Following these instructions helps us ensure that any previously copyrighted material is properly acknowledged in your book.

Basics

According to the contract you signed, you are responsible for getting permission to reprint any copyrighted work used in your book.

Complete photocopies of all grants of permission must accompany the final manuscript when you submit it to the press. The press will not begin copyediting the manuscript until you have submitted all of the permission forms.

Getting permission to use copyrighted works may take several months. Start early and be persistent.

When Do You Need to Ask Permission?

Permission is required for the use of two kinds of copyrighted materials: your own previously published work (when you no longer hold the copyright) and other authors' copyrighted materials that do not come under the principle of fair use or that are not in the public domain.

If your use qualifies fair use or if the material is in the public domain, you do not need to get the copyright holder鈥檚 permission. 

Fair Use

The principle of fair use allows certain uses of copyrighted material without requiring the user to get the permission of the copyright holder. Quoting or reproducing small amounts of an author鈥檚 or artist鈥檚 work in order to review or criticize it or to illustrate the user鈥檚 own argument is fair use.

However, in many cases determining exactly what is covered by fair use depends on the circumstances of use. In law a 鈥渞ule of reason鈥 determines whether a particular use is fair or not.

Important factors in determining whether a particular use is fair include the following:

  • The nature of the use of the copyrighted material;
  • The nature of the copyrighted work from which the material is taken;
  • The proportion of the copyrighted work being reproduced in the new work;
  • The effect of the use on the commercial value of the work being quoted or reproduced.

The use is probably fair if:

  • the unlicensed use transforms the copyrighted material;
  • the reproduced part of the copyrighted work is used in an educational setting and no one earns money from its use;
  • the copyrighted material was used in an appropriate way; that is, the original meaning was not distorted, the source was cited, and the material is neces