Greed
Compare the following:
I received in the mail permission to quote liberally – nearly a hundred words – from the PBS documentary Triumph of the Nerds, which includes quotes from Steve Jobs as he discusses Apple’s rise to power. In addition to the gratis permission that is the norm with publishing companies, I received a greeting card from their permissions editor, thanking me for being pleasant during the rather tedious process.
On the same day, I received “permission” from Pearson Education to quote about thirty words from Bringing Design to Software, for the cost of $150. Considering the book will most likely retail for around $30, that’s five copies of an estimated print run of 500.
Comments (4)
Doesn't 30 words easily count as fair use? The publishing norm used to be anything under 300 words. I think you got soaked.
Posted by Dan Saffer | October 12, 2006 6:56 PM
Actually, a word count has nothing to do with fair use explicitly - it has more to do with context.
I certainly didn't pay it :)
Posted by Jon | October 12, 2006 11:26 PM
Can you say more about context? In grad school, I must have included 30-word quotes in dozens of papers. I assume that stuff does fall under fair-use. What context doesn't let you quote 30 words?
Posted by Andrew | October 13, 2006 6:25 AM
Sure; there are generally four factors that determine fair use. Stanford has a nice summary of this material. The first factor is the most important for you - purpose - which asks are you using it for commercial or educational use? Your papers in grad school will automatically fall into Fair Use if you use the material in an advancement method - you build upon the material you quote and cite.
But none of the four factors (purpose, type of work quoted, amount, and effect on market) have a word count associated with them.
In a litigation rich society such as the United States, it is most likely a good idea to get permission for everything you quote. Even if you are truly within the notion of "Fair Use", a major publisher could throw their millions of lawyers at you quite easily ........
Posted by Jon | October 13, 2006 2:13 PM