03/01/2024

A Writer’s Guide to Fair Use and Permissions

Understanding what constitutes “fair use”

Whenever you decide to directly quote, excerpt or reproduce someone else’s work in your own—whether that’s a book, blog, magazine article or something else—you have to consider, for each use, whether or not it’s necessary to seek explicit, legal permission from the work’s creator or owner.

Unfortunately, quoting or excerpting someone else’s work falls into one of the grayest areas of copyright law. There is no legal rule stipulating what quantity is okay to use without seeking permission from the owner or creator of the material. Major legal battles have been fought over this question, but there is still no black-and-white rule.

However, probably the biggest “rule” that you’ll find—if you’re searching online or asking around—is: “Ask explicit permission for everything beyond X.”

Please select this link to read the complete blog post from Jane Friedman.