Hot answers tagged legal
7
A nearly identical question appears at Stanford University's Copyright and Fair Use Center:
Dear Rich: I have a question. I’ll be using a lot of screenshots from
different websites in my book. Do I need to get permission for that or
is it a fair use?
The 'Rich' in question is Richard Stim, the corporate council for Nolo, which claims to be "one of ...
6
That is a marketing ploy that they are using to claim that they provide royalties that might be considered to be higher than the average royalties paid by other publishers. Considering that these royalties are usually pretty meager at best anyway, that probably isn't much of a claim!
As far as determining what the industry average really is, it would ...
5
Usual disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. Please do not construe this as legal advice. Etc.
But my understanding from my research and past experience is this. Oh, another disclaimer: I'm an American so my experience is with U.S. copyright law, but I think most of this is pretty much the same in all countries because copyright is controlled by a couple of big ...
5
Short answer: No. You are supposed to register only the "best edition" with the copyright office. They have a long list of criteria for what constitutes the best edition, but it's things like a hard cover takes precedence over a paperback. See http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ07b.pdf
5
In general, there are no copyright issues that you need to worry about as long as you're truthfully reporting your own experiences. In particular, there is nothing that prevents you from mentioning companies, products, locations, or people by name, so long as you are not lying or attempting to present yourself as having some official affiliation with those ...
5
While I am not a lawyer, if you purchase a physical CD (bit of a rarity these days, I know) and look at the booklet which has the liner notes, you should see copyright notices for each song. If lyrics have been provided, the notice will be at the end of each set of lyrics. (KISS used to copyright theirs under an entity called "Opporknockity Tunes," which ...
5
Yes. The lyrics are covered by copyright and you need permission to reproduce them. I think at least some of the "lyrics search engines" on the web pay their dues to the copyright holders (Wikipedia says: Lyrics licenses could be obtained in North America through one of the two aggregators; Gracenote Inc. and LyricFind.)
Translations are also covered by ...
4
Option A: "Welcome Monsieur Debarge to your cabin on the Caspian Rapide, the luxury train service that will take you on a journey from London through to Istanbul," the guard said as the famous Belgian detective came aboard.
Option B: "Murder!" Lady Glintington cried, aghast. "On the Orient Express? I believed that this was one of the safest train services ...
4
I believe the most relevant law is the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/contents
Terms are defined in Part I, Chapter 2. Section 17 (2) defines infringement by copying for literary works:
Copying in relation to a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work means reproducing the work in any material ...
4
I'm not a lawyer. Any questions about specific rights, etc. should be directed to someone knowledgeable about the rules in your jurisdiction.
That being said, there are a number of things that could complicate this question. For example, you say 'your children' and refer to your 'ex-husband'. Is he the father? If so, do the custody arrangements allow him ...
4
In principle, the author is copyright holder of a work, but this principle is often deviated from. When the work is commissioned by another party, some countries automatically transfer copyright, some leave it with the author. Some countries do not even allow copyright to be transfered voluntarily. International treaties such as the Berne Convention and the ...
4
DISCLAIMER: I am not a legal professional. The advice provided in this answer is not exhaustive and should not be considered complete.
This information is worth exactly what you paid for it - nothing. If
you want to do your own research, you may use this answer as a
starting place, along with other research tools (search engines,
etc.). If you are ...
3
Yes, they are copyrighted. BUT, if you aren't quoting them in their entirety you don't necessarily need to obtain copyright permissions if your use is a fair one according to the rules of Fair Use. This includes uses for profit.
See my answer on this question for a breakdown of how to determine if your use is fair: Can you reprint screen shots of a game ...
3
Yes you require permission from the copyright holder of the lyrics in question to reproduce them in a book. It is not treated as referenced materials.
Whether you intend to profit from the book or wherever you intend to reproduce the lyrics is entirely irrelevant.
The copyright holder holds the rights to those lyrics and he/she/they can stop you from ...
3
As mentioned previously, if two or more contributors are considered as co-authors, they share in all revenue generated from the work. The exception would be if they had signed some form of agreement beforehand that permits one of the authors to act on behalf of the other(s), but this would be a rare situation.
In regards to the rights reverting to one ...
3
Legally, the author owns the copyright, so the ultimate responsibility falls on the author. If the copyrighted material is a real money maker for the publisher, then they would have a vested interest in protecting that copyright and would in all likeliness provide legal assistance or even act on the author's behalf. It would be in their own best interests to ...
3
Many U.S. National Parks have permit systems in place for commercial photographers, but typically they allow unrestricted or less restricted amateur photography (1,
2,3,4,5,6). Restrictions that sometimes apply include forbidding use of tripods or use of flash or use of anything. For example, link 3 says,
TRIPOD USAGE WITHIN RESTRICTED AREAS IS ...
3
I think that a company "that acts like a publishing house" but has no other corporate activity is a (small) publishing house.
The one obvious benefit will be if you are successful promoting and selling your own books, then you could take on other authors using the same systems and become a larger publishing house.
Since this question is almost exclusively ...
2
In the scenario of Creator B's work being included in Writer A's work without approval, Creator B will go after both the writer and the publisher. Writer A is obviously liable for using Creator B's work, and the publisher is liable for assisting in the infringing by distributing the book. The publisher also is going to have far deeper pockets than Writer A.
...
2
I AM NOT A LAWYER.
As long as it is clearly evident that the piece is fictional, my understanding is that you can basically employ celebrities however you like.
Major issues you generally want to avoid are:
libel and defamation
copyright violation
use of likeness without permission
But a fictional account (clearly presented as such, and not using ...
2
Copyright of web pages and web sites is a legal nightmare, not least because most companies are quite happy for screen shots and images to be taken, if they are used to support and promote their site. Of course, when they are not, the issues are extremely complex.
For those sites that allow me to define what and how I want information, who does the ...
2
Ask a lawyer, really, do it. Here are none.
The "right" answer depends on so many details. For example a verbal contract is binding in Germany. You have not mention where you are from, where your interviewee lives and so on.
Having the permission is one thing. The other is compensation. Have you paid him something? Are you going to do it? Just because you ...
2
I'm tickled you've taking this poem further. All praise be to sharing! My intention, in classic recursion, is that the license is protected by its own terms but state that "Use of the license itself does not require its own notice."
As I understand, you are uncomfortable with "We've done our best" presumably concerned that the creators may not have "done ...
2
When you undertake a commission to produce an original piece of work (whether this be writing, design, painting, drawing or whatever) you (as the originator) decide on the contractual copyright with the commissioner or purchaser of the original work.
When I say contractual I mean under what terms of contract that original piece of work is produced.
As an ...
2
One of the first things you can do is to check with the US Copyright Service and use their searchable database. In a lot of cases, the copyright may have been passed on to someone else as part of an inheritance, or it may have been sold to someone else. Using this database to search is a good first step. Keep in mind that the original author may not be the ...
2
The public domain is the public domain...there is no "hidden copyright" if the text is actually in the public domain. So, yes, anyone can republish Shakespeare.
Note, though, that with something like Shakespeare you have to be careful to use a text that is actually in the public domain; in particular, you can't use notes and commentary that are not old ...
2
Under the "Product Details" heading, you have several links for updating book information and notifying Amazon of problems. That'd be a good way to try.
More directly, there's the Contact Us button on the help page. They should be able to direct you to the right place to alert them to the problem.
2
Copyright applies the moment given work is solidified on a medium - the registration is not necessary at all providing that you have any reliable proof that you are the author. (you do have the copyright but the court is not omniscent, you need some way to show that you do.)
Registering with the Copyright Office only serves as such a proof, and a very solid ...
2
I am not a lawyer. That said:
Whether anything this woman wrote violates the law or gives you grounds for a lawsuit is probably a subject better discussed with a lawyer than with a group of amateur writers on a forum. If you're an American, this would be a matter of state law, so even if I knew all there was to know about the subject in my home state, it ...
2
DRM does not affect the author's copyright in any way.
DRM is a mechanical means of enforcing copyright. It enforces copyright by making it difficult for consumers to create usable copies of a digital product. Making a copy of a digital file is easy. Technically this violates copyright, but there's no way for copyright owners to restrict this. So DRM ...
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