Lisa Wuennemann of Beloit, Wisconsin writes:
“When a reporter reviews our new product and prints a review in the newspaper or voices it on air, can we legally use a quote from the review in materials that we send promoting the product as long as we source it? Do we need to obtain written approval first?”
The Publicity Hound says:
I forwarded your question to attorney Patricia Eyres, the intellectual property expert who was my guest on a teleseminar “Legal Issues You Must Know When Writing Articles for Fee or for Free.” Here’s her response.
“Yes, you can quote short excerpts from the text of the review as long as you fully source both the reporter and the publication. This would be considered a ‘fair use’ under the copyright laws. However, if you want to reprint the entire review, or very significant excerpts, you must obtain permission from the holder of the copyright. In most cases, the copyright owner will be the newspaper. Finally, if the review contains graphics, such as bars, charts, photographs or hand-drawn artwork that is NOT reproduced from your product, you will need express permission from the holder of the copyright.” (The Publicity Hound says: That could be the publication or a freelance photographer ow whichever artist created it.)
If you missed the teleseminar, don’t miss Patricia’s great tips on legal landmines to avoid. “Legal Issues You Must Know When Writing Articles for Fee or for Free” shows you the basic–and lots more–of what you need to know when writing articles for print and online publicaitons so you don’t lose your valuable copyright and end up doing something that will make you kick yourself later.
When writing articles, there are lots of problems that can get you into big legal trouble. This recording tells you how to avoid them and how to make sure no one steals your valuable work and claims it as their own.