A few copyright questions

It's always dodgy asking random strangers for legal advice.

Your agent or publisher should be able to answer your questions. If they can't, then ask yourself if they really know what they're doing.

I'll give you my opinion, but with the usual caveats: I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice, do not rely on it, and if you're considering doing any of these things then get proper, professional advice.

LogMatt said:

This is my first book, so please excuse me if my questions sound a bit ignorant. I got handed a book deal, so I'm working backwards a little bit here.

Firstly, from what I understand, public court documents can be reprinted without any additional permissions. Is this correct?

Click to expand...

That's not my understanding. I thought you could quote from them, so long as you have permission to do so, and cite your sources appropriately.

Also, if I were to quote say a line from a comic book, since that is copyrighted do I need permission? Should I expect to have to pay for that?

Thanks for any insight!

Click to expand...

If you're putting quotes into things which are going to be published then it's usual to get permission prior to publication. Yes, there are usually charges for such permissions.

Quoting court documents may fall under the fair use exception.

There was a recent court case addressing just this question. Discussion that may be helpful:

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/74834.html

and

http://deweybstrategic.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-victory-for-fair-use-online.html?m=1

Different publishers do have different requirements and standards, too, which makes it essential for you to ask your publisher how they want to work on this one. It should be documented in your contract too.

Old Hack said:

Different publishers do have different requirements and standards, too, which makes it essential for you to ask your publisher how they want to work on this one. It should be documented in your contract too.

Click to expand...

Yes. Any publisher's contract I've ever seen will want you to warrant that you have copyright in the work and anything within it; but then anything above the size of a small press will have a legal/permissions department who can help you with this sort of thing if there are permissions you need. As long as you're upfront when you're signing a contract, it ought to be easily sorted out.

There are cases where, for one reason or another, you can't get the requisite permissions - the rights-holder isn't happy, or it would cost too much. In those cases, as an editor, you ask to cut the infringing material. There could be a problem if the book simply doesn't work without that material - which is why any work that absolutely relies on something like that will be correspondingly harder to sell.

LogMatt, as I suggested earlier, you really need to ask your editor these questions. We can only give you general guidelines here: they can tell you what they require.

You're in the clear if you paraphrase. Copyright only protects the words, not the ideas or information.

LogMatt said:

Firstly, from what I understand, public court documents can be reprinted without any additional permissions. Is this correct?

Click to expand...

In the US, published court documents are in the public domain, provided they are authored by the court and not a publication accepted into evidence. That means briefs that are filed, rulings, testimony and so on are fair game. A copy of the Hunger Games that was admitted into evidence is not (it retains it's prior copyright).

Keep in mind that all documents produced by a government employee or entity are always public domain. The legal theory is that, since the document was created by someone whose salary is paid from government funds (taxes), then the work belongs to those paying for it (taxpayers).

Also keep in mind that there may be other restrictions beyond copyright (classified documents for instance).

When publishing legal documents, always use attribution. Cite the source, case number, etc. Otherwise you may find yourself in trouble if you published it incorrectly or, especially, interpreted it incorrectly.

Jeff