Copyright advice – what can I reprint?

[timb98133]

I’m in the process of developing an ebook that pertains to theatre. In it I’m taking small excerpts from plays that have been published. In all cases its 1-2 paragraphs & I’m crediting the play & author. Can I get in trouble for this? I was looking at the “Fair Use” part of US copyright law & it’s a bit confusing. According to my research under “Fair Use” the substantiality of the copying is more important then the length.

Also some of the plays are several hundred years old so they would be in public domain. Would it be ok to use these?

Can anyone advise? I don’t want to get sued down the road!

Thanks!

 

[FlyingRon]

You definitely can get in trouble. Fair Use is something you argue after you are taken to court and not as a preemptive strike for a law suit.

If the play predates 1923, then it's pretty much public domain and you can do what you want with it (you don't even need to give credit as far as the law does but your academic ethics obviously would require it).

However a paragraph from a full length play introduced for the purposes of review or discussion certainly would seem to be exactly the sort of thing that is covered by fair use.