Re: Copyright in Personal Letters

Eric Zohn <ezohn[_at_]wma.com> wrote:
>
> An author is writing a book on sports history and wants to
> reproduce, in their entirety, private letters written by players to
> fans throughout this century that he has acquired from various
> sources. The letters have never been published before.
> I know that ownership of the letters does not give him ownership of
> the copyright in the letters. Many of the players were obscure and
> finding their heirs would be almost impossible. Does anyone know
> of any type of authority, e.g. a fair use case, that I could use to
> advise the author?

To the best of my knowledge, the law has pretty uniformly held that previously unpublished letters may not be published without the permission of the letter-writer or his estate. Even biographers, whose purpose was research and comment, and so arguably fair use, have been found to have infringed copyright when using previously unpublished letters without permission (cases involving letters of J.D. Salinger, Joel Goldsmith, Richard Wright, and, I think, Howard Hughes). I wish I knew of some favorable authority for your position. Maybe someone else does.

Bob Cumbow
<cumbr[_at_]perkinscoie.com> Received on Wed Jul 30 1997 - 16:12:57 GMT