Copyright

Asking for permission to use a copyrighted work involves several steps:

1. Find out who the copyright owner(s) are.
2. Contact them with a specific request.
3. Document what permission you requested and what permission you received.

Keep in mind that what you are getting from the copyright owner may not be a perpetual license, but a license to use a work in a particular situation, possibly for a limited amount of time.  Should you wish to repeat this use, or change the conditions under which you will use the work, you may need to request permission again.

The copyright owner is entirely within their rights to ask you for a fee or to say no.  These fees may or may not be negotiable.  

Published Works [books, journal articles, published music] :

1. For recently published works, the publisher of the book, journal, or musical work most often holds the copyright of a published work. Although in practice works of fiction usually list the author as the copyright owner, it is still wise to begin with the publisher. Look for the copyright owner to be named in the copyright statement on the verso of the title page. In the case of a journal article it is often at the bottom of the first page.  Larger publishers have separate copyright permission officers or departments. Check the publisher's website by searching for "copyright permissions" or some similar terms. In many cases, publishers have online permission forms to fill out. You may find it more efficient, especially with smaller publishers or where the author is clearly the copyright owner, to place a phone call to begin the process.
2. If the work is self-published, or from a blog, website, etc., send your request to the webmaster, blog-owner, or author directly. While a Google search will, in many cases, yield some contact information, a powerful source for contact information is the online Copyright Catalog of the U.S. Government Copyright Office.  
3. In your search for the copyright owner, be persistent and diligent documenting the efforts you made to contact the owner. If you later need to proceed without the permission of the copyright owner, documentation of your good faith efforts could prove helpful.

See Copyright Media and the Performing Arts.

The key to making a good request is being explicit and precise.  

DO:

• Give the title and author of the work along with its publication information
• Explain exactly what part of the work you wish to use, e.g. page numbers, elapsed time in a movie or video, measure numbers from a printed musical work
• Describe the nature of your project (educational, scholarly, non-profit) and how you intend to use the work, e.g. reproduce in a printed pamphlet of 500 copies, or set a poet's words to music, or use the image in a published scholarly book
• Explain when and for how long you intend to use the work and  if your use is more than just temporary.
• Describe where the work will be used (territory is important for printed works; for internet use, note that you are asking for world wide permission)
• Describe which of the copyright owner's rights, copying, distribution, making a derivative work, etc. you wish to use.
• Ask how the use of the work should be properly credited.

DON'T

• Be vague or unclear about your use - this in itself is reason for the copyright owner to deny permission for your use.
• Expect an immediate response.  But be prepared to be persistent.
• Send permission letters to all possible rights holders.  This is not only counterproductive but a waste of effort.  Be patient and write to one at a time.

The Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) can provide licenses for uses exceeding Fair Use.  The CCC specializes in academic uses such as course packs, e-reserves, etc.   Their pay-per-use permissions page lists these services and provides links to set up accounts.

Course packs created through Brown University's Graphic Services are all properly licensed.   

Columbia University Copyright Advisory Office. Asking for Permission.  Columbia's site offers practical advice on how to contact the copyright owner, how to write an effective letter (email) and how to document your efforts.  It also includes model letters for use of video or text, and for use of copyrighted materials in a course management system.

Stanford University's The Basics of Getting Permission includes useful advice for seeking permission, getting it, and negotiating payment (if required).

Sometimes it is not possible to get permission.  The copyright owner may choose not to respond. In some cases this may be because the owner's records (often a publisher) either have been lost or destroyed by merger, fire, or conflict.  It may not be possible to identify the copyright owner, e.g. the publisher has gone out of business, or the creator is deceased, and there is no clue as to who owns or controls the estate of the creator.  Or, the copyright owner may have quoted a royalty fee of extraordinary size, or perhaps simply said no.  You still have options:

• The easiest choice here is to use a different work, one which is either in the public domain, licensed for your use, or for which a license can easily be found.  
• If that is not feasible, reconsider your use.  Can you use less of the work and still make your point?  
• Finally if there is no other choice, carefully build a case for why your use could be considered Fair Use.  Address each of the four factors in your analysis.  Keep detailed records of your attempts to locate or contact the owner if you received no reply.