5:170-AP2 – Seeking Permission to Copy or Use Copyrighted Works

The following resources are a partial list of where to begin searching for permission to copy or use copyrighted work. Whenever it is unclear who the owner is, or if the owner is a legal entity of some kind (a business or organization), be sure that the person granting permission is authorized to do so. Once it is known whom to ask, initiate contact by writing a letter, calling, or emailing. Seek written permission that clearly describes its scope. Document the receipt of an oral permission and send the owner a confirming letter or email. A copyright protects materials regardless of whether the owner cares about protection or not. Thus, if required permission cannot be obtained, the work may not be used.

1. For information regarding how to find copyright owners, contact the Writers Artists and Their Copyright Holders (WATCH) program through the University of Texas, Austin’s Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at norman.hrc.utexas.edu/watch/ . Phone: 512/471-8944, Email: www.hrc.utexas.edu/contact/ .

2. For a part of a book or a journal article, contact: Copyright Clearance Center, “CCC” Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, Phone: 978/750-8400, Email: www.copyright.com/about/contact/,  www.copyright.com.

3. For images, contact: The Film Foundation, 7920 Sunset Boulevard, 6th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90046, Phone: 303/436-5060, Email: www.film-foundation.org; American Society of Media Photographers, Four Embarcadero Center, Suite 1400, San Francisco, CA 94111, Phone: 877/771-2767, Email: www.asmp.org/. 

4. If the author owns the copyright in a contribution to a periodical, magazine, or newspaper, permission may be obtained through The National Writers Union, 61 Broadway Ste. 1630, New York, NY 10006,  Phone: 315-545-5034, Email; nwu.org/contact-us/, www.nwu.org; and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, 8271 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048, Phone: 323/782-1010, Email:   averysilverberg@scbwi.org, www.scbwi.org

5. For a musical work, contact: American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, (ASCAP);7 World Trade Center, 250 Greenwich Street, New York, NY 10007, Phone: 212/220-3000, Email: bmi.com/licensing; or SESAC, 55 Music Square East, Nashville, TN 37203, Phone: 615/320-0055, Email: see www.sesac.com.

6. To record and distribute a musical composition recorded by someone else, or synchronize music with visual images, contact: The Harry Fox Agency, Inc., www.harryfox.com; National Music Publishers Association,  1900 S St Nw, Suite 500, washington, DC  20036; Phone: 202/393-6672; Email: www.nmpa.org.

7.  Play Rights

8. For news archives, check the Web. Many of the largest news organizations have placed archives of their back issues online.

9. Movies The Motion Picture Licensing Corporation, at www.mplc.com; Phone: 800/462-8855, Email: mplc.org/index/contactform, info@mplc.com,  mplc.org/index/contactform, grants public performance rights. If the author and the publisher are known, contact them directly. If the publisher is unknown contact: The Literary Marketplace, www.literarymarketplace.com (for books) or Ulrich’s International Periodicals, www.ulrichsweb.com (for journals), both published by the R. R. Bowker Company, www.bowker.com.

10. Changed Owner The apparent copyright owner may not be the real copyright owner. The U.S. Copyright Office of Internet Resources, www.loc.gov/copyright, provides online searching of its registration records and performs professional searches for a fee.

11. Software Contact the software’s manufacturer at the address given on the licensing agreement.

Date Approved: October 12, 2011

Dated Adopted:  August 24, 2021