practical guides

So many other books talk about how to protect your own intellectual property, or how you can get into trouble if you use someone else's material.

This is the ONLY book I've found that tells you how to go about using someone else's material legally. Its step-by-step approach makes it very straightforward, and eliminates the mystery about what to do and what to expect.

This has helped me obtain a merchandise license agreement to print and market posters of an author/artist I admire and enjoy. I would NOT have known where to start without this book (or finding a high-priced copyright attorney). I still use an attorney, but just to review a contract which I already understand on my own.

Where else could you find this information? Simply Great!

If you want to use copyrighted material for your own purposes, you need to get permission from the owners first. If you don't, you could find yourself stuck in a costly lawsuit. This book, Getting Permission, shows you how to get through the permissions process. This guide is very readable and will give you a basic introduction to the permissions process, the public domain or free stuff, how to figure out and find someone who owns a copyright, what constitutes fair use, how to get academic permissions, license and merchandise agreements, what a trademark is and how to use them, how to use a fictional character, website permissions, as well as forms and a CD rom. The book covers information on music, photos, text, characters, and much more. Nolo also gives helpful suggestions as to where to go for more information on a specific topic. I found that this guide was a great introduction to getting permission for just about anything. This book will be a wonderful resource guide for years because the information contained therein is easy to understand and reliable.

Regardless of whether you use the Internet or do traditional publishing work, you need to know how to get permission to use the work of others. On the Internet this increasingly important in view of the issues surrounding deep linking and related challenges in a world where a simple HTML tag to someone else's work can bring legal problems. This book provides expert guidance that covers how to obtain permission, copyright research, what constitutes fair use, and how to legally use trademarks.

The book also clarifies the definition of "public domain" and what needs to be in a license agreement.

What makes this book especially valuable is that it comes with 32 forms that range from standard photo use and test use permission to linking agreements, interview releases, art for hire and more.