HIT: Web copyright questions

Tue May 6 11:40:37 EDT 1997

A few weeks ago I posted a question regarding copyright on school webpages.
Our students are doing a project where they are reviewing books and plan to
scan the cover of the books to illustrate the reviews.  They are also doing
a project where they will be mounting pictures of famous people.  I asked
the group about the copyright issues involved in this.  Here is a
compilation of responses I got.  I have handled this issue by designating
two students in each class who have the responsibility of writing for
copyright permission and keeping track of responses.  Hopefully we'll hear
back from publishers.
>
>***************************
>Nancy - I work for a publisher - The American Association for the
>Advancement of Science  and the answer to your question is yes, you need the
>publisher's permission to use the cover of the book.  You are safest with
>writing to each publisher and requesting persmission for what you want to
>use.  Don't look upon this as a pain or silly detail.  It's an important
>issue to to be teaching your students.  As the web increases, copyright
>issues are becoming more and more complex.  And the statues that govern
>print are only being assumed to also cover electronic use, but there are no
>rulings or court cases yet that really specify how these issue pertain to
>electronic issues.
>-David
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Hi,
>Dover Books puts out a lot of "clipart" books that are, in general,
>copyright free. I believe they have a "Famous Persons" series which
>includes a lot of historical figures and a few current newsmakers. North
>Light Books also makes a series of Clip Art books, though I've never seen a
>"famous person" book, they might have something new out. The address for
>Dover is: Dept. 23, Dover Publications, Inc., 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola,
>NY 11501. The address for North Light Books is: North Light Books, 1507
>Dana Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45207 (with a toll-free phone #
>1-800-289-0963). Generally, they do ask that you not use more than a
>specified number of images from each clipart book per project, but usually
>that's not a problem. If you have access to a scanner, you're home free.
>Dover also has an electronic clipart collection on disk or cd-rom but I've
>not seen it to tell you whether the images are any good or not.
>Hope this helps!;)
>)O(*)O(*)O(*)O(*)O(*)O(*)O(*)O(*)O(*)O(*)O(*)O(*)O(*)O(*)O(*)O(*)O(*)O(*)O(*
>)O(*
>}Alicia Graybill                          
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>When I was in the document delivery business, we dealth with an (somewhat
>mysterious) organization called the Copyright Clearinghouse.  They do have a
>web page, but I don't have the url handy.
>
>I don't know the details of copyright law, but you could check a couple of
>common sources: the APA manual, and the local public library (we have two or
>three reference volumes that deal with copyright as I recall).
>
>Good luck,
>Scott C.
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Our experience has been that many publishers pay illustrators to produce
>those book covers and the illustrators retain the copyright.  We have not
>has any success in getting releases from publishers.
>Jim Neal
>Good Luck!
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>You will need written permission from the publishers to place scanned images
>of book jackets on a web page.
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Nancy,
>    Book covers that are used to illustrate reviews don't cause a 
>copyright violation. I checked this out earlier with the former 
>editor of Wilson Library Bulletin, GraceAnne DeCandido. WLB always 
>used pictures of the covers in their reviews and didn't ask 
>permission. In fact, many times book covers were sent by the 
>publisher to be used. However, if a regular article was going to be 
>illustrated with a book cover, permission was always obtained. As a 
>matter of fact, we are still using scanned book covers to brighten up 
>our reviews on our website. Take a look at: http://www.hwwilson.com 
>and go to Rettig on Reference. 
>
>Dan Robinson
>Editorial Specs Specialist
>H.W. Wilson Company
>Bronx, NY
>drobinson at info.hwwilson.com
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Hi
>	I understand that you might need copyright clearance.
>I know that clearance is needed to copy covers and use them on
>a display item for a conference and when I wrote to
>HarperCollins about using covers I got the same answer.  Yes,
>I'm afraid you would have to write to the individual
>publishers.  You might want to start with a few and see what
>answer you got back and then go from there.
>Peggy
>
>
>
>Peggy Howell (phowell)
>Lib.; West Springfield Elementary
>Fairfax County, Virginia
>phowell at pen.k12.va.us
>Work Phone 912-4406
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
>
>Hi Nancy,
>Last summer I oversaw the development of an internet site that included
>reviews of YA books, book covers, summaries etc. We most certainly needed
>to obtain permission to use book covers in our site. To obtain permission, 
>we wrote to publishers and sometimes to the artists themselves. Most of the
>small publishers were eager and quick to respond - larger companies took
>longer to reply. with a bit of prodding, most publishers replied within
>two months. Be aware that copyright might reside with the artist not the
>publisher, and so you might need to contact both before securing permision 
>to use the cover art. We only included Canadian material in our site and
>American law might differ in this area, but better to obtain permission
>now than to be sued later!
>
>Rena Sosulski
>Coodinator, Young Adult, Fiction and Circulation Services
>Saskatoon Public Library
>Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
>Shannon,
>One of my instructors here at UGA once told me that you can only keep
>stuff like that for only 8 days.  At the end of that time you were
>supposed to erase or tape over the item.  I don't know if this still holds
>true or not.
>Michele James
>
>mmjames at coe.uga.edu
>I know where all my marbles are.  The question is...where's the purple
>Crown Royal bag I keep them in?
>***Women could gather more from television if men would quit hunting!***
>
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------
>While short excerpts of books are permitted in reviews under fair use, 
>>scanning images isn't part of that permission.  You will need to get 
>>permission from EACH publisher or copyright holder to scan and distribute 
>>(via the web) these images. Copyright Clearance Corporation may be albe 
>>tohelp you, but they will charge you - regardless.  Your best economical 
>>alternative is to contact the publishers directly.
>>
>>
>>> 
>>> Another part of the project involves essays on famous people.  Does anyone
>>> know of any resources for copyright free images of famous people? (e.g. JFK,
>>> Lincoln, Mother Theresa).
>>
>>You can probably get JFK, Lincoln, etc. from the National Archives or 
>>Smithsonian, but since each individual owns the rights to his/her image, 
>>you will need to track them down.  For example, ALL use of the image of 
>>Dr. Martin Luther King (plus his speeches) must be cleared through 
>>Coretta Scott King.  She is very generous if you give good reasons, but 
>>she isn't terribly fast.
>>
>>Carol Simpson, author
>>Copyright for Schools (Linworth, 1997)
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________________--
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Nancy J. Keane			voice:  603-225-0862
Rundlett Jr. High School	fax:    603-226-3288
144 South Street		email: nancy.keane at rundlett.concord.k12.nh.us
Concord, New Hampshire 03301	http://www.concord.k12.nh.us/schools/rundlett/
				http://www.nhptv.org/nhema
	"Do the best you can and maintain a sense of humor."
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