You’re a businessperson. You may not think of yourself as a writer, but you know that writing well can boost your results and your career. Naturally, you want to do better. Every week I point you to articles and blog posts that I think will teach you something or spark an idea or two. Some weeks there are more pointers than others.
This week I’m pointing you to three pieces on copyright and permissions.
From Chuck Sambuchino: 6 Questions Writers Ask about Copyright and the Law
“As you compose your work and enter into the publishing world, it’s vital to know how to navigate the murky waters of copyrights, libel and other contractual small print. Here’s the scoop on some commonly asked questions about copyrights and other rights.”
From BloggingPro: Introduction to Copyright Law For Bloggers
“Copyright is a legal right that grants the creator of an original work the right to use, reproduce and distribute that work exclusively. It lasts for a limited time and is immediately granted to the creator when the work is ‘fixed in a tangible medium of expression.’ At the time of publication, the U.S. term of copyright of new works is the author’s life plus seventy years, though that’s regularly lengthened.”
From Jane Friedman: A Writer’s Guide to Permissions and Fair Use
“Whenever you decide to directly quote, excerpt, or reproduce someone else’s work in your own—whether that’s a book, blog, magazine article, or something else—you have to consider, for each use, whether or not it’s necessary to seek explicit, legal permission from the work’s creator or owner.”
Sources I Check Regularly
I find the posts and articles that I share with you on The Writing Edge in many places. But there are a few that provide insightful pieces again and again. Here they are.