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  • Tag: fair use

Posts tagged fair use

Wikipedia a springboard, not a crutch

April 21, 2016 Written by The Copyright Detective
Wikipedia a springboard, not a crutch

We often encounter client work that, in our eyes, relies too heavily on Wikipedia. Some “borrowers” copy Wikipedia content into their work without understanding the responsibilities and the consequences of such heavy borrowing. Authors, bloggers, and contributors to articles, books, and blogs are responsible for the intellectual property in their work. It is important to be aware of […]

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Graffiti Copyright Battles

November 14, 2015 Written by The Copyright Detective
Graffiti Copyright Battles

I recently acquired copyright permission for a client to use a photograph of a mural painted on the wall of a restaurant. On first consideration, my client didn’t even factor into his publication plan what action might be required for the legal use of the mural. At the time the painting was conceived and created, […]

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Boomers Beware of Copyright Infringem...

November 7, 2015 Written by The Copyright Detective
Boomers Beware of Copyright Infringement!

We often help Baby Boomers with copyright clearance issues as they come close to realizing a long-held goal of getting their memoirs written and published. Avoiding accidental copyright infringement is a frequent discussion topic. Baby Boomers want to write their memoirs for various reasons.  They may suddenly be compelled to take that step of authorship because they have such […]

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Quoting Song Lyrics and Staying Legal

May 6, 2015 Written by The Copyright Detective
Quoting Song Lyrics and Staying Legal

Considering quoting song lyrics in your book? A primary question to consider when quoting song lyrics is the importance of the lyrics to your message. If they are important, do you need permission from their copyright owners to use them in your work? It is often wise to clear copyright on even a line or two of song […]

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Derivatives – Build on Another&...

July 6, 2014 Written by The Copyright Detective
Derivatives – Build on Another’s Work

Derivatives must be transformative U.S. Copyright Law is all about protecting creators’ works in order to offer incentive to these creators so that they keep on producing works for the good of society. So it seems that building on an existing work such as a play, poem, song, or film would be blessed in the eyes […]

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Best Practices in Copyright Complianc...

May 25, 2013 Written by The Copyright Detective
Best Practices in Copyright Compliance: Tools for The Indie Publisher Looking for Guidance

Copyright compliance: the indie publisher’s dilemma Whether we are publishing our own book in print or in an electronic format, creating a blog, producing a YouTube video, writing an article as a freelancer, contributing to another’s blog, linking to others’ content or embedding it into our work, inevitably we are faced with hard questions regarding […]

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Copyright Infringement: Dangers of Co...

July 7, 2011 Written by The Copyright Detective
Copyright Infringement: Dangers of Copying from One Medium into Another

We creatives know there is nothing new under the sun. We know that art and literature thrive, in part,  because creatives in these fields have so much wonderful work from which they may glean ideas for new works.   And there is much public domain content that can be used to legally create derivatives. A derivative work is […]

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Sue Me? I Copied But Gave Credit—Lear...

June 29, 2011 Written by The Copyright Detective
Sue Me? I Copied But Gave Credit—Learned That in School

So many of us learned early on in school that copying is OK as long as we give credit.  I work with self-publishers often who have taken that lesson to heart in a big way and then hit a brick wall when trying to publish. Now, some copy with no thought of the right or […]

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Quick links to recent blog posts

  • 40 millionth US copyright registration
  • CASE Act of 2020
  • What writers need to know about copyright
  • Public Domain Bonanza
  • New Circulars from Copyright Office
  • Songwriters sue the DOJ
  • Format Matters with Permissions Requests
  • Animal Copyrights cont.

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