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Obtaining Permission to Use a Copyrighted Work
- General Principles
- Permission from the Copyright Owner
- Licensing Agencies and Publishing Rights Clearinghouses
General Principles
Anyone who wishes to use copyrighted material for purposes that exceed the limits of fair use or other exceptions to the exclusive rights of the copyright owner must first have permission to use the material.
There are two main ways to request permission:
- Directly from the copyright owner (usually the author or publisher)
- Through a licensing agency or other publication rights clearinghouse
A permission request should include the following elements:
- Title, author and/or editor, and edition
- Exactly what material will be used
- How many copies will be made
- Category of use (e.g., educational)
- Form of distribution (e.g., classroom handout, password-protected Internet posting)
- Whether material is to be sold (e.g., as part of a coursepack)
Here are some general guides to obtaining permission:
- Academic and Educational Permissions (Stanford University)
- Information and resources to assist educators seeking permission to use copyrighted works for academic purposes. Includes form agreements you can use to obtain clearances for course packs, and outlines some established and proposed educational fair use guidelines.
- How to Secure Permission to Use Copyrighted Works (Copyright Management Center - IUPUI)
- This step-by-step guide will aid you in your quest to secure the right to use copyrighted works.
- Getting Permission to Use Archival Materials Related to Architectural Works (University of Texas System)
- Basic principles and step-by-step instructions for obtaining permission to use archived architectural works.
- Getting Permission: How to License & Clear Copyrighted Materials Online & Off (Nolo Press)
- This book, available online to members of the UNT community, provides everything you need to acquire authorization to use text, photographs, artwork and music. Includes ready-to-use forms and information for Web site owners, such as hyper-linking agreements and Internet research suggestions.
Permission from the Copyright Owner
Getting permission directly from the author or publisher is usually less expensive, but the contact information can often be difficult to track down. You can try searching the copyright record to see who the original author or publisher is (see Investigating the Copyright Status of a Work), but the address usually has to be searched separately in a general directory.
Many publishers have an electronic permission request form on their Web sites.
- How to Request Copyright Permission from Publishers (Association of American Publishers)
- Tips and detailed procedures for obtaining permission to use copyrighted materials. Includes a Standard Permission Request Form that can be printed and mailed to a publisher.
- WATCH: Writers, Artists, and Their Copyright Holders (Harry Ransom Center - University of Texas at Austin)
- The WATCH File is a database containing primarily the names and addresses of copyright holders or contact persons for authors and artists whose archives are housed, in whole or in part, in libraries and archives in North America and the United Kingdom. The objective in making the database available is to provide information to scholars about whom to contact for permission to publish text and images that still enjoy copyright protection.
Licensing Agencies and Publishing Rights Clearinghouses
The most efficient way to obtain permission to use copyrighted material, especially if you have several works, is to go through an authorized licensing agency or clearinghouse.
- CCC (Copyright Clearance Center)
- This is the best place to start if you are using material for academic purposes. Here you can get permission to
reproduce copyrighted content such as articles and book chapters in your
journals, photocopies, course packs, library reserves, Web sites, e-mail,
and more.
Kendall Copy Center will process copyright permissions for UNT faculty seeking to use copyrighted material in their course packets. They will first try to process the permission through the Copyright Clearance Center. If that is not possible, they will seek permission from the copyright owner. The photocopy center charges a fee for this service, in addition to the clearance center fee and any royalties. - Authors Registry
- The Authors Registry is a non-profit organization formed to help expedite the flow of royalty payments and small re-use fees to authors, particularly for new-media uses. It’s been called the ASCAP for writers. Virtually every important writers’ organization and more than 100 literary agencies cooperate with the Registry. As payment clearinghouse for certain categories of royalties and fees, the Registry lifts the burden from publishers and delivers checks to freelancers. The Registry provides a rights payment service for publishers of newspapers and magazines, and specifically looks at electronic media. It is a central payment service for certain types of rights such as electronic database rights and photocopying.
- Publications Rights Clearinghouse (National Writers Union)
- The PRC licenses to publishers and databases non-exclusive rights to its inventory of articles and books by freelance authors. The PRC offers publishers and databases the right to use the work of PRC members in exchange for a fee. PRC enrollees get anywhere from 75 percent to 90 percent of that fee.
Photographs and Other Still Images
- Art Images for College Teaching (Minneapolis College of Art & Design)
- Licensing body for the American Society of Media Photographers. Photographs are scanned into a database and clients receive them digitally.
- ARTstor
- ARTstor is a non-profit organization created by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. As part of its ongoing effort to become a community resource, ARTstor is developing a rich digital library that will offer coherent collections of art images and descriptive information as well as the software tools to enable active use of the collections. The ARTstor Library's initial content includes approximately 500,000 images covering art, architecture and archeology. ARTstor's software tools support a wide range of pedagogical and research uses including: viewing and analyzing images through features such as zooming and panning, saving groups of images online for personal or shared uses, and creating and delivering presentations both online and offline. This community resource will be made available solely for educational and scholarly uses that noncommercial in nature.
- Media Photographers Copyright Agency
- Licensing body for the American Society of Media Photographers. Photographs are scanned into a database and clients receive them digitally.
- Picture Archive Council of America (PACA)
- PACA fosters and protects the interests of the picture archive community through advocacy, education and communication. Their Web site includes a list of members, many of whom provide stock images that can be licensed for specific uses.
Music Performances
For a discussion of how music performing rights societies work, see The Operating Dynamics Behind ASCAP, BMI and SESAC, The U.S. Performing Rights Societies by Barry M. Massarsky
- ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers)
- ASCAP is a
membership association of over 145,000 U.S. composers, songwriters and
publishers of every kind of music and hundreds of thousands worldwide.
ASCAP is the only U.S. performing rights organization created and
controlled by composers, songwriters, and music publishers, with a Board
of Directors elected by and from the membership.
ASCAP protects the rights of its members by licensing and distributing royalties for the non-dramatic public performances of their copyrighted works. ASCAP’s licensees encompass all who want to perform copyrighted music publicly. Royalties are paid to members based on surveys of performances of the works in the ASCAP repertory that they wrote or published. - BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated)
- BMI is an American performing rights organization that represents approximately 300,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in all genres of music. This non-profit company, founded in 1940, collects license fees on behalf of those American creators it represents, as well as thousands of creators from around the world who chose BMI for representation in the United States. The license fees BMI collects for the public performances of its repertoire of approximately 4.5 million compositions— including radio airplay, broadcast and cable television carriage, Internet and live and recorded performances by all other users of music— are then distributed as royalties to the writers, composers and copyright holders it represents.
- SESAC (formerly the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers)
- SESAC, Inc., is a performing rights organization, with headquarters in Nashville and offices in New York, Los Angeles and London. When a songwriter or publisher affiliates with SESAC, SESAC then represents the right for that music to be played in public. By securing a license from SESAC, music users (television and radio stations, auditoriums, restaurants, hotels, theme parks, malls, funeral homes, etc.) can legally play any song in the SESAC repertory.
- CCLI (Christian Copyright Licensing International)
- Church music departments (like
public schools) have long been notorious for their frequent violation of
copyright laws. CCLI was founded to educate churches about copyright
laws, to protect churches from the consequences of copyright
infringements, and to encourage greater utilization of copyrights in church
services.
A Church Copyright License allows churches, by paying a nominal fee, to obtain blanket permission to photocopy songs and other church music for non-commercial purposes. The collected fees are then distributed among the copyright owners.
The less expensive Event License is available for single events such as conferences, special meetings, city-wide meetings, crusades, or camp meetings.
The Mobile Copyright License is designed for traveling ministries, or individuals who use their License in more than one location.
The Church Video License provides legal coverage for churches to show home videocassettes and videodiscs of motion pictures for a variety of church activities. - HFA (Harry Fox Agency, Inc.)
- This is a licensing agency for sound recordings, which is separate from performance rights. In 1927, the National
Music Publisher’s Association established HFA. Since its founding,
HFA has provided efficient and convenient services for publishers,
licensees, and a broad spectrum of music users. With its current level
of publisher representation, HFA licenses the largest percentage of the
uses of music in the United States on CDs, digital services, records,
tapes and imported phonorecords. If authorization is needed for downloading copyrighted sound recordings or
musical works onto a server, the
Harry Fox Agency can grant this type of authorization with a synchronization
license (using music in combination with video images) for use in computer
programs and Web sites.
- Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panels (CARP) and Licensing Information (U.S. Copyright Office)
- Rules and regulations, lists of arbitrators, and other information related to royalties and licensing of copyrighted materials, especially in the area of broadcasting.
Motion Picture Performances
- MPLC (Motion Picture Licensing Corporation)
- An independent copyright licensing service exclusively authorized by major Hollywood motion picture studios and independent producers to grant Umbrella LicensesSM to non-profit groups, businesses and government organizations for the public performances of home videocassettes and videodiscs. Over 60,000 locations, including churches, libraries, schools, YM/YWCAs, and corporations have obtained MPLC’s Umbrella License with the assurance that the videos they show are in compliance with the Federal Copyright Act.
- Swank Motion Pictures, Inc.
- The major non-theatrical movie distributor, online CE/CME education distributor and public performance licensing agent in non-theatrical venues where feature entertainment movies are shown publicly.
- Movie Licensing USA
- This corporate division of Swank Motion Pictures, Inc. provides Movie Public Performance Site Licensing for most major studios and several independent studios to schools and public libraries for the use of entertainment videos.
- CCLI (Christian Copyright Licensing International)
- CCLI was founded to educate churches about copyright
laws, to protect churches from the consequences of copyright
infringements, and to encourage greater utilization of copyrights in church
services.
The Church Video License provides legal coverage for churches to show home videocassettes and videodiscs of motion pictures for a variety of church activities.
Performances of Dramatic Works
Rights to perform a dramatic work such as a play, musical, or opera are usually obtained from the author or the publisher.
- Obtaining Rights to Produce a Play or Musical or Use Music in Live Performances (University of Texas System)
- Guidelines for obtaining rights to perform a play or use copyrighted music within a play.
- Baker’s Plays
- This Massachusetts-based agency has full-length plays from many publishers available. Their one-act plays are geared towards high school competition as well as semi-professional production. Their musicals are also easy to produce. Customers located in the following states are advised that their requests will be automatically fulfilled by the agency’s west coast representatives at Samuel French, Inc.: Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, and Utah.
- Broadway Play Publishing, Inc. (BPPI)
- BPPI specializes in full-length, contemporary, American plays. BPPI also publishes some dramatic adaptations of classic plays and literature. BPPI acts as the authors’ agent in the licensing of professional and amateur stage production rights. to these plays
- Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
- Formed in 1936 by a number of prominent playwrights and theatre agents, Dramatists Play Service, Inc. was created to foster opportunity and provide support for playwrights by publishing acting editions of their plays and handling the nonprofessional and professional leasing rights to these works. Dramatists Play Service, Inc. has grown steadily to become one of the premier play-licensing agencies in the English-speaking theater. Offering an extensive list of titles, including a preponderance of the most significant American plays of the past half-century, Dramatists Play Service, Inc. works with thousands of theatres and supports the theatre's vital position in contemporary life.
- Dramatic Publishing Company
- Licenses amateur and stock acting rights for plays and musicals. Specific rights, such a videotaping a performance, may be retained by the author or agent.
- Music Theatre International (MTI)
- One of the world’s leading dramatic licensing agencies, protecting the rights and legacy of composers, lyricists and book writers. Their core business is issuing licenses and supplying scripts, musical materials, and other theatrical resources to schools and theatres, both amateur and professional around the world.
- Popular Play Service
- Popular Play Service specializes in national and regional award-winning plays that have a broad appeal to community and professional theatre audiences.
- The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization
- Founded by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II more than sixty years ago, The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization (R&H) represents a wide variety of entertainment copyrights. Through its theatrical, concert, and music publishing divisions, R&H represents not only the works of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, but also those of Irving Berlin, Lorenz Hart, Jerome Kern, Kurt Weill, Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Adam Guettel, Sheldon Harnick, Dory Previn, W. Somerset Maugham, and others.
- Samuel French, Inc.
- Founded in 1830, Samuel French pioneered the concept of providing published plays and musical plays to theatrical producing groups throughout the world. Samuel French seeks out the world’s best plays and makes them available to the widest range of producing groups. Sources of Samuel French’s plays range from Broadway and England’s West End to publication of unsolicited scripts submitted by unpublished authors.
- Tams-Witmark Music Library (University of Texas System)
- Tams-Witmark, America's premier musical theater licensing company, licenses the rights to perform complete, live stage performances of many Broadway musical shows to producers of musical shows around the world. They do not license parts of shows or individual songs from shows. They welcome inquiries by authorized individuals from educational institutions and theatrical organizations.
International Licensing Agencies and Cooperatives
- IFFRO (International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations)
- Reproduction
Rights Organizations (RROs) began in response to the need to license
wide-scale photocopy access to the world’s scientific and cultural
printed works. Originally called “collecting societies,” RRO licenses
typically grant authorizations to copy a portion of a publication, in
limited numbers of copies, for the internal use of institutional users.
Some RROs are also authorized to license other copyright uses, such as
those related to electronic distribution via networks.
The International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations links together all RROs as well as national and international associations of rights holders. - Access Copyright
- Access Copyright, The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency, is a not-for-profit agency established in 1988 by publishers and creators to license public access to copyrighted Canadian works.
- CLO (The Copyright Licensing Agency)
- CLA licenses business, education and government organizations to copy extracts from books, journals, magazines and periodicals. CLA’s licenses also include artistic works through its agency agreement with the Design and Artists Copyright Society ( DACS). CLA is the UK’s reproduction rights organization and a member of the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO). Formed in 1982, it is a non-profit making company owned by its members, the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) and the Publishers Licensing Society(PLS), to encourage and promote respect for copyright.
- ALCS (Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society—United Kingdom)
- ALCS the United Kingdom rights management society for all writers. Its principal business is to collect and distribute fees to writers whose works have been copied, broadcast or recorded. It also collects monies for lending and rental. ALCS was set up in 1977 in the wake of the campaign to establish Public Lending Right in the UK to help writers protect and exploit their collective rights. Since its foundation ALCS has paid writers over £79 million in fees— fees they would not have been able to collect individually. ALCS is wholly owned and controlled by writers.
- PLR (Public Lending Right)
- PLR was established by the Public Lending Right Act 1979 which gave British authors a legal right to receive payment for the free lending of their books by public libraries. Under the Act funding is provided by Central Government and payments are made to eligible authors in accordance with how often their books are lent out from a selected sample of UK public libraries. To qualify for payment authors must apply to the Registrar of PLR who is appointed by the government to maintain a register of eligible authors and books, and to supervise the administration of PLR. The Act established PLR as an intellectual property right, entirely separate from copyright.
- Clara (Clara Association)
- This site features information about rights clearance for copyright-protected material in Norway. The Clara Web site has been posted by seven Norwegian rights management organizations, each of which manages copyright and related rights in its own special field:
- VERDI Project (Very Extensive Rights Data Information)
-
A European-wide
multimedia rights information and licensing network between national
collectively managed clearance services. By linking together these existing
rights clearance centers, VERDI will create a simple and cost-effective
Internet-based service for multimedia rights clearance. VERDI will provide
the producer the services and information he needs for obtaining the right
to use pre-existing content in his multimedia production. VERDI will
be based on multimedia rights clearance systems (MMRCS)
currently existing in Finland,
France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.
The VERDI Partners are:
- CMMV (Germany) representing eleven copyright organization, incl. GEMA
- KOPIOSTO (Finland) representing 44 Member organizations
- MCCI (Ireland) representing several copyright organizations, incl. IMRO, and content owners
- Oficina Multimedia (Spain), SGAE (multipurpose) and VEGAP (visual art)
- SESAM (France) representing five copyright organizations, incl. SACEM
- SIAE (Italy) a multipurpose copyright organization.