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Other's Copyrights
How and when to use someone else's work within your book.
Public Domain:
Those works whose copyright has expired.
How to find out if something is in the public domain - good old fashioned research. Life + 70 years (or if work of corporate authorship, the shorter of 95 years from publication, or 120 years from creation).Copyrights do expire and can not be renewed. But during that 70 year grace period, they are owned by the estate of the author and use of them can still result in a copyright infringement.
Formal Release:
Write to the author of the work you want to cite in your book and ask them for a written release, such that you can use that portion of their work in the body of your work. If you fail to do that, it would result in a charge of plagiarism. Moving ahead with the project could result in a copyright infringement law suit. Not worth it! Releases are pretty easy to obtain if you plan on using their work in a way that they would approve of.
Acknowledgement: and Fair Use:
What if it is just a little bit of the work? For example, you want to use several different display quotes at the beginning of each chapter in your book. Isn't an acknowledgement enough?
The Fair Use principle is applicable when you are only using VERY small portions and giving the accurate credential for the work. It can be cited when the piece is used for educational purposes and CAN NOT in any way interfere with the original author's ability to benefit from it.
This is very treacherous territory, if you are unsure at all of what you are referencing, please contact an intellectual property attorney for the most up-to-date advice, applicable to your specific situation.
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