Much of the information in this section is drawn from content posted on the Web site of the U.S. Copyright Office and is based on the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. The information appears here in an edited form.
For a fuller discussion of these topics, including references to legal and other resources, visit the website for the US Copyright Office: www.copyright.gov.
For most copyright questions, we follow an overall guide: When In Doubt, Gain Permission
Once you have identified the materials you want to use and determined that copyright permission is required, you must identify the copyright holder and secure permission to use their work.
The first step to requesting permissions is to find the copyright owner. Because authors sometimes transfer their copyrights to publishers during the publication process, the copyright owner is often the publisher and not the original creator. It is a good idea to visit the publisher site to locate information on permissions requesting.
Once you've located the copyright owner, and if they do not have a proscribed method of accepting permissions requests (like RightsLink), you should remember to include as much information about your proposed use as possible in your request or use a template form.
A good explanation of the steps for securing permission for copyrighted works can be found on Columbia University’s Copyright Advisory Office website. This site provides direction for obtaining permission for many different types of materials.
Please note that obtaining publisher permissions is a process that can take up to four weeks - plan accordingly!
Some publishers have developed tools to help you locate the right person to ask for permissions. For example:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.