Using someone else's copyrighted work in your published manuscript

When dealing with the issues of published authors and copyright, the street runs both ways. In a previous post, we talked about how copyright law protects an author and his written work. In this post, we shift our focus to how copyright law allows for an author to incorporate another work in their own writings.

The concept of "Fair Use" actually originated in Great Britain in the 1700's. In the process of protecting someone created work, there initially wasn't a way to allow for authorized reproduction of copyrighted content. So the courts over time created a doctrine that helped to create a balance between protecting one's work and protecting the exchange of thoughts and ideas. This initially was called "Fair Abridgment."

That was the intent of the United States government as well when including "Fair Use" in the copyright law—to make sure the free flow of comments and criticisms of another's work was not stifled by the protection provided. For example, you have the right to criticize someone else's ideas and opinions. It's obvious that obtaining permission to include those comments in your own work for the purpose of arguing against them would be difficult at best, so the government provided a way that this exchange of thought could still exist without the original author strong-holding his copyright ownership.

"Fair Use" allows for a portion of the protected work to be included in another work without permission. The question, however, can be "how much is a portion." And it's within that question that the answer lies under several shades of gray. There are no specific percentages or specific word counts given (the "300 word limit" is a myth, not part of the law). But a good rule of thumb is to look at the impact the included work would have on your own work. If what you're wanting to include would only stand be to be a supporting pillar to your own thoughts and ideas, you're probably okay. But if the included work becomes the main stage, then that's not "Fair Use;" that' plagiarism.

Being that I work for a Christian publisher and we publish a substantial amount of religious writings, I should mention here that many Bible translations do have a specified amount of how much you can include of that translation in your own work. For example, the NIV translation allows for up to 500 verses, providing those verses don't make up one complete book of the Bible and that the included verses do not make up 25 percent or more of your work. Check the copyright page of other Bible translations for their specific requirements.

For more information on copyright law, check out www.copyright.gov (to get your info straight from the horse's mouth). Also, believe it or not, a search for "Fair Use" at Wikipedia actually yields some good information and several examples of court cases.