If you're using copyrighted material, don't get sued--get permission! Online or off, before you use some or all of a song, photo, book, or any other work covered by copyright law, you need to get permission first. If you don't, you could end up facing legal action from the rights-holder. This easy-to-use book shows you how to get the rights you need, with step-by-step instructions and more than 30 forms. Find out when permission is required, who to ask, and when (and how much) you can expect to pay. Getting Permission explains: the copyright permission process the public domain ("free" content) how to figure out who owns a copyright website permissions the "fair use" rule school-related permissions license and merchandise agreements (including sample contracts and other forms) and much more. This edition is updated with summaries of recent copyright and fair use cases, as well as dozens of real-life questions from the Dear Rich permissions blog. All forms are downloadable through a special link in the book (details inside). ( )

Okay, so I started this book six months ago (Dec 2010) when I received it . . . but was so annoyed by (1) basic proofreading errors in the first few pages and (2) the notice indicating that the CD-ROM, which contains only .rtf files, was for Windows-users only (though it might work on a Mac, but NOLO "Law for All" "cannot provide support for non-Windows users"). Yes, annoyed barely touches my reaction . . . get with the program publishers . . . Macs are here to stay.

Anyway, six months later I tried the CD, it works fine . . . though perhaps if NOLO has such trouble producing useable CDs they should make the files available for download from their website.

So my initial review is: I'm not a lawyer so I can't comment on the accuracy of the recommendations, but the book does provide discussions of:
* the permissions process and basic terms
* steps to follow to obtain permission to use text, photographs, artwork, or music
* additional issues related to using material on the web
* considerations for academic and educational uses
* the concepts of "public domain" and "fair use"
* trademarks
* licensing issues
* release agreements

BTW, the sample documents consist of 31 rtf files most of which are templates for agreements, releases, worksheets indicating what you need to do, permission requests, or permission assignments. They do indeed look helpful.

I am now admitting that I did not read every page of this 450-page reference work. If I manage to work through some of it in more depth, I will add to this review at a later time. For now, I hope this will do.

This book provides an excellent overview of how to obtain permission to use various types of copyrighted materials. It offers a good explanation of fair use, ways to keep your website out of trouble, and places to go for more information. The book comes with a CD which contains Word documents with generic licensing and permissions agreements that you can modify for your own personal use. The best thing about the book is that it translates legalese into common language the everyday person can understand. Excellent reference book. Happy to add this one to my library! ( )

I didn't read this book cover-to-cover, but that's not its purpose. It's basically a book-length FAQ on so-called intellectual property law, and a pretty good one too. I recommend it especially to free culture content creators and activists, both because it is generally clear and thorough, and because it goes into some detail on free culture topics such as Creative Commons.

Two thumbs up.

This book is a solid introduction to copyright clearance for the ordinary mortal. It starts by talking about the issues surrounding different kinds of source material in several chapters, then introduces chapters about using material for different purposes. It makes clear concepts such as multi-layered materials and the differences between royalty-free and public domain works. Stim seems to know when to refer people to more detailed discussion, and he also provides some framework for thinking about the tradeoffs involved in requesting permission or not (e.g. how likely is it to be noticed? how likely is it to be ruled e.g. fair use? how much trouble will it take to get to such a ruling?). There are a few spots where he missed an opportunity to update (how many people now use Zip disks as compared to thumb drives?) but the principles seem to be straightforward to follow.

Recommended for any light users of copyrighted materials (e.g. small nonprofits, internal creators such as employee newsletter writers, and personal bloggers). ( )