Guidelines for Obtaining Publisher Permission

Guidelines

Reproduction of copyrighted material without prior permission of the copyrightowner, particularly in an educational setting, is an issue of concern for theacademic community.

Although copying all or part of a work without obtaining permission mayappear to be an easy and convenient solution to an immediate problem, suchunauthorized copying may violate the rights of the author or publisher of thecopyrighted work, and be directly contrary to the academic mission to teachrespect for ideas and the intellectual property that expresses those ideas.Without understanding the copyright law, including elements such as the doctrineof "fair use" and its application and limitations in the educational setting, school staff, students, centers, schools andothers will be at risk for engaging in illegal copying.

Copyright protection covers both published and unpublished works. The fact that a previously published work is out of print does not affect its copyright. This protection exists to foster and induce the creation of all forms of works of authorship. These works include books, newspapers, magazines, computer software, multimedia works, sound recordings, audio-visual works, dissertations, research papers, photographs and otherworks. The copyright law protects works by providing fair returns to creators and copyright owners. To the extent copies are made without permission, publishers and authors, are deprived of revenues in the very markets for which they have written and published. Such unauthorized and uncompensated copying could severely reduce their incentive to create new materials in all formats.

Fair use for educators and students

To help students and educators decide whether fair use permitsthem to copy a work without permission, representatives of educators,authors, and publishers have created several sets of negotiated guidelines. Two sets of such guidelines, known as the "Guidelines forClassroom Copying in Not-For-Profit Educational Institutions with Respectto Books and Periodicals" and the "Guidelines for Educational Uses ofMusic," were explicitly accepted "as part of their understanding of fairuse " by the House and Senate conferees when Congress enacted themost recent comprehensive reform of U.S. copyright law in the CopyrightAct of 1976. (See Appendix A - Guidelines for Classroom Copying.)

For more information about fair use and guidelines, ask the U.S.Copyright Office to send you “Circular 21 - Reproduction of CopyrightedWorks by Educators and Librarians.” The Copyright Office can bereached at (202) 707-9100, and at

How quickly can a response be expected from the publisher?

Response times varies, but it is not unusual for a publisher to need at least20 business days to fulfill an electronic format request, and it can oftentake longer due to complex conversions, the need for extensive researchof rights licenses, or other issues causing a delay. To help institutionsobtain timely receipt of electronic formats from publishers, educators areencouraged inventory required class materials as far in advance ofthe year/semester as possible.

Publisher obstacles

Publishers often do not control the rights to provide content in electronicformats. Authors, photographers, illustrators, and other copyrightowners who provide content for use in instructional materials sometimeswithhold from the publisher the rights to reproduce and distribute theirworks in electronic format. Without these rights, publishers are impededfrom providing an electronic format to a school, or at bestmay provide a file with the unlicensed content items deleted from it. Also, in the case of an older work, the book may have been producedthrough a process that did not result in the creation of a digital file,requiring you or publisher to scan the work in order to provide an e-text.

Permission

Permission may be obtained by contacting the publishers cited on the copyright page of specific publication(s). It is important that you contact the publisher and not the author because in many cases the publishers are also the rights holders; if they are not, they will redirect your request. It is recommended that you make your requests as early as possible because there may be a delay on the part of the publishing house dealing with your request.

You must obtain a written reply to your request which you should then retain in school files. As words of warning, authors are entitled to payment for the use of their material so do not be surprised if there is a charge.

These guidelines are for guidance only. They are intended merely to provide a brief overview of some of the issues.

Permissions checklist

  • Start early: You will need to find alternate material if permission is refused.
  • Obtain the publisher’s written permission for copyright material. (Sample request form can be found below)
  • Include full information on what you intend to copy/reproduce and give full details on alternate format required (publisher may already have format available).
  • Fax/e-mail/web-based requests, especially to addresses outside the US
  • If you haven't heard within one month; follow-up preferably by phone, fax or e-mail (you may have an incorrect address), If you still don't hear, find alternative material.
  • Retain originals of all permission letters/forms.

Request checklist:

  • Author’s, editor’s, translator’s full name(s);
  • Title, edition, and volume number of book, journal, or other material.
  • Copyright date;
  • ISBN for books, ISSN for magazines and journals;
  • Numbers of the exact pages, figures, and illustrations;
  • If you are requesting a chapter or more: exact chapter(s) andexact page numbers;
  • Number of copies to be made;
  • Whether material will be used alone or combined with other photocopiedmaterials;
  • Name of your school and school district;
  • Course and grade level
  • Year and/or Semester in which material will be used;
  • Instructor’s full name.

Publisher web-based permission requests

Human Kinetics:

Cengage Learning:

Holt McDougal:

Mcmillan/McGraw-Hill:

Pearson Education:

Sample request From

The following can be used as a basis form for requesting permission to reproduce copyright material.

Electronic Text Request to Publisher

Publishing Company: ______

Address ______

Phone ______Fax ______

Publishing Company Electronic Text Request Certification

In order to process your request to assist a student with disabilities, please completethis form, including the required signatures, and send it to the appropriate contact atthe company.

ISBN: ______Author: ______

Title: ______

Copyright: ______Edition: ______

Name of Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities/ADA Compliance

Officer: ______Phone: ______

School & School District: ______

Street Address: ______

City, State, Zip: ______

Preferred Format *: ______

□Check here if file is already available and another copy of file is not needed

Technology Currently Used by Student (optional):______

Certification of Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities

• I certify that the school has purchased the printed instructional material foruse by the student or that the student has purchased the printed instructionalmaterial.

• I certify that the requesting student has a disability that prevents him/her fromusing standard instructional materials. Proof of student disability will be kept in student IEP file at the school.

• I certify that the instructional material requested is for use by the student inconnection with a class in which the student is enrolled at the school listed above.

______

Signature of authorized school personnelDate

PERMISSION GRANTED Signed......
Date......
Company......
Fee......
Acknowledgement......

Information sources: