It is very important that you understand that if you have used copyrighted text, images, art, screenshots, song or poem lyrics, or other content elements from any other source (printed, online, or in any other form) inyour book, you must have permission to use those items from the copyright holder. In limited circumstances,the Fair Use doctrine may apply—so that you are not required to obtain permission. However, navigating the waters of what constitutes Fair Use can be confusing and unclear.Many authors are familiar with the term “Fair Use,” but few truly understand its implications. This term

does not

mean that you have the right to use copyrighted materials as you see fit. Under the Fair Use doctrine,certain minimal, commercially insignificant portions of a copyrighted work can be copied, quoted, orparaphrased for purposes of comment, criticism, illustration, or education. (See

The Chicago Manual of Style

,15th edition, for more information on Fair Use.) The law does not always provide clear and definitive guidelines for what constitutes Fair Use, so thepublishing industry has tried to create guidelines for authors to follow. This document offers a brief overview of those guidelines. Keep in mind, however, that

these guidelines are not definitive, exhaustive, orconclusive and should not be considered legal advice

Following these guidelines does NOT ensurethat you will not be in violation of copyright laws if you use copyrighted materials without obtaining permission from the copyright holder. The information contained in these guidelines is not asubstitute for consulting with a lawyer regarding your use of any copyrighted materials. If you havequestions or concerns about the content in your manuscript, you should consult an attorney.

If youare not sure if your use of certain material would be considered Fair Use, you should err on the sideof caution and obtain permission.

INDUSTRY GUIDELINES

The following is a noncomprehensive list of examples of materials that you

should obtain permission touse:

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Materials representing a significant portion of the original work or of your new work

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Materials that represent the core ideas presented in the original material

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A single quotation or several shorter quotations of more than 300 words in toto from a full-lengthbook or a single quotation of more than 50 words from a newspaper, magazine, or journal article

NOTE that use of less than these word counts does not necessarily mean that such use isconsidered Fair Use or that you should not obtain permission for use.

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Material that includes all or part of a poem or song lyric, even as little as one line.

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Figures, charts, tables, and other types of graphical representation of information, even if you are notusing the entirety of the item (for example, maybe you are only using half of a table)

NOTE that this includes items that you have adapted or enhanced to better fit your needs aslong as the item still looks like the original and contains most of the same information

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Photographs and other forms of art that have been taken from a previously published source

NOTE also that sometimes more than one permission is required for some types of artwork.If a photo was taken of a particular piece of art, you would have to obtain permission fromthe photographer and from the artist of the work that was photographed.

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Images showing representations of online or computer-based information, for example images of Web pages, screen shots of any type of software, or graphs that were generated by online or

computer databases, etc. Some websites post statements on their sites granting broad use of theircontent, which releases others from needing to request permission.

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If you are producing a CD with your book, you must request permission from the copyright holderof any third-party software that will be included on that CD (for example, if you were going toinclude the software for Adobe PDF Reader, you would need permission from Adobe to do so)

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Images of brand name products or logos

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Photos of people, especially private citizens

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Interviews conducted for publication (you must at least notify the person that they are being interviewed for publication)Material that typically doesn’t generally require permission for use includes

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Certain government publications

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Materials in the public domain, such as those for which the copyright has expired

IMPORTANT NOTE

: Regardless of whether or not you need to obtain permission for use of certainmaterial, you should always give credit to the original publication/author/copyright holder when using facts,information, or ideas from another source. Note that this does not include widely known concepts, theories,or ideas or truly factual information.

THE PERMISSIONS PROCESS

It is critical for you to request permission as early as possible in the development process, even if you aren’tsure that you are going to use certain materials. The permission process can take months and if you wait untillater in the production process, the project will be held up by the lack of permissions. You can withholdpayment of the permission fee until you are certain that you are going to include the material. If you decidenot to use it, you can just send the copyright holder an email indicating that the material will not be used. When requesting permission to use certain materials, the first step is to identify the copyright holder. It isessential that you correctly identify the copyright holder and obtain permission from the correct copyrightholder. Sometimes, there are multiple copyright holders, in which case you need to obtain permission fromeach copyright holder.

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In the case of books, typically the copyright holder is the publisher, but sometimes (as is the case with GBG Press books) the author is the copyright holder.

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With magazines and journals, the magazine or journal is typically the copyright holder.

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For content on the Web, typically the publishing website is the copyright holder, but the author of the content may retain the copyright, or the item may have been reposted from another source.Once you’ve identified the copyright holder(s), you should identify the contact for requesting permission.Most publishers, magazines, journals, and major informational websites have an entire departmentresponsible for processing permissions requests. Simply go to the website of the organization and they willlikely have posted the information you need to contact the person responsible for handling permissionrequests. Today, most organizations handle permissions requests via email, making it even easier to requestpermission. If you need to obtain the author’s approval, the publisher will usually let you know and give youdirect contact information or let you know that they’ve forwarded your request on to the author. You will probably be asked to submit a letter or form with specific information. Be prepared to provide thefollowing:

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Your name

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The name of the book

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How many copies will be printed

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What types of rights you are requesting: North American, World, English language, translation (you will typically have to specify which languages), print only, print and electronic, etc.