Love-letter usage rights and names

satyesu

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 15, 2009
Messages
745
Reaction score
15
I want to publish submitted love letters on a site, and maybe in a book. (1) What do I need to do to obtain legal rights to use the letters, (2) is it okay to use any names the authors provide, and (3) what should I pay per word?
 

Bufty

Where have the last ten years gone?
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 9, 2005
Messages
16,768
Reaction score
4,663
Location
Scotland
Not sure exactly what you mean by 'submitted', but as far as I am aware the copyright belongs to the letter writers, not the recipients.
 

Maryn

Sees All
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
55,448
Reaction score
25,475
Location
Snow Cave
My understanding--not a lawyer--is that the rights to the letters belong either to their creators or to the website to which they were submitted, depending on what the website's fine print says. (For instance, questions and answers at a lot of Q&A websites become the property of the website, and they can share them, publish them, use them in ads, etc.)

So the first thing you need to do is read the fine print at the place you're finding them.

In all honesty, this sounds like a rights nightmare. I'd create my own love letters, using the real ones only as inspiration.

Maryn, doubting you can contact all the people who wrote them, if you need to
 

Cephus

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 1, 2018
Messages
259
Reaction score
66
Whoever wrote the letter owns the rights. You would need to get a legal release from the author. As for the names contained within, keep in mind that anyone can sue you for any reason whatsoever. If someone gets upset that you've used their name in your book or on your site, you could be in the middle of a lawsuit before you know it. It's better to simply replace all names with something fictitious. As for pay, that's between you and the author. You'll have to work something out.