either
subscription collections or collections where the
photographer could be traced and permission obtained
directly. Here are some examples of image or photo
collections online:
Music -
Nearly all music performances in public require
permission. If you intend to play music in public, you
will have to get permission beforehand. There are
permission licenses for playing music on telephone
hold, intercom systems in stores, restaurants, and
other public places, and for jukeboxes in public
places. All radio stations that broadcast music are
required to have a license. Even nightclubs that hire
bands for live music have to have a permission license
if the band intends to play cover music, or music that
is popular and protected by copyright. One licensing
agency demanded that the Girl Scouts pay permission
fees for singing copyright-protected music around their
campfires. The agency representative was reported to
have said, "They buy twine and glue for their
crafts…they can pay for their music, too."
1 All music is protected by copyright except
for music that is in the Public Domain. See Music and Copyright. Of all artistic
works protected by copyright, music is the most
licensed and regulated. The most efficient way to get
permission is to contact all licensing agencies.
Several types of music licenses and songs are licensed
by different agencies. These are the agencies that
license most music in the United States:
American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers
(ASCAP)
(212) 621-6000
info@ascap.com
www.ascap.com
Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI)
(800) 925-8451
www.BMI.com
genlic@BMI.com
Society of European Stage Authors and Composers
(SESAC)
(800) 826-9996
(212) 586-3450
license@sesac.com
Harry Fox Agency
www.harryfox.com
Audiovisuals or Movies - Limited portions of audiovisual
works may be performed for education under both fair
use or the TEACH Act. Entire portions may only be shown
for education or entertainment if you have permission.
Here is an agency that may have the authority to grant
you a permission license:
Motion Picture Licensing Corporation
(MPLC)
info@mplc.com
www.mplc.com
(800) 462-8855
(310) 822-8855
If you have problems getting permission through the
agencies, you can always try to contact the publisher
directly, but you will need much time, patience, and
luck.
1
Zittrain: Call off the Copyright
War, Seth Johnson