From the Legal Hotline

By Teri Henning, General Counsel; Melissa Melewsky, Media Law Counsel
Pennsylvania Newspaper Association

Q: An advertiser wants to place a memorial ad and include a poem taken from a Hallmark greeting card. Can we use the poem if we include the copyright symbol following the poem?

A: No, the poem is protected by copyright and simply noting the copyright symbol does not remove the risk of a copyright infringement lawsuit.

Copyright law allows copyright holders to:

1. reproduce the work in copies;
2. prepare derivative works based on the copyrighted work;
3. distribute the work to the public; and
4. display the work publicly.

The law also allows copyright holders to sell, license, assign or transfer any or all of the above rights to others. Doing any of the above without permission of the copyright holder presents a copyright infringement risk. There is no exception to copyright law that allows unauthorized use simply because the copyright symbol is noted. Unauthorized use may be acceptable if the use comes in the form of news writing. The fair use doctrine is a defense to copyright infringement and allows unauthorized use of copyright protected materials for criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship or research if the use is reasonable and incidental.

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