Questions tagged [copyright]
Questions involving matters of copyright, encapsulating parody and level of similarity questions, reprinting and publishing of copyrighted works, public domain, attribution, fanfiction, legality, and fair use questions. Any question involving copyright law in the U.S. or abroad should be given this tag.
467 questions
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Can I write a book of my D&D game?
I am a long time Dungeon Master of Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder. My games run in a custom world of my own making. However, I utilise a lot of the traditional lore and races of D&D.
I'm ...
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Using the real world in writing
To what extent can you use locations, businesses, etc. from the real world in fiction? I know someone cannot copyright a city, but what about a particular location in the city that's private. Can I ...
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What are those "countdown" numbers on the copyright page?
On the copyright pages in many books I find the following "countdown" numbers and I am wondering what the significance of this is?
In a non-fiction book I have, "The Call of the Mild" it looks like:
...
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Want to publish unpublished work found in an auction storage unit
I started buying storage auctions in the middle of this year. In the third one I bought I ran across an unpublished manuscript for a fiction book U Boat treasure by Charles Hand.
He has no published ...
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Can someone publish a story that happened to you?
Can someone take a story that happened to you, without your knowledge, and publish it? Using your name and specifics, and take the copyright for it?
A person, whose mother lived in our small town, ...
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Are Names of Characters Copyrighted by Authors?
Are names of characters copyrighted by authors? For example, the character "Eragon" from the Inheritance Cycle series, or a name that you've generated using an online name generator that you'd like to ...
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How can I contact JK Rowling for permission to publish my sequel for the Harry Potter series?
I recently watched the entire Harry Potter series in December 2021. I really loved the Harry Potter world and all the characters.
Even after days, I couldn't stop myself from thinking about it and I'm ...
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Do I need copyright permission to rewrite an old classic?
I'm planning to rewrite some old classics such as "Oliver Twist", "David Copperfield", "Jane Eyre", etc. in simple English. They will be abridged adaptations (with due ...
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Would it be a copyright violation if I made a character’s full name refer to a song?
I want to write a realistic fiction book similar to Thomas Hardy’s works, where he used techniques and Biblical references (they were also called allusions) to make his writing more meaningful, and to ...
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What should I do if my book's title is already taken?
I'm writing a novel, and I think I've come up with a very good title (The Power of the Powerless). It conveys the moral question of the story well, and gives a good sense of the style of the story. ...
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Getting My Rights Back
Back in the late 90's I wrote a picture book which eventually was published in 2002 by a big name publishing house. The book was critically acclaimed, won an award, and went through a couple of ...
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Do living authors still get paid royalties for their old work?
Do authors still get paid royalties for their old works? For example, If I decided to buy a copy of the "Odessa File" by Frederick Forsyth or "Kane and Abel" by Jeffery Archer, do the authors get paid ...
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Can we "borrow" our answers to populate our own websites?
Second Edit -- to try to expand the scope BEYOND W.SE and to cover any CreativeCommons work, not just here. Deleted part about the badges.
-- Edit -- to clarify it's not quite a BLOG, more a portfolio ...
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Borrowing Characters
Would it be a violation of copyright and/or plagiarism to “borrow” a character from another novel?
For example, I have a short story and want to include as a side character Ender (of Ender’s Game). I ...
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Can a copyright be made in the name of a fictional writer?
Is it possible to copyright a work in the name of a fictional writer? For example, like Nicolas Bourbaki or some pen name of some author? Can I use my own fictional name to copyright the work?
user4330
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I gave my characters names that are exactly like another book. Is it a problem?
Ok, so, I am currently writing a book and 3 of my characters have the same name as in another novel. I didn't realize it until someone pointed it out to me. The names I picked are fairly common and ...
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How can I know that I'm not plagiarizing?
New to the web. I just recently started to write again. I won a few highschool prizes writing short stories. Around the same time, I began to play Roleplaying games and to write different stories for ...
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Are music lyrics copyrighted?
I tried to find copyright information about music lyrics, but it is too confusing, because it is related to the usage.
There are lots of websites providing lyrics, but it seems they are somehow ...
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What's "fair use" for borrowing someone else's invented term?
Let's say I'm writing a sci-fi novel. I want to use a word which another writer has coined, which has become well-recognized outside the original book, for the name of an alien species in my story.
I ...
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Do publishers care if submitted work has already been copyrighted?
I'm getting ready to start submitting a book I've written. I copyrighted an earlier draft of it a few years ago (as in submitted it for official registered copyright). The final draft has not ...
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Can I Copyright My FaceBook Status Post?
Can I copyright my Facebook status updates? In the terms and agreements I didn't see a clear statement stating that Facebook owns my material.
Secondly, if I can't copyright the material I post on ...
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Can a book be published by more than one publisher?
1) Some books are published by more than one publisher. For example, if you go to Amazon or Flipkart and search for 'The Interpretation of Dreams' by Sigmund Freud, you will see many of them from ...
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How to express copyright when you use a pen name
I am about to self-publish my first novel using a pen name. I will be registering the copyright this week.
My question is, on the first page of the novel where you put all the publishing/copyright ...
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Is Academic Ghostwriting legal?
I recently learned of the concept of academic ghostwriting (see, e.g. this article) - by which I mean the situation where a student goes to another person, or perhaps a service, and pays them to ...
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On copyright laws and plots
I was pondering a lot on the issue with copyrights on plots. Is having an identical plot infringing someone else's copyrighted work?
I am fully aware that the character names are copyrighted and ...
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Can I keep my characters in my book or should I just give up with them?
My OCs (Original Characters) were stolen by an older person. She may or may not have copyrighted them. A few years ago I was like 13 and I posted some characters I made up and I really love them. One ...
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Who is responsible for copyrighted materials (publisher or writer)?
Imagine that Writer A's book includes copyrighted material created by Creator B, and Creator B sues for copyright infringement. Will Writer A be held liable, or will the book publisher?
I think the ...
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Can my work be stolen if I post excerpts and ideas on critique sites?
Participating in writing-related sites (for example on critique sites) sometimes involves describing a plot problem or sharing an excerpt from my work. I'm usually vague because of the fear that ...
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Does the Creative Commons license protect my writing on the web?
I usually write on the web and I would like to license my writings using one of the Creative Commons licenses, but I can't understand how that license can protect our works. We really like to share ...
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Is it legal to share an index you made from someone else's book?
There are some books published without a back-of-book index, which I feel is a dreadful shame. As part of my research I decided to create an index of one such book. Doing so is legal for my own use, ...
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Do you need to get author's permission to quote him in a non-fiction book?
I have a non-fiction book idea that would frequently use quotes/reviews from a specific author. Would I need to get that author's permission to quote him/her, and to base the entire book on these ...
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Who has copyright of Amazon reviews?
If a user posts a review on Amazon, does (s)he have copyright on that review? Is there anything in the terms and conditions where (s)he transfers his/her ownership of the IP to Amazon? If not, how ...
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Can I copy an existing magic system?
Is it fine for me to copy the magic system of another author if every other aspect (story,plot,etc.) of my fantasy story is my own design? For instance, can I use bending from Avatar: The Last ...
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Is it safe to create a wiki for a book (or something featured in it) before the book is published?
I'm working on a sci-fi novel, and it contains a lot of fictional creatures, which are in some ways separate from the novel because I came up with them a while before I actually got the idea to write ...
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When does inspiration across artforms become plagiarism
eSpoilers for Green Book in the E.g. section
I listen to a lot of music, and when I come up with stories, I often use songs as a source of inspiration.
However, what I was wondering is are songs ...
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Is it legal to use an old painting on the cover of a book?
Can I put an old painting on the cover of my book without violating the law?
AFAIK the copyright for a painting expires after 70 years. Hence, if a painting was created in 1874 and 70 years expired ...
user6696
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How does copyright apply to illustrations and cover art?
Is a paid-up-front illustrator entitled to royalties?
If I hire an illustrator for artwork, and I pay up front on a per-illustration basis, what copyright gotchas should I be aware of? Does the ...
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May I use real weapon names in my book without copyright problems?
I would like to use some weapon names to sound familiar to readers, (AK47, M16, C4, Colt...), but as far as I have heard, using real names from weapons one must have the permission of the companies (...
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Referencing, but not using, trademarked characters
Obviously, you're not allowed to use trademarked characters like Superman or Batman in your published works. If I wrote a novel about Superman fighting Lex Luthor, I could get sued.
But what about ...
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With an introduction by
This was originally a part of my question about partnering with a website, but I think it's separate enough to deserve its own post:
Many books are published with an introduction by a better-known ...
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Authorship when author leaves the organization that published the article?
A friend wrote an article. She was an employee of a medium-sized national non-profit organization (in the US). The article was published and was sold at a very affordable cost by the organization. ...
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Copyright - Can I go to any other publisher?
I have a question. I have self-published a book through Partridge publishing.
This is what my contract says -
"1.4. You will retain all rights to the content of the Work. We do not own rights to your ...
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Which free licence to choose for my book (manual)?
I wrote a 50 page manual that I plan to release for free. I do not mind if the book is copied, translated, printed, shared, ... I just want two things:
I am the only person who can sell a copy of ...
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How can I get permission to translate and republish a book?
I am interested in translating an English book into my native language.
How can I get permission to translate the book? Would that also include permission to republish the book in the native ...
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How to publish public domain books?
It is known that the copyright permission is not needed for old books (usually 70 years after the author's death), because the copyright has been expired. However, I am not sure how easy a public ...
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Is Sherlock Holmes public domain for use in a story?
I am writing a short story and would like to name check Sherlock Holmes as a character; according to the ever reliable (?) Wikipedia the stories of Holmes are UK Public Domain. Does this mean I can ...
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Approach to pop culture quotes in fiction writing
I am contemplating writing a fictional character [nerd] who speaks in a pop culture references. I appreciate this question somewhat overlaps
Referencing modern pop culture in science fiction
The ...
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Can I modify and turn my published short stories into a novel?
I'm writing some short stories that are all connected and are set in the same universe, because I planned to put them together into a novel later. My question is: If I publish those short stories, can ...
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Front-matter or back-matter?
I'm re-releasing a novella of mine as a self-published ebook shortly, and I'm wondering what to do with the traditional "front matter" of the book: copyright information, dedications, acknowledgements,...
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Do I need permission to name organizations in a non-fiction book?
I am self-publishing a dog photography book. I have obtained permissions for all subjects in the book. One of the pictures I am using has the American Kennel Club (AKC) logo in it. I'm assuming I need ...
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