On the Bookshelf - Is It Ever Okay To Copy?

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In some situations, you may make limited use of another's work without asking permission. Sooner or later, almost all writers quote or closely paraphrase what others have written. For example:

•  Author 1 - puts together a newsletter on his home computer and reprints an article he likes from a daily newspaper.
•  Author 2 - a biographer, quotes from several unpublished letters and diaries written by the subject of his book and includes one closely paraphrased sentence from the article written by Author 1.
•  Author 3 - a freelance journalist, closely paraphrases two paragraphs from the Webster's Dictionary in an article he's writing.
•  Author 4 - a poet, quotes a line from a poem by author 1 in one of his own poems.
•  Author 5 - a comedian, writes a parody of the famous song “Pink Sky” that he performs in his comedy act.

Assuming the material quoted in these examples is protected by copyright, do authors 2 through 4 need permission from author 1 or any other copyright owner to use it? It may surprise you to learn that the answer is 'not necessarily'

Under the 'fair use' rule of copyright law, an author may make limited use of another author's work without asking permission. The fair use privilege is perhaps the most significant limitation on a copyright owners exclusive rights. If you write or publish, you need a basic understanding of what is and is not fair use.

Subject to some general limitations discussed later in this article, the following types of uses are usually deemed 'fair uses':

•  Criticism and comment - for example: quoting or excerpting a work in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment.
•  News reporting - for example: summarizing an address or article with brief quotations in a news report.
•  Research and scholarship - for example: quoting a short passage in a scholarly, scientific or technical work for illustration or clarification of the author's observations.
•  Non profit educational uses - for example: photocopying of limited portions of written works by teachers for classroom use.
•  Parody - for example: a work that ridicules another, usually well-known, work by imitating it in a comic way.

In most other situations, copying is not legally a fair use. Without an author's permission such a use violates the authors copyright.

Assuming the material quoted in these examples is protected by copyright, do authors 2 through 4 need permission from author 1 or any other copyright owner to use it? It may surprise you to learn that the answer is 'not necessarily'

Under the 'fair use' rule of copyright law, an author may make limited use of another author's work without asking permission. The fair use privilege is perhaps the most significant limitation on a copyright owners exclusive rights. If you write or publish, you need a basic understanding of what is and is not fair use.

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