Copyright Permission Question

May 7, 2012 3:45 PM

YANML, but can I still remain anonymous while seeking Copyright permission from my sources?

I have a non-fiction book in progress that I am about to finish writing. It is being written under a pen name for various reasons. It is an e-book so no publisher is involved.

The book contains quotes from a few magazines and websites.

In order to use these quotes, I need to obtain Copyright permission from the rights holders.

My questions are:

Is it possible to ask for copyright permission under my pen name or anonymously?

If this is illegal and/or otherwise impractical or unethical:

Does a service exist that can do this for me?

Would a lawyer be able to perform this service?

Or, generally:

Does anyone see a way to do this?

posted by anonymous to Law & Government (7 answers total)

IANAL. My understanding is that permission is typically granted for a specific use, rather than to a person, (even though this takes the form of granting permission to a person). So you would seek permission to use the quote in [book] for [purpose], rather than seek permission for [name] to be allowed to use the quote.

In your shoes, I would use a meaningless email address to send a permission request that include information about the book and the useage, by "pen-name [author name]". But there is a fair chance you'll get no reply, or a no. It really depends a lot on what kind of establishment owns the material.

But if your use of quotes would likely fall under Fair Use (and including quotes without having to seek permission is textbook Fair Use, though there is more to it than that), it may be better to take that route instead. Depending on your level of concern, you may wish to get a legal opinion on your usage as it relates to fair use.
posted by -harlequin- at 4:06 PM on May 7, 2012

Is it possible to ask for copyright permission under my pen name or anonymously?

Transfer the copyright to an LLC that you own. Voila -- copyright permission and anonymity.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 4:09 PM on May 7, 2012

I should say, transfer the copyright of your writing to an LLC, and then have the LLC receive the copyright permission from the rights holder.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 4:09 PM on May 7, 2012

I handle reprint permissions as part of my job. I have no idea who the people are who request permissions - I mean, there's always a name attached, the title of the book, estimated publication date, and what they're going to be using our stuff for, but I don't know if the people requesting are using their own names or not. I don't care.

Also - and YMMV depending on how cranky your sources are - I regularly tell people who ask for reprint permissions in order to quote a couple of sentences from one of our reports - or even more, depending on the length of the report - that they don't need reprint permissions for that, as it falls squarely under Fair Use. I do send them the information we like to see included in the cite.
posted by rtha at 4:13 PM on May 7, 2012

In order to use these quotes, I need to obtain Copyright permission from the rights holders.

IANYL. This is not necessarily the case; your use of the quotes may be a fair use, in which case you would not need authorization (although getting it anyway will probably improve your peace of mind).

Good on you for being proactive about it, though, and you might see if a lawyer working pro bono for an arts organization in your area would be willing to review (at least a representative sample of) your proposed uses and tell you whether they would likely qualify as fair use.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 4:38 PM on May 7, 2012

You could work with a service like the Copyright Clearance Center, or you could hire a third party through someplace like The Editorial Freelancers Association. They would not disclose your legal name.
posted by Sidhedevil at 4:41 PM on May 7, 2012

Also, lawyers are not the right professional resource for you. Copyright clearance professionals are much more versed in getting clearances and permissions.
posted by Sidhedevil at 5:12 PM on May 7, 2012