RE: Interview Copyright

>>> "Tyler Ochoa" [now]<ttochoa[_at_]scu.edu> 11/25/02 12:06 AM >>>

>>>>>> PoetMex[_at_]aol.com 11/22/02 10:53AM >>>>>> Is it necessary to get written permission from someone you are interviewing for a book? In my case at the beginning of each interview I [snip] told the subjects of the interview that they were being taped recorded. [snip] <<<<<<<<

>>> I think not; but if the publisher requires it, it really doesn't
matter
whether it is legally required or not. [snip] However, you state that you
tape-recorded the interviews. If, in doing so, you also tape recorded the
oral permission you described, I can't imagine why that would not be sufficient for the publisher's purposes. <<<<<<<<

Revisiting this item from last year, certainly the publisher's demands are going
to trump the legal issue, and the recorded permission may well suffice, but in saying "I think not" are you suggesting that there is no need to have any
permission from the interviewee? After all, once the interviewee's words are
recorded on the interviewer's recorder, doesn't copyright subsist in favor of the
author, i.e., the interviewee whose words have been fixed in the recording medium?

Howard P. Shaw
Schenck, Price, Smith & King LLP
10 Washington St., POB 905
Morristown, NJ 07963-0905
T: (973) 540-7322 F: (973) 540-7300
E-mail: hps[_at_]spsk.com Received on Fri Aug 29 2003 - 00:35:14 GMT