On Wed, 30 Jul 1997, Robert Cumbow <cumbr[_at_]perkinscoie.com> wrote:
>
> 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 previously unpublished letters may not be published without the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 unpublished letters without permission (cases involving letters of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.
But the 1992 amendment to section 107 of the Copyright Act basically says that fair use of unpublished works is to be judged just as if it were a published work. So, it is unclear whether Salinger is still good law.
Obviously, under the third factor, amount & substantiallity, the more of a letter (or letters) that is used, the less likely it is to be fair use.
Lolly
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Laura N. Gasaway Phone: 919-962-1049 Director of the Law Library & Professor of Law Fax: 919-962-1193 CB # 3385 University of North Carolina e-mail: laura_gasaway[_at_]unc.eduChapel Hill, NC 27599 Received on Mon Aug 04 1997 - 16:52:21 GMT
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