Publishing Q&A Continued

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Publisher's Q & A continued . . .

Ownership aside, you and your author still have the issue of whether you have the RIGHT to publish interviews, since the author does not have a written interview release. Small portions of the interviews would generally be considered fair use, but if extensive material from the interview is used, an assignment of rights from the copyright owner (typically, North American/British Commonwealth print rights) is necessary. Depending on the subject matter, additional provisions for ensuring privacy or attribution may be necessary.

Silence is Not An Option

It is your obligation as publisher to make every reasonable effort to contact all persons or organizations with a copyright claim on the work you wish to publish. If the copyright owner is dead, his/her heirs could give permission. And a copyright owner’s silence, even if you have given him or her a deadline, is not considered agreement. Failure to locate a copyright owner will leave you liable for copyright infringement from the owner or his heirs, but a documented “good faith” effort can help to mitigate damages, so be sure to document your efforts to contact these sources.

Try the Orphanage

If you can’t locate the interviewee or his heirs, the interview may qualify as an “orphan work” – see the Copyright Office’s recent report on this issue. In that report, the Office recommends a change to the current law that would exempt orphan works from infringement claims; unfortunately, that has not yet been enacted.