In the days before the internet, copyright owners were prominently noted in the copyright notice that used to be required. For works with a copyright notice, your task is easier (at least you have a starting point). But for many works, figuring out whom to ask can be a major undertaking. Sometimes it is impossible. Nevertheless, if you keep in mind the structure we've set out below, it can provide you with a systematic way to approach the task:
You can use the database at the Library of Congress to determine the copyright ownership if the work was registered after 1978.
If you can't identify authors (or their estates) or business owners, or can't successfully contact them, you probably have an "orphan work." These are works for which a copyright owner cannot be found. Assuming the work that you wish to use is protected, the work has not been licensed for your use online, and your use is not a fair use or otherwise exempt from liability for infringement, you need permission, now what?
If the work is part of a book or a journal article, check the Copyright Clearance Center ("CCC") first. The CCC offers transactional (case-by-case) permission services, as well as a subscription license that covers typical institutional use of works for the classroom of all the works in the license repertoire. Your library or copy center is probably already working with the CCC and should be able to help you. If the work you want to use is registered with the CCC, you can get permission instantly for most materials.
The UK-based Copyright Licensing Agency ("CLA") offers a license for the creation, storage and exploitation of digital versions of existing print works in its repertoire. Canadian agency, Access Copyright, provides licenses for books, magazines, newspapers, and other publications.
Not all professional organizations representing image creators will be familiar with educational needs. Some organizations may only offer licenses for commercial uses. These are a sampling of your options.
Online performances are quite complicated. They involve 3 rights rather than just one: (i) the performance right in the musical composition , (ii) the performance right in the sound recording and (iii) the right to duplicate the musical composition. Each of these rights must be licensed from a separate entity.
The owner of the sound recording is usually the record label. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) represents most major labels. There is also a nonprofit educational radio station exemption that covers webcasts of licensed radio broadcasts. If the statutory license or the nonprofit educational radio station exemption do not apply, you will have to get permission from each record label whose recordings you wish to webcast.
Music Research Consultants' web page contains links to publishers, record labels, music rights agencies, and more. This is a good place to gather contact information. If you know the name of an artist, album, song or label, the All-Music Guide allows you to search for more information and often links directly to the source.
If the work you need to use is from a newspaper or other news organization, check the web. Many of the largest news organizations have placed archives of their back issues online.
The Motion Picture Licensing Corporation is an independent copyright licensing service exclusively authorized by major Hollywood motion picture studios and independent producers to grant umbrella licenses to nonprofit groups, businesses, and government organizations.
Movie Licensing USA, a corporate division of Swank Motion Pictures, Inc., addresses the specific movie public performance site licensing needs of schools and public libraries.
Swank Motion Pictures, Inc., is a major movie distributor and a public performance licensing agent in non-theatrical markets where feature entertainment movies are shown. Swank Motion Pictures, Inc., has exclusive distribution arrangements in many markets with most American movie producers for the motion pictures seen in theaters.
If the author, creator or publisher is not obvious, such as may be the case for historical photographs, architectural drawings, personal papers or other archival materials, your task may be more difficult. Try the following:
If you know who the author and the publisher are, you can contact them directly. If you do not know who the publisher is, The Literary Marketplace (for books) or Ulrich's Web (for journals - requires login) may help you.
Once you know whom to ask, writing a letter, calling or emailing are all appropriate ways to initiate contact.
Whenever it is unclear who the owner is, or if the owner is a legal entity of some kind (a business or organization), you should be sure that the person giving you permission is authorized to do so. For example, if you are negotiating with an author, question them about whether they retained copyright or whether they assigned it to their publisher. Sometimes people are unsure. If you are preparing a commercial product, you will need assurances of authority to grant permission because your publisher will expect those assurances from you.
Ideally, your permission should be in writing and should clearly describe the scope of what you are being permitted to do. Vaguely worded permissions may not cover your intended use. Be careful here: describe what you want to do precisely and include alternatives if you are unsure of format. For example, if you are preparing a web-based multimedia product, you may wish to distribute it on physical media under some circumstances.
Permission does not have to be in writing. If you receive oral permission, precisely describe what you want to do, and then document the conversation carefully. It wouldn't hurt to send a confirming letter to the owner, asking them to initial it and return it to you if it accurately reflects your agreement.
Sometimes, even if you go through all the right steps, you may not figure out whom to ask or the owner may not respond. There truly may be no one who cares about what you do with a particular work, but the bottom line is that no amount of unsuccessful effort eliminates liability for copyright infringement. Copyright protects materials whether the owner cares about protection or not.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Proper attribution is to the Copyright Crash Course and Georgia Harper.