If you plan to use published materials in your work, in addition to providing appropriate citation, attribution, or reference, you may need to obtain permission for use. It is important to understand Copyright law and Fair Use when determining whether you need to request permission for use. Once you have determined that permission is needed, refer to the Request Permission to Use Materials from Published Materials process (below) to draft your letter to the material’s owner(s).

Copyright law

Copyright law protects the original expression of ideas in tangible forms, such as books, songs, images, or videos.

Fair Use

Fair Use is a legal doctrine explained in the Copyright Act (1976), Section 107. It allows limited use of copyrighted material without permission for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research. However, fair use is not a clear-cut rule, and it depends on factors such as the purpose, nature, amount, and effect of the use. It’s best to always work with the original authors or producers.

The law lays out a four-prong test to determine whether a work can be used fairly: The purpose and character, the nature, the amount and substantiality, and the effect on the market or value. Courts may also use other factors, depending on the circumstances, to determine if fair use applies.

Determining fair use can be highly controversial. UW offers some guidelines for determining fair use in education.

• When a work is considered fair, use only brief excerpts of a work:
• Text: 10% or 1,000 words, whichever is less.
• Music: 10%, but no more than 30 seconds.
• Illustrations and photographs: Up to five images from the same artist or photographer.
• Numerical data sets: 10% or 2,500 fields, whichever is less.
• If in doubt, it’s a good idea to seek permission.

Creative Commons Licenses

According to creativecommons.org, “Creative Commons licenses give everyone from individual creators to large institutions a standardized way to grant the public permission to use their creative work under copyright law. From the reuser’s perspective, the presence of a Creative Commons license on a copyrighted work answers the question, What can I do with this work?”

Creative Commons licensed material follow specific attribution requirements based on what the owner has listed as the license. We must ensure creative common licensed media is in the Creative Commons or Public Domain before use. We do this by checking that the media is in the Creative Commons or Public Domain via the search page on the Creative Commons website.

Request Permission to Use Materials from Published Materials

Before you write your permission request letter or email, understand the basics of copyright law and fair use. Copyright law protects the original expression of ideas in tangible forms, such as books, songs, images, or videos. Fair use is a legal doctrine that allows limited use of copyrighted material without permission for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research. However, fair use is not a clear-cut rule, and it depends on factors such as the purpose, nature, amount, and effect of the use. It’s best to always work with the original authors or producers.

Be exact and succinct regarding what you want to use, how you want to use it, and why you need permission. If sending a letter via mail, print the request on Cultivate Learning letterhead.  If writing an email, be sure your signature with center affiliation is included in the email. The request should include as much of the information below as possible:

• your name, organization, and contact information,
• the title and description of the material,
• the source and URL of the material,
• the purpose and context of your use,
• the scope and duration of your use,
• the format and medium of your use,
• the number and distribution of copies or views of your use,
• and the attribution and credit you will give to the owner.
• Additionally, you should attach or link to a sample or screenshot of the material and a draft or outline of your work that displays how you will use it.

After you send your permission request letter or email, follow up with the owner if you do not receive a response within a reasonable time frame, such as two to four weeks. Send a reminder email or call them to check the status of your request. However, respect their decision if they decline or ignore your request.

If you receive a positive response, you should thank the owner and confirm the details of the permission in writing.

Keep records of all your correspondence and documentation related to the permission, such as emails, letters, contracts, invoices, receipts, or licenses. File these records with the final project files. For email correspondence, save the email as a pdf and file with project records.