Re: verbal permission to cite from book

On Thu, 19 Aug 1999, Joseph P. Riolo <riolo[_at_]voicenet.com> wrote:
>
> The answer to your question is no. (Oral permission is not valid in
> any court -- you need a written permission.)

Authority for this?

> I am sorry to say but none of the above is legal advice.

Indeed it may have nothing to do with the law. Consent is an absolute defense to copyright infringement, and there is, to my knowledge, no requirement for a writing for a non-exclusive license to use. (There *is* a requirement for a writing with respect to assignment and exclusive licenses -- 17 U.S.C. s. 204). Other defenses, such as laches, may be available as well.

This is not to say that, as a practical matter, it is a good idea to rely on a solely verbal consent to use copyrighted content. Whether a verbal consent is adequate assurance for your purposes that the author will not under the totality of the circumstances believably repudiate her verbal statement when the time comes for you to give evidence that verbal consent was given, is a non-legal decision for you to make in view of the alternative costs and practicalities of obtaining written confirmation.

Andrew C. Greenberg
<werdna[_at_]gate.net> Received on Fri Aug 20 1999 - 11:36:12 GMT