FAIR USE

A portion of the copyright law that outlines when a writer can and cannot quote from copyrighted material without asking permission. Unfortunately it is one of the grayest areas of the CR law, but one of the portions that will come into play most often in a writer's career. Some minor quotes from other writers can be included in your text without permission, but you still need to give the writer credit. If the portion used is more extensive, then you will need to both ask permission and give them credit. If it is necessary to get permission for some quotes in your book, you will be responsible to get the permissions and pay any required fees. Be sure you will be able to get those permissions before you submit your manuscript to a publisher, but don't get the permissions until you have a book contract, as there is often a time limit within which you can use the quoted material. For a full discussion and guidelines on this topic, go to: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/fairuse-explain.html.