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Topic: Right to Publicity
| Author | Message |
| boniqua24 | Posted – 9/10/2007 2:02:10 PM | show profile | email poster Can someone help me understand the right to publicity law and copywrite law when it comes to using FACTS about another person/or a celebrity when writing a book. I am writing a book and I want to use celebrity success stories and the success stories of other people in a motivational book. I have read up on right to publicity and copywriting but dont understand how it works. I only want to use positive factual info like biographies, and nothing that would defame the other people however I do not understand if I have to get permission from each person if the information is factual and found online, in encyclopedias, and etc. If anyone has any info please let me know tahnks |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 9/10/2007 2:18:25 PM | show profile I'm not a lawyer, but as I understand it ... The publicity law refers to using someone's name or likeness without their permission for advertising or marketing purposes, not for journalistic purposes. The copyright law refers to how of someone's copyrighted material you can use without their permission. For instance, if you reprinted a celeb's 1000 word profile in your book without permission that might be a copyright infringement, since someone else owns that material. However, it would be OK to take the facts from that bio and rewrite them in your own words. So, you cannot copyright the fact that, say, a famous person escape from prison -- but you could copyright a passage describing how he escaped. |
| boniqua24 | Posted – 9/10/2007 2:31:43 PM | show profile | email poster Right of Publicity ok i am new to the writing game, thanks i kinda understand now. when i researched right of publicity it mentioned You can not use the name of a celeb to sell a product or profit. So since i am writing the book and selling book for profit I thought i had to get permission. Also one other question. Do you know the rules on using a quote when writing a book. For instance if I used the quote "Try not to become a man of success but a man of value", by Einstein do I have to get permission from his family in his case because he is dead, and for a living persons quote get permission from that person Or do I just cite where I got the quote from in my book Sorry I know these questions are probally amatuer, if you have any other resources please let me know |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 9/10/2007 3:46:06 PM | show profile Some publishers have their own rules for using quotes. Otherwise, generally you don't need permission to use a quote that has been said on TV or which someone wrote or which has been widely used. --Also one other question. Do you know the rules on using a quote when writing a book. For instance if I used the quote "Try not to become a man of success but a man of value", by Einstein do I have to get permission from his family in his case because he is dead, and for a living persons quote get permission from that person-- |
| JimmyG | Posted – 9/11/2007 4:08:03 PM | show profile The Supreme Court has long held that anyone who willfully places him or herself in the public eye is fair game for articles and biographies so long as you are not being knowingly false and with malicious intent. And even then the celeb has to prove it and find a sympathetic jury in a civil suit to obtain damages. Still, I would work through these peoples' publicity staffs where possible and cross check like mad to maintain accuracy. I did a celeb profile recently that relied on many sources for background and even the person's own staff had trouble verifying some of the info. |
| boniqua24 | Posted – 9/12/2007 2:08:45 PM | show profile Right of Publicity Thanks for reply That is my biggest worry I am new to the writing world and although my book idea is a great one I can not afford to be slammed with million dollar suits |
