Reprint Permission

Do you need Reprint Permission? Photos, Texts, Art, & Trademarks Obtaining Permission

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I will hunt down ownership, make the appropriate contacts, retrieve printable copy if appropriate, and work with a specific publisher’s or specialized format permission form to secure use.

Do you need Reprint Permission?

The first step in clearing permissions is to determine what material needs permission.

Public Domain
Works that are not protected by copyright are said to be in the public domain. These include:

• Works in which the copyright term has expired.
• Works created by a federal government employee during the course of his/her employment.

Fair Use
U.S. copyright law sometimes allows material to be quoted without the consent of the copyright holder under the doctrine of fair use. The Copyright Act defines fair use as the use of excerpts from a work for the purpose of comment, criticism, or study. If a use meets that threshold test, then four factors must be considered in determining whether a use is fair use:

• The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.
• The nature of the copyrighted work.
• The amount and substantiality of the portion of the work used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.
• The effect of the use in question on the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Work Protected by Copyright
Copyright protects any form of expression of an idea, not just text. Copyright protection therefore extends to such things as maps, charts, artwork, cartoons, computer programs and screen displays, dictionary definitions, speeches, theses, lectures, letters, advertisements, and web sites. These types of material should be treated the same way as textual material.

You MUST obtain permission unless your use is fair use or the material is in the public domain.

In determining whether permission is needed for a particular excerpt or illustration, also keep the following in mind:

• Paraphrasing. Permission must be obtained to use material that is paraphrased, abridged, or condensed from the original, even if the material is rewritten, if the new version is substantially similar to the original.
• Embedded material. If you use an excerpt that contains material from another source, you need permission from the owner of the embedded material as well as the owner of the excerpt.
• Reuse of material in future editions. Since most permission licenses only allow the use of material in one edition of a work, you will need to obtain permission to use the material in each new edition.
• Your own material. You need to get permission to quote from yourself if another publisher holds the rights to your work.
• Works published in other countries. Works published in other countries can also be and generally are protected by copyright. The copyright term for European Union countries is the life of the author plus 70 years. Permission should be obtained for foreign works just as it is obtained for U.S. works.

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Photos, Texts, Art, & Trademarks

Photos

To make commercial use of a photograph, permission must be obtained from its owner who may or may not be the photographer, a stock photo house, an organization, or company.

Clearing a photograph is a two-level process:

1.      Obtaining the rights from the copyright owner of the picture.

2.      Obtaining rights for anything in the photograph that requires an additional clearance such as celebrity, logo or trademark if not the same ownership. 

Text: Articles, Non-Fiction, Literary Works, & Poems

To reprint, reproduce or record a literary property, you must get permission from the owner of the copyright. Often this means contacting the publisher, who represents the author, the author, or, if the author is deceased, the author's estate. Or the material, if it is old enough, might be in the Public Domain. The legal owner must be determined and the rights cleared before you can use the text.

Art

Clearance for the use of art is a two-level process (much like clearances for photographs):

1.      The first level of clearance to be considered is whether the painting, sculpture, drawing, cartoon, or design is under copyright (clearance needed), or in the Public Domain (no clearance needed). If you need clearance, the copyright in most contemporary works of art is held by the artist or their heirs, no matter who owns the painting or sculpture (collage, tapestry, et cetera).

2.      The second level arises because you need to use a photograph or color transparency of the work to reproduce the work, and not the work itself. Whoever photographed the art to create the print/transparency you are using owns its separate copyright, and that person's clearance must be obtained.

Trademarks

These are not copyrighted – they are protected. "Copyright registration cannot be made for names, titles, and other short phrases or expressions."

When you want to use a trademark, the mark-owner’s permission should be sought. Owners of trademarks have a variety of responses to requests for use of their marks. Some grant permission without charging a fee for the public relations value of the use. Others hardly ever allow their marks to be used for any reason. And some companies use their trademarks as a source of profit.

Because trademarks are usually owned by companies who are not set up to grant permissions for use of their marks, obtaining an answer about whether you can use a mark or not can be slow-going but usually possible.

See also image search

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Obtaining Permission

Once it is determined what material needs a permission license, permission must be requested in writing. Requests should be in writing both because copyright holders generally insist on a written request and because it is essential for accurate record keeping.

Reprint Permission involves finding the owners of images if necessary, finding the proper contact for approval, and then having the person sign a permission form and give a signed form to the company if necessary. When an image is owned by a larger company, time goes into finding the right department/person for approval and print copy if necessary since many don't have a specific department. Time towards gaining approval from smaller companies or organization depends heavily on the infrastructure in place. Some have departments that handle reprint permission and some don't.

Most time goes into:

• Determining & finding the owner
• Contacting the appropriate person for approval
• Giving a summary or brief synopsis of use
• Finding and buying image transparency if necessary
• Negotiating permission fee when possible
• Finalizing Approval Agreement

Photographs & Artwork

• Photographs and works of art cannot be reproduced satisfactorily from books, magazines, or other printed materials.
• A photographic print or transparency (for color art) must be obtained from the owner of the original.
• A request for permission to reproduce should include a request for print or transparency when possible rather than as two separate requests.
• A photograph of a painting or other artwork may also have a separate copyright from the artwork and therefore a separate request for reprint permission.
• For photographs of a person, a written release from the subject of the photo as well as from the copyright owner of the photo may be necessary.
• Permission for use of a photo doesn't include its use in advertising or on a cover unless it specifically states so in the permission request.
• Government agencies usually supply photographs together with permission to reproduce with only a nominal charge for the print.
• Publicity departments of business and trade associations usually cooperate for the sake of the value of the recognition they get.
• Using a commercial picture agency requires a separate fee.
• Museums, universities, and many other non-profits and educational organizations often use a combined payment to cover the cost of the photo and a permission fee.
  

Working with Publishers

Authors should talk to their publishers to define the parameters of the rights requested (ie: print run, world rights vs. North American rights, other languages, formats such as print, CD-ROM, on-line). Many publishers have their own reprint permission form they use. These should always be used when available.

For an example, please take a look at a generic image Permission Form Letter