The Permission Seeker's Guide Through the Legal Jungle: Clearing Copyrights, Trademarks and Other Rights for Entertainment and Media Productions

Publishers, Writers, Visual Artists, Musicians, Film, TV, Website Producers, online entrepreneurs, and anyone interested in protecting themselves from infringing on the copyrighted material or trademarks of others, - may find this well-written book helpful. The author's analysis and checklists offer ways to minimize infringement risks in media productions. The rights clearance process is explained.A timely book. Recommended reading for beginning to learn about how to get permission to use specific materials. Some basic relevant laws are included.

Great resource to have for business

An excellent reference source.. Concepts are explained clearly and concisely.

This is a very informative book that is simply written for the writer that is involved in the media business. It give examples in all areas of copyright and trademark that backs up the legal explanation. I highly recommend this product for anyone in the media business that is seeking a copyright, trade mark, or legal release information. The author "knows her stuff!" Kathryn Thorson Gruhn, Author of the My Baby Compass Series

Joy R. Butler is endlessly impressive as she charts and details all of the legal choices, decisions and ramifications behind being a producer: that higher stage of artist which combines talent and inspiration with the realities of the global marketplace. This is, definitely, a book for the artist who is taking their craft and their lives to that next level.The degree to which she covers virtually every subject that could be covered re copyrights, permissions, trademarks, etc. is daunting. The book in fact is so detailed and voluminous that being shellshocked or momentarily disheartened as an artist will be inevitable. Showing once again how litigious our society is, amongst her many examples of interpretations of the law--and what artists and producers must contend with in that context--include the following: a treasured Muslim friend & assistant of Spike Lee unexpectedly suing him for the right to be considered a co-writer of his masterpiece MALCOLM X; and Eminem's fourth grade bully suing him to get a share of a song written about him being overcome later in life after it broke the Billboard charts! (And we wonder why stars can be so aloof.)Butler does say at the outset, however, that there may be big chunks of the book not designed for you, given your artistic specialty. And indeed, every artistic specialty is covered: from visual arts to computer arts; dance to drama; music of all genres to literary works; videos to commercials, TV, cinema and documentaries.You may walk away from this book thinking as I do: I gotta hire her as my lawyer! But either way, in the end, you'll walk away from this book feeling inspired, as the wealth of information provided supplies you with new ways to approach your work--beginning with the degree to which it is or isn't dependent on the inspiration and marketable work of others. Knowing your options regarding trademarks, copyrights, and other rights to use or transform works that have either come before you or are part of your individual and unique production teaches you how to think big time--really big time--as an artist. And helps make the inevitable success associated with taking this mindset on possible.Highly recommended.

When deciding whether a book is worth the effort of reading, the first thing I do is look at the table of contents. The second thing I look at is the index. Turning to the table of contents, I discovered that the author begins with a summary of contents listing the chapters, and then sets out a detailed table of contents listing each numbered section of each chapter. This format is standard for law school texts and legal practice manuals, and the detailed table of contents can send you directly to topics of burning interest without having to search for them, either in the index or by thumbing through scanning the first sentence of paragraphs. When I turned to the index, I found that it, like the indices for most law books, is somewhat skimpy.Because the book is formatted like a law school text or legal practice manual, I was afraid it might be written in the dry, prolix style of law school textbooks. It isn't. It is written in plain, colloquial English, and the concepts are explained in lucid fashion. Another helpful feature is the generous cross-referencing done in the text. Because the author presupposes that you are probably going to use the detailed table of contents to go directly to your area of interest without reading the book cover-to-cover, whenever she uses a term or mentions a concept that you might not understand, she cross-references you to the section where it is discussed in detail. She also includes an appendix of forms for use in conjunction with your quest for permission to use (and use of) copyrighted materials.I have read a number of books on copyright, getting permission, and the public domain, but I have not found one as user-friendly or as enjoyable to read as this one.