Wow, Joy Butler has just made our lives easier. The Permission Seeker's Guide Through the Legal Jungle is a user-friendly, detailed, wealth of knowledge for authors, producers and anyone who wants to use copyrighted material. I've written 4 books and had to wind my way through the jungle of permissions on my own, which was tedious and painful (news flash, your publisher doesn't track that stuff down for you and YOU are legally responsible for any inapporpriate use of material your use in your books and productions.) Thank you Joy for making every book I write in the future a breeze with your book now on my shelf right next to my desk.

Wow, Joy Butler has just made our lives easier. The Permission Seeker's Guide Through the Legal Jungle is a user-friendly, detailed, wealth of knowledge for authors, producers and anyone who wants to use copyrighted material. I've written 4 books and had to wind my way through the jungle of permissions on my own, which was tedious and painful (news flash, your publisher doesn't track that stuff down for you and YOU are legally responsible for any inapporpriate use of material your use in your books and productions.) Thank you Joy for making every book I write in the future a breeze with your book now on my shelf right next to my desk.

Serendipitously, I received entertainment and business attorney, Joy R. Butler's "The Permission Seeker's Guide through the Legal Jungle" when a good friend of mine was in the process of designing and launching his website. Knowing that he had some trademark issues ( he had recently come up with a logo for his goods and services and wanted to protect his intellectual property) I promptly handed over this book and awaited a detailed synopsis of his first hand experience with it.

His comments exceeded my initial impression of this guide. While my reading of the book revealed a tightly crafted compendium of situations and solutions that arise during the identification and elimination of rights clearance problems in media production ----think anything through which people communicate and express themselves i.e., film, video, television programs, newspapers, magazines, posters, computer games, comic books, paintings, photographs, fine art, advertisements, websites, sculptures, books, etc.--my friend's opinion waxed practical as he followed the steps to insure that his production contained no material that violated the rights of another person.

Specifically, he wanted to use a song and CD photo on a website that he had heard on a CD and change key lyrics to reflect and promote his product and personal enterprise. Author Butler explains how to identify the rights owner - in this case the owner of the recording and the photographer of the photograph used on the CD cover----and how to seek permission to use the music and the photo. Using Butler's techniques, my friend successfully accomplished his mission and both the edited song and the photo appear on his website without the fear of kindling a lengthy expensive and tiresome lawsuit.

Butler's guide is definitely well organized; the summary table of contents, the table of contents and the index lay out with an encyclopedic precision exactly what the book contains. She presents an overall format for using the book, defines and explains relevant rights and laws, relays clearance issues for each media type, details the process of clearing rights and seeking permission, while minimizing risks and protecting oneself from possible lawsuits. Specific information is extremely easy to find within this volume; all topics are comprehensive, well documented and easy to read and comprehend with procedural information as well as examples of up-to-date cases and court rulings.

Bottom Line? On a real and practical level, Joy R. Butler's "The Permission Seeker's Guide through the Legal Jungle" provides a wealth of information that every writer and publisher should own and reference to avoid rights clearance problems in any media production. Recommended highly for all those who need to know the law and make it work in their favor.
Diana Faillace Von Behren
"reneofc"

Joy Butler's The Permission Seeker's Guide Through the Legal Jungle arrived promptly and I was blown away. The guide expertly covers rights, clearance issues, how to obtain clearance, minimizing risksThe Permission Seeker's Guide Through the Legal Jungle: Clearing Copyrights, Trademarks and Other Rights for Entertainment and Media Productions (Guide Through the Legal Jungle). It also has a section at the end for resources and forms. Butler enables the reader to navigate through complex issues with ease. Her style is comfortable. You can pick it up and read straight through or skip to the sections that are of immediate concern.

This book should be required reading for all of us creative industries. Sure wish I'd had it earlier!

Shannon Grissom
Author: Monkey Made of Sockies
Television Producer: Give Your Walls Some Soul!

Joy R. Butler is endlessly impressive as she charts and details all of the legal choices, decisions and ramifications behind being a producer-- the higher stage of artist, combining artistic talent and inspiration with the realities of the marketplace. This is, definitely, a book for the artist who is taking their craft and their lives to that next level (or plans to): from that of reveling in their ability to create personally or within the confines of their interested community, to the greater world--globally and economically.

The degree to which she covers virtually every subject that could be covered re copyrights, permissions, trademarks, etc. is daunting. The book in fact is so detailed and voluminous that being shellshocked or momentarily disheartened as an artist will be inevitable. (Showing once again how litigious our society is, amongst her many examples of interpretations of the law--and what artists and producers must contend with in that context--are those of a treasured Muslim friend & assistant of Spike Lee's unexpectedly suing him for the right to be considered a co-writer of his masterpiece MALCOLM X, and Eminem's fourth grade bully, to get a share of a song written about him being overcome later in life! And we wonder why stars can be so aloof.)

Butler does say at the outset, however, that there may be big chunks of the book not designed for you, given your artistic specialty. And indeed, every artistic specialty is covered: from visual arts to computer arts; dance to drama; music of all genres to literary works; videos to commercials, to TV, to cinema, to documentaries.

You may walk away from this book thinking as I do: I gotta hire her as my lawyer! But either way, in the end, you'll walk away from this book feeling inspired, as her wealth of information provided enables you with new ways to approach your work, and the degree to which it is or is not dependent on the inspiration and marketable work of others. Knowing your options regarding trademarks, copyrights, and other rights to use or transform works that have either come before you or are part of your individual and unique production teaches you how to think big time--really big time--as an artist.

Highly recommended.

This book is written for publishers, writers, visual artists, muscians, music producers, film & TV producers, producers of Web sites and software, people, celebrities, and businesses. They all have or want intellectual property, and by reading this book they can learn how the commercial licensing of intellectual property works. The book has 28 chapters:

1. Guide to using this book
3. Copyright basics
4. Trademark basics
5. Common elements of privacy, publicity & defamation law
6. Right of privacy
7. Right of publicity
8. Defamation
9. Other relevant rights & laws
16. Getting organized (to seek permission)
17. Putting your own house in order
18. Submitting the request for permission
19. Negotiating the rights agreement
27. Methods of minimizing risks
28. Dealing with lawsuits

2. Checklist of clearance issues
CLEARANCE ISSUES FOR ...
10. Publishers & writers
11. Visual Artists
12. Musicians & music producers
13. Film, TV, & audio-visual producers
14. Producers of Web sites and software
15. Business
CLEARING RIGHTS AND SEEKING PERMISSION ...
20. To use books & other printed material
21. To use visual art
22. To use music
23. To use film, TV, & video footage
24. To use Web site & software materials
25. With respect to people
26. To use trademarks, products, & locations

The numbers above correspond to the chapters as they are sequenced in the book. I have rearranged the chapters in the order in which I would have liked to have seen them included in the book. Also, I would have liked the book better if it had been split into two parts instead of six. Part A would have included the chapters "1-28" as cited herein above. And Part B would have included the chapters "2-26." As a result of the way the book was organized I almost gave it a 4-star rating. But this book really is a gem and full of content.

My favorite chapters were chapters 2 & 3 (intellectual property law) and chapters 6-9 (tort law). And chapters 18 and 19 were really good, too. Clearly much of the book is aimed at topics an entertainment lawyer handles in her legal practice. But from my perspective as a SCORE small business counselor I think chapters 3, 4, 10, 14, 15, 20, and 24-28 are the most relevant to my clients' concerns. 5 stars!

It is no secret that we live in a time of challenged media boundaries. If I commit journalism under direction from a local metropolitan newspaper but work at home on my computer and follow my own schedule, what are my responsibilities vis-a-vis the work I create? Will someone at the paper "proof" my facts? Can I assume so? Can I say something mean about a celebrity if I think it is true? Can I say something mean about a celebrity after s/he dies? What if I am positive that the person who said those mean things is absolutely correct in his/her opinion? If I quote my source, can I still get in trouble?

Yes, you can, and therein lies the genius of Joy Butler's proactive and assertive new book THE PERMISSION SEEKER'S GUIDE THROUGH THE LEGAL JUNGLE: CLEARING COPYWRIGHTS, TRADEMARKS AND OTHER RIGHTS FOR ENTERTAINMENT AND MEDIA PRODUCTIONS GUIDE. Ms. Butler is an attorney who writes more like a journalist. If not for a very hardworking few like her, many of us -- professional writers and artists; semi-pros; even amateurs who like to keep their rights to their own work -- would be forced into a Neverland of obsolete advice, old wives' tales, dubious "rules" and bungled attempts to address this situation as "ethics" in journalism textbooks. Or pay megabucks to rarefied intellectual-property attorneys who may not know your own situation as well as you do.

Is it safe to assume that your media benefactor, be it a free weekly or a national magazine, has your best interests at heart and will let you retain rights or "borrow" them for further publication? Does it matter whether you were paid for such work or did it as a volunteer? Well, maybe and maybe not. Ms. Butler shows us -- patiently and logically -- the legal concepts you must deal with to keep in shape, intellectual-property speaking. You see,making it personal means you're already lost the battle -- keep what you know is yours to yourself and you won't have to worry about corporate largesse, whether intentional or un.

The specific strategy Butler's uses the most is in fact a kind of "assertiveness training" in print -- allowing us to assert and protect our rights before they hiccup away in a flurry of contractual fine print; keeping us from breaking the law when we are at our most well-meant; and helping us through the many fine points that come with a complex and now technologically hyperbolic field, which all the while tries to run concurrent with the Anglo-American milieu of legal rule and precedence, not to mention legislation that is often obsolescent as soon as it sees print.

Copyright, trademark, patents and other intellectual propery is a huge field, but often a bewildering and confusing mess than even most lawyers-in-training are leery of. THE PERMISSION SEEKER'S GUIDE is not an easy book, because the law is not easy. But it is the most helpful book of its kind I have read. Even if you're an attorney or a very experienced writer with a great agent and editor, I'll wager you will learn things from this important and generous book. I certainly wish it were around 20 years ago when I started writing for pay; and I certainly learned more after reading the book. THE PERMISSION SEEKER'S GUIDE deserves a wide audience.

If you are doing any kind of media production such as a video, an advertisement or if you publish a website or blog, you should get a copy of this book. Many people who publish websites often find, to their chagrin, that they've used copywrited material and then have to deal with the consequences. This book is also useful in how to start dealing with copyright infringement on artwork, which seems to be a growing problem with Web-published art and the ability to capture images with a click of a mouse. This is the most concise, handy book ever. There is a synopsis of US copyright and trademark law, a back appendix of agreements and releases. There is also a section on resources such as rights organizations, how much it generally costs to use a music track or image, and where to go to protect your own copyrights. There is a section on how to deal with lawsuits and what IS and IS NOT copyrightable. More importantly, there is a section on how to recognize when you going to read on rights, and how to obtain clearing of the rights so you can use materials in your publication that many people just pick up without a thought. Some of the important topics for video producers include getting music permissions, sampling (fair use or not?) For bloggers, there is a section about use of images, libel, who is considered a "public individual" and who is private. This book is not meant to replace legal counsel, but it is an excellent guide to how to start off if you intend to do films, blogs, articles or other publications. The book is readable, not at all dry and boring and the layout is thoughtful--with well-spaced paragraphs and bold headings so you can quickly leaf through and find a relevant topic.

As a writer and presenter, I know there's a number of copyright issues you can get into if you're not careful. I didn't have the faintest idea *how* extensive those issues are until I read The Permission Seeker's Guide Through the Legal Jungle: Clearing Copyrights, Trademarks and Other Rights for Entertainment and Media Productions by Joy R. Butler. At worst, you'll see how the nation's lawyer corps stay employed. At best, you'll keep out of harm's way and not end up in court yourself.

Contents:
Part 1 - Overview of Rights Clearance Issues: Guide to Using This Book; Checklist of Clearance Issues
Part 2 - Relevant Rights and Laws: Copyright Basics; Trademark Basics; Common Elements of Privacy, Publicity and Defamation Law; Right of Privacy; Right of Publicity; Defamation; Other Relevant Rights and Laws
Part 3 - Clearance Issues for Specific Productions: Clearance Issues for Publishers and Writers; Clearance Issues for Visual Artists; Clearance Issues for Musicians and Music Producers; Clearance Issues for Film, TV and Audio-Visual Producers; Clearance Issues for Producers of Websites and Software; Clearance Issues for Business
Part 4 - The Process of Clearing Rights and Seeking Permission: Getting Organized; Putting Your Own House In Order; Submitting the Request for Permission; Negotiating the Rights Agreement
Part 5 - Seeking Permission to Use Specific Materials: Clearing Rights and Seeking Permission to Use Books and Other Printed Material; Clearing Rights and Seeking Permission to Use Visual Art; Clearing Rights and Seeking Permission to Use Music; Clearing Rights and Seeking Permission to Use Film, TV, and Video Footage; Clearing Rights and Seeking Permission to Use Website and Software Materials; Clearing Rights and Seeking Permission with Respect to People; Clearing Rights and Seeking Permission to Use Trademarks, Products, and Locations
Part 6 - Minimizing Your Risks and Protecting Yourself: Methods of Minimizing Risk; Dealing with Lawsuits
Appendix, Resources and Forms: Resources, Forms
Index
About the Author

I'm sure most of us at some time or another copied a picture off the web or downloaded a song or two. And it's not easy to avoid all the stories these days about music and video piracy. What Butler's book does is give you a comprehensive AND readable guide to what rights are present in various forms, as well as how you need to secure those rights if you want to legally use materials in your own works. It's likely that putting a single image in a Powerpoint presentation for your department at work isn't going to put you in any legal jeopardy. But let's say you used that same download image (without permission, of course) in an eBook you created and made available for sale online. If the rightful owner of that image finds that you've done so, they have legal rights that can involve damages, injunctions, and other nasty obligations that can wipe out any profit you *may* have made from your book. Much better to secure permission beforehand and make sure you won't spend any time in court defending yourself.

Even if you're not involved in a particular area, say like filmmaking, it's still interesting to read the material. Butler not only states the law, but she includes a large number of court case references that show how the law has been applied in the past. Of course, each case is different, but what I quickly discovered is that what appears to be reasonable may not be, and you can cross over from fair use to unauthorized use of material with ease. This book won't tell you the answer to every situation you may encounter, but it will get you thinking about issues you need to be concerned with. Something about ignorance not being an allowed defense... :)

This is a book I'd recommend be on the reference shelf of any writer, artist, filmmaker, or singer. It can protect your own rights with your creations, as well as making sure you're protected against unlawful use of others' material...

The world of copyrights, trademarks, and other associated rights is extremely complicated. Most artists, writers, producers, and webmasters don't have a clue if they are setting themselves up for a potential lawsuit. Many simply assume that they are within their rights and hope that no one will call them on something. Some of these individuals find themselves having to spend valuable time and energy securing appropriate clearances during the final phase of their project. Others only realize their mistake when lawyers start to get involved.

Smart artists, writers, producers, and webmasters need to get The Permission Seeker's Guide Through The Legal Jungle. This reference covers what rights need to be cleared, how to go about doing so, and how to avoid clearance problems. Despite it's depth of information, I found this reference easy to read and understand how each aspect might directly affect my work. The author has even included real life examples to clarify some of the more difficult concepts. This is an extremely handy reference required for anyone involved in entertainment or media productions of any type. Know your rights and avoid clearance issues that could adversely affect your project.

Joy Butler's "The Permission Seeker's Guide Through the Legal Jungle" addresses the laws and business practices that govern the use of copyrighted materials. It is geared to those who "produce, acquire, distribute, or otherwise work with media productions." Ms. Butler tells her audience how to protect their intellectual property, in what circumstances it is legal to borrow from others, and how one "clears rights," which involves finding out if consent is needed, who exactly holds the rights to a particular item, and how to obtain authorization to use material legally.

Butler, who is a Harvard-trained entertainment attorney, limits her scope to United States law. She presents her ideas clearly, concisely, and in an impeccably organized manner. The book's usefulness is enhanced by a a detailed table of contents, a handy index, and several appendices that provide the names and address of key organizations followed by sample forms and contracts.

Many questions are addressed here, including: Is it permissible to use someone else's music on the Internet? Are you legally allowed to parody a well-known work without first getting permission? How does one negotiate a license fee and a rights agreement? Historically, how have courts handled cases of alleged copyright infringement? Not only does Butler explain many of the relevant rules and regulations dealing with these and other topics, but she also gives examples of lawsuits that have made their way through the courts. What were the courts' rulings and why did they decide as they did?

"The Permission Seeker's Guide Through the Legal Jungle" is a valuable introduction to the subject of copyrights and trademarks and an excellent resource that may be dipped into whenever someone has a question about fair use and other related topics. The reader is cautioned to think twice before "borrowing" other people's intellectual property. When in doubt, find out!

Most of us have a sense of when we can use a song or a printed article or some other work that is protected by copyright. And most of us are wrong. We see news articles about this kid or that mother and some other person being sued for violating someone else's ownership rights. While most of us don't publish or perform in public, photocopiers, the web, and digital file formats make potential criminals of us all. Well, maybe criminal is a bit strong, but we often put ourselves at risk without realizing it.

This handy guide by Joy R. Butler will give its readers, maybe users is a better term, some good first defense understanding of what they need to seek out and do in order to use materials created or owned by others. It is well organized and written in everyday English rather than legalese. She has organized the book's 28 chapters into six parts:

1) Overview of Rights Clearance Issues
2) Relevant Rights and Laws
3) Clearance Issues for Specific Productions
4) The Process of Clearing Rights and Seeking Permission
5) Seeking Permission to use Specific Materials
6) Minimizing Your Risks and Protecting Yourself

There is also an appendix on resources and another for some basic forms.

Really, I never thought much about these issues until I joined the board of a classical music group here in Ann Arbor. While most of what we sing is long out of copyright, some is not. Frankly, I did not realize how closely groups like ASCAP and BMI monitor groups like ours. It is important to keep them, well, at bay. So, learn what you need to do before the trouble comes.

This book is vastly less expensive the lawyer time. So, pick up a copy and get yourself oriented. That way, when you need to use an attorney you will know why and doing it on your terms rather than reacting to someone coming after you for something you didn't even realize could even be a problem.

Few people are so imaginative that they can create a new work that has no similarity or references to previous works and anyone developing reference or professional material will build on previous work. In all of these cases and those in between, there are issues regarding prior work, existing copyright and trademark usage. If you are the creator of original work, you will also be interested in assigning the correct copyright to your work so that you will be given the appropriate credit and receive the proper compensation for any future use of your work.
All of these circumstances are covered in this book; it is no exaggeration to call it a bible for anyone who has publication plans and cannot afford to hire expertise in the legal aspects of publishing. Written in language that needs no legal training to decipher, this book will safely lead you through the potential mine field of using or building on previous work. One of the most significant aspects of the book is to demonstrate just how perilous that mine field is. Many of the cases cited in the book fell in the category of what I would consider unexpected and I have edited "Journal of Recreational Mathematics" for several years. Even situations as simple as a trademark or other copyrighted material appearing in the background of an image can be grounds for legal action.
If you write anything that is published anywhere, including online, then this is a book that you should use as a reference. While there are many dangers, nearly all can be avoided by applying the simple caveats put forward by Butler.

I want to start off this review by saying that you do not have to be a Film Producer, Famed Musician, Well-Known Author, or someone in the limelight, to find this book invaluable. I'm a 'nobody' to just about everybody in this world; yet I have written over 3,000 songs, fifty children's books, and a dozen other titles and had no idea what my rights were concerning my works, until now.

In this outstanding book by author Joy R.Butler I had my eyes opened in many areas concerning my creative achievements and how to protect them. I also learned what I could freely use of other's and what I better think twice about. There are so many areas and so much information within the pages of this work that I could not even begin to open it up for you. However, I can tell you that this book should be on your bookshelf because everyone of us at one time or another in our lives will use a slogan or popular picture, or song, for one thing or another, be it a school event, or a church event or a picture from a Christmas card, and one never knows when it could open a whole carload of legal trouble for us.

I believe the old saying, "Forearmed is Forewarned," really gives you the upper-hand in life; and this work will give you just that. Ms. Butler has done an exceptional job of research and lays the information out in a clear, understanding manner that is easy to read and follow. This is a great book and I believe once you read it, you will be glad you did. Thank you Ms. Butler for helping me understand more about my rights and the rights of others. Recommended.

For all of those creative people in 'media production', and in author Joy Butler's words this includes 'film, video, television programs, newspapers, magazines, posters, comic books, paintings, CDs, websites, computer games, photographs, fine art, advertisements, and a host of other media through which people communicate and express themselves', this succinct, terse tome aptly titled "THE PERMISSION SEEKER'S GUIDE THROUGH THE LEGAL JUNGLE: clearing Copyrights, Trademarks and Other Rights for Entertainment and Media Productions" is a Bible, a veritable treasure trove of easy to find information for answers to even the most simple to the most complex questions as to what is legally correct.

Butler is an entertainment attorney whose job it is to protect artists, both primary and secondary. Her book is gratefully written without the legalese that is usually found in less useful books on copyright law for beginners. And yet she is able to walk the reader through the steps to assure that 'ideas' are original, or how to incorporate other artists' work into a different format which in no way jeopardizes the reader/artist. Her examples are clear, her advice is clean and thorough, and her supply of resources and forms and systems to explore is as complete as any author's book on the market.

Quite simply stated, this book is the artist's dream and diminishes the anxiety of both protecting the reader's work as well as protecting the 'resource of origination' (the artist who is being referenced. Now that Butler's book is available, one more book becomes as indispensable to the library as the Thesaurus, Dictionary, Encyclopedia, and Bartlett's Book of Quotations. An important resource book and an immensely readable one! Grady Harp, August 07

Whether starting your own website, producing an independent film or working on the next Great American Novel, Joy Butler's guide is an essential resource that will help you safely cross the minefield of intellectual property law in the creative arena. This book is well-written, exceptionally well-organized and packed with useful information and resources that will help you protect yourself from the devastating effects of copyright infringement, whether as an inadvertent perpetrator or potential victim. Ms. Butler's writing style is crisp, clean and far more comprehensible than that of most attorneys. Her use of real life examples helped to make the primary elements of copyright and trademark law as clear as they could be. The resource materials following the final chapter include sample forms and suggestions for further information. These alone are worth the price of the book.
As a general practice attorney, I will recommend this book to all my clients in the creative arts.

I work in an Entertainment Media college where I run the student portal where we publish information and news stories that pertain to the world of entertainment media. I also have been a blogger for five years and recently I founded TuDiabetes.com, an online community for people touched by diabetes. So I am familiar with challenges that a publisher faces when trying to use certain assets for a publication and the permissions that are needed for doing this, and I have also had numerous interviews with attorneys specialized in the topic of intellectual property applied to this specific space.

When I learned about this title by Joy Butler I couldn't imagine a better fit for anybody needing to make sense of the "fine print" in entertainment media. Whether you are an artist, writer, publisher, producer or simply knowing what you can or cannot do to make sure you don't run into dangerous territory with regards to the use of media, this book is for you.

A well written concise book.


Publishers, Writers, Visual Artists, Musicians, Film, TV and Website Producers, may find this book helpful. The rights clearance process is clearly defined.


The author's analysis and checklists offer ways to minimize risks in media productions by identifying and eliminating rights clearance problems, and understanding relevant rights and laws.

A timely book for today's expanding usage of online tags, people's names and images, film clips and literary material.

Recommended reading for the first step in learning how to protect your media productions --- and the avenue of seeking permission to use specific materials.

In our current technology age "A Permission Seeker's Guide Through the Legal Jungle" is important for the professional and the amateur hobbyist. A lot of regular folks are creating, recording, and producing material that needs to be protected. If you're doing anything, even part-time involving intellectual property, you should protect your work and others' work: movies, books, songs, MP3, YouTube, blogs, website owners, writers, publicists, musicians, webmasters, and more. Idea protection. Rarely but yes, this can even apply to teachers using material in class or publishing their own works. My first impression before opening this book was that it was comprised of "legalese." Not the case at all. It's written for us.

There are numerous real legal cases noted. If you want to use a quote in a magazine, who do you contact? What does it cost? Does "Fair Use" apply? Find out here. Also, if you want to reduce the costs to use brief snippets of non-fair use material, you can learn how to do it.

Author Joy Butler has a knack for explaining legalities to the layman and laywoman: copyright, trademark, libel, slander, clip of a song or photograph, and under some instances, even someone's face.

The book is organized into 6 parts. There are many sub-chapters that deal with very specific issues and circumstances within the main chapters listed below:

One: Overview of Rights Clearance Issues
Two: Relevant Rights and Laws
Three: Clearance Issues for Specific Productions
Four: The Process of Clearing Rights and Seeking Permission
Five: Seeking Permission to Use Specific Materials
Six: Minimizing Your Risks and Protecting Yourself


The index is superb. Included are the mailing and email addresses of collective rights organizations that producers use for the material they use. The costs are included, also. Tons of sample forms are in the Appendix. This seems to help someone who doesn't have access to experts and/or a legal department. Throughout the book you can find what topic or issue you're looking for, because the referencing instructs you to "see 3.2 on page so-and-so." You can find what you want easily and quickly.

Some of the extra tid-bits I found interesting are: anti-paparazzi laws, anti Son of Sam Laws, and the protection of the "expression of an idea." Eminem was actually sued over a song in which he called someone a bully back in the 4th grade. He was sued by that person, and the jury ruled that this old classmate actually was a bully, or bullied Eminem, and ruled in Eminem's favor.

This is an important book that's reader friendly for anybody who is doing things, even on the side, using today's technology.

I agreed to read this book intending to give it what I term a "drive-by." Stranded in a Midwest airport, I started perusing it in an attempt to figure out what I would say. Before the thundershowers in the East receded, I found myself at the book's end.

Joy R. Butler, an entertainment attorney, has written a thorough and insightful guide for writers, producers, filmmakers, website-owners and software developers who want to avoid legal entrapments. It provides detailed instructions for clearing rights to use quotes, music, film clips, names, faces, brands and life stories.

Having been trained as a journalist, I generally take the position that anything I write is newsworthy and protected under the First Amendment. Attorney Butler disagrees. I was four pages into the first chapter before the author described that position as being akin to "driving a car with your eyes closed." I may be lucky for a while, she writes, but eventually I am sure encounter trouble.

Butler writes that clearance issues are fact specific. What applies in one situation may not be applicable in another. The book provides real-life examples and the ensuing court battles to illustrate her points.

In the appendix, she even provides more than 50 pages of sample forms and letters which can be adapted to your personal needs

The book opened my eyes. But being an old dog, I am sure I will be slow to learn any permission-seeking new tricks. Yet, I am still glad I read it. To show my gratitude, I offer the author this warning: my daughter lives near your Virginia office. I visit her several times a year. I make no warranties that my driving is any better than my permission-seeking.

If you are currently working as a producer in the entertainment or media industry then a copy of Joy Butler's "The Permission Seekers Guide Through The Legal Jungle" should be within your reach at all times. Joy Butler covers it all from copyrights to trademarks, libel, slander and privacy issues, what material might be considered to be obscene or indecent and the list goes on and on. I simply had no idea just how many issues producers have to contend with when putting together a play, movie or television show. There are so many nuances and caveats in the law and many of the rulings eminating from the courts these days are quite inconsistant to say the least. Since there is likely to be a considerable amount of money at stake in these productions Joy Butler usually recommends getting permission and clearance from the appropriate parties whenever possible. "The Permission Seekers Guide Through The Legal Jungle" is also most helpful in defining key terms that those in the business must have a clear understanding of if they are to be successful in their work. As someone who does not work in this field, I found the numerous case studies that were included in this book to be extremely effective in illustrating the points of law that were being discussed. Finally, at the end of the book Joy Butler has included more than fifty pages of resources and sample forms that will assist you in the process of clearing rights. Very helpful indeed!
It occurs to me that in addition to being a valuable reference resource for those already working in this field "The Permission Seekers Guide Through The Legal Jungle" would also serve as a terrific supplemental text for those taking courses in media production at the college level. Again, this book is written in simple, easy to understand language that I really appreciated. As Joy Butler points out frequently throughout this book, the law surrounding these complex issues is constantly changing. As such, this is a book that will likely be revised from time to time. The issues are presented in a very logical sequence and the table of contents should allow most people to find exactly what they are looking for very easily. Highly recommended for those working in the industry and a pretty fair cover to cover read for anyone else who might be interested in these issues.

If you work in media or entertainment at all, even as a hobby, you probably need this book whether you know it or not.

Joy Butler has written an excellent guide on a complicated subject: how to make sure you have permission to use . . . well, lots of things, mostly involving sounds and pictures, but also computer software. And unless you've got some legal background, you may not know how complicated that can be -- until you get a nasty letter from someone's lawyer.

Butler's guide is written, helpfully, from the user's point of view. As a media/entertaniment lawyer herself, she brings to bear a great deal of legal expertise in many relevant areas of law (copyright and trademark law being two of the more significant). But it's not laid out like a legal treatise; it's organized in practical fashion, so that someone who's _not_ a lawyer can read it and get a grasp of relevant considerations from all over the legal map.

The organization is excellent: Butler gives the reader a short but thorough and systematic tutorial, and then provides a series of focused chapters walking the reader step by step through the process of clearing permissions. Each bit of advice is brief, well written, and (where appropriate) supported by relevant cases. And here again, if you don't have any background in this area, you may be surprised at how much there is to check.

I do have one small bone to pick. In her otherwise excellent summary of US copyright law, Butler repeats an error that I think is much too common among copyright lawyers who ought to know better: she advises the reader that an original work must be "fixed" in order to be protected by copyright. But "fixation" is a requirement for _federal_ copyright protection, and there are several significant sorts of _unfixed_ work that are protected by _state_ copyright law. Unfixed works don't come up very often in practice, so Butler's advice isn't likely to lead anyone astray. But given the purpose of the book, it would have been just a smidgen safer to advise readers that they _can't_ borrow freely from e.g. an improvised piece of music just because it hasn't been written down or recorded. (That includes making surreptitious recordings of it while it's being improvised -- which is also a state-law matter, since a recording not authorized by the work's creator doesn't count as a "fixation" under federal law.)

But that's a minor glitch in a fine, fine resource. Readers familiar with Krasilovsky and Shemel's justly famous _This Business of Music_ now have a book they can put next to it on the shelf. Highly recommended.

A media production can be a new movie, book or song. When an individual uses any borrowed material for use in their project, they need to clear rights from a particular person or company. Clearing rights is a process that includes finding the owner of the rights of the items and getting consent and proper legal permission to use those items. If a person does not obtain the proper rights, they could charged with copyright infringement and be faced with a law suit. I love reading the legal example Butler uses to show what copyright and trademark violations are. Singer Michael Bolton lost a copyright lawsuit. He used the melody of an Isley Brothers song in his hit song "Love Is a Wonderful Thing" A panel of jurors awarded Ronald Isley millions of dollars in royalties that the song earned. Dairy Queens is a title of a documentary about beauty paegant. The title infringed on the ice cream shop trademark. As a result, the court ordered an injunction preventing use of the title for the documentary. In the appendix of the book, Butler lists the mailing addresses and email addresses of collective rights organizations that producers can use to get the material they need. She also lists the cost of their services. I was surprised about how expensive these items were. For example, it costs $100,000 for a sync license to use a song in a television commercial for one year. It costs up to $200 just to use a quote in a book or magazine. It costs $329 to get a license fee to use an image of a kite in flight in a production. Despite these high costs of these items Butler does not discourage any creative expression. She recommends that producers use art work and music from local and up coming artists and musicians who will likely license their work for a cheaper price.

The legal cases in this book are interesting to read. I learned the rights of a person with a copyright, which is something I did not know before. For example, I did not know that a person with a copyright has the right to prepare a derivative or an adaptive work based on a copyrighted work. I learned that a sound recording is an individual performance of a song. I found out that a song can have many sound recordings. Finally, I learned the rights to a song and sound recording belong to different people. The Permission Seeker's Guide Through The Legal Jungle is an very informative and entertaining book. I have the knowledge to start a media production just from the knowledge I gained from this book.

Perhaps the greatest benefit of the Web has been the democratization of the media. Every one of us is potentially a publisher, a news outlet, a recording label, or a film studio. WIth the proliferation of vedeo sites like YouTube and Google Video, free blogging sites, easy to use software, MP3, any one of us can compete on a level playing field with the giants of industry like New York Times, or Sony, or even Rupurt Murdoch. I personally host a half-dozen web sites catering to various hobby and professional interests, and one of them is probably the most popular in the world- at least in its own narrow niche ;-)

But with this sort of popularity and global exposure comes concerns that someone publishing a small circulation 'zine, or handing out CDs at concerts never had to confront- the issues of copyright, trademarks, and fair use. When is it okay to use a company's trademark in discussing their products? Can I use a clip from a movie in my review? Will XYZ corporation mind if I copy- or link to- an image on their web site? What about deep linking? Can I copy a news item and put it in my blog? And what about that neat Java applet I found on some's page- can I use it on mine?

There's a lot of free advice on the web regarding copyright, and most of it is simply opinion or worse. What the modern day webmaster or blogger reallly needs is expert opinion from someone who knows intelllectual property law, and more than that, knows how to negotiate the thickets of copyright, permission, fair use, and how to go about getting permission. And that's where this book comes in.

Author Joy Butler is both a practicing attorney specializing in intellectual property law, and what's she's come up with is not just a reference book, but a real how-to manual of how to go about determing when permissionn is needed, and how to actuallly obtain it. She talks about the issues involved, how to clear copyright when needed (with specific directions for different media- art, music, TV, film, and so forth), how to stay clear of legal problems, and even what to do if you are in fact sued. And it's all really useful, practical advice; my first time skimming through the book I came accross a little tidbit that had me making some quick changes to one of my web pages, just to stay on the safe side.

It's not just for web sites owners. Butler has advice for teachers looking to use copyright material in the classrooom. musicians, businesses, cookbook authors, programmers- you name it. Podcasters? Page 207 outlines the issues you should be concerned with. Want to sample something for your latest rap album? It's on page 180. Butler has detailed sections on libel, privacy, publicity, shared rights- if it has to to with intellectual property, there's probably something here that will explain it in a way you can understand.

In short, this book is an absolute necessity for anyone who may have to deal with copyright issues. Even if you're polanning on consulting an attorney, you should have a copy of this book to familiarize yourself with the issues, and perhaps get a better idea of what questions you need to ask- or to dertermine if you need an attorney. If you're a writer, a musician, a reporter, a webmaster, a teacher, a publicist, a software engineer- really, anyone dealing with intellectual property in any form- I think you'll find it worth its weight in lawyers.

When deciding whether a book is worth the effort of reading, the first thing I do is look at the table of contents. The second thing I look at is the index. Turning to the table of contents, I discovered that the author begins with a summary of contents listing the chapters, and then sets out a detailed table of contents listing each numbered section of each chapter. This format is standard for law school texts and legal practice manuals, and the detailed table of contents can send you directly to topics of burning interest without having to search for them, either in the index or by thumbing through scanning the first sentence of paragraphs. When I turned to the index, I found that it, like the indices for most law books, is somewhat skimpy.

Because the book is formatted like a law school text or legal practice manual, I was afraid it might be written in the dry, prolix style of law school textbooks. It isn't. It is written in plain, colloquial English, and the concepts are explained in lucid fashion. Another helpful feature is the generous cross-referencing done in the text. Because the author presupposes that you are probably going to use the detailed table of contents to go directly to your area of interest without reading the book cover-to-cover, whenever she uses a term or mentions a concept that you might not understand, she cross-references you to the section where it is discussed in detail. She also includes an appendix of forms for use in conjunction with your quest for permission to use (and use of) copyrighted materials.

I have read a number of books on copyright, getting permission, and the public domain, but I have not found one as user-friendly or as enjoyable to read as this one.

Wow! If you're a filmmaker, producer, entertainment lawyer or film student I've just read a new book that's will make your life a whole lot easier. Attorney Joy Butler's new book The Permission Seeker's Guide Through the Legal Jungle: Clearing Copyrights, Trademarks and Other Rights for Entertainment and Media Productions is a comprehensive, easy-to-use compendium of all the general knowledge you need to make the right choices in regards to the tricky subject of rights clearance.

The organization of the book is user-friendly. A brief overview at the outset helps the reader understand who the book is for and what issues will be addressed within. Then, in common language (not legalese), the book takes you through the laws relevant to rights clearance and the clearance issues for specific types of productions including those made by visual artists, musicians and film and television producers. In Part III Butler guides you through the process of rights clearance - how to get your "house in order," how to request permission, negotiating for the rights you need etc.

At each step along the way Butler reminds you of the risks you may run if you don't secure rights to the material in your productions. Yet she never pushes the panic button. She lets you know that there are upsides and possible downsides to each rights clearance issue. The book provides the reader with the knowledge and the tools to make informed decisions about the rights clearance issues they may be facing. In fact it especially helps to clarify theses issues for the uninitiated, helping you understand what rights may need to be cleared. This makes it an invaluable book for law and film students and should make it a required text for any class dealing with legal issues in film and media production.

The writing is clear, interesting and easy on the brain. Butler has a huge amount of expertise on this topic, and she's readily able to digest it for her readers. Her Rights Clearance workshops, hosted by CineWomen NY, are always sell-outs and it's easy to see why from reading this book. I highly recommend this valuable new addition to the literature of legal issues in entertainment to everyone working in the industry.

Elizabeth V. Foley, Elyria Pictues
[...]

Entertainment attorney Joy R. Butler presents The Permission Seeker's Guide Through the Legal Jungle: Clearing Copyrights, Trademarks and Other Rights for Entertainment and Media Productions, a no-nonsense "how-to" guide for anyone seeking to efficiently gain the rights to use protected materials ranging from quotes to people's names and faces, brand names, life stories, and other protected concepts. Chapters cover the basics of copyright and trademark; clearance issues specific to publishers, writers, visual artists, musicians, film or TV producers, website producers, and businesses; the process for seeking permission; practical methods for minimizing risk; and more. "Insurance companies may have a duty to indemnify you, a duty to defend you, or both... If the policy offers a duty to indemnify without a duty to defend, you may be responsible for paying your own legal costs for responding to the lawsuit." Extensive appendices of resources and forms as well as an index round out this "must-have" legal primer for anyone with a media career. While absolutely not a substitute for the professional counsel of an attorney, The Permission Seeker's Guide Through the Legal Jungle should be read cover-to-cover before one steps into the office of an attorney who charges hefty fees by the hour.

If you are involved in media be it radio, television, film, newspaper, magazines, or the Internet, it would be very difficult not to be concerned about the possibility of being sued. Moreover, if you try to wade through the thousands of laws, doctrine and jurisprudence to try to make sense of the complex legal issues involving the media, you would probably come to the same conclusion as Will Rodgers did when he quipped "the minute you read something you can't understand, you can almost be sure it was drawn up by a lawyer."

Joy R. Butler, author of The Permission Seeker's Guide Through The Legal Jungle: Clearing Copyrights, Trademarks and Other Rights for Entertainment and Media Productions, is an entertainment and business attorney involved in helping media and entertainment companies clear rights. She has been quoted in various publications as the New York Times, Washington Lawyer, The Motley Fool, Independent Film & Video Monthly and the Orlando Sentinel.

Putting together a book addressed to the layman that will help in identifying legal issues that arise in media productions is a formidable task however Butler manages to cover a lot of ground. Nonetheless, as she mentions in her introduction, the information she has provided may still not cover an interpretation or an exception that may be unique to a particular situation. Furthermore, as is the case with all books of a similar nature dealing with legal matters, the book is not an adequate substitute for seeking legal guidance from an attorney familiar with the facts and circumstances of your particular case.

Butler divides the book into six neat sections. The first introduces an overview of rights clearance issues, wherein she explains what rights clearance entails and why it is important to secure clear rights for your production. There is even an invaluable checklist of clearance issues. The next section goes on to explain in straightforward and understandable language the relevant rights and US laws pertaining to copyright, trademarks, elements of privacy, defamation, right of publicity, and other pertinent rights and laws. It should be mentioned, as Butler states in her introduction, that the landscape pertaining to laws and jurisprudence is that it is always changing, as the entertainment and media business are fluid. It is essential that you refer to most recent information involving particular media legal issues. From this last section we step into the world of clearance issues pertaining to publishers and writers, visual artists, musicians and music producers, film, TV and audio-visual producers, website and software producers and business issues. I was particularly interested in what Butler has to say about website producers particularly her caveats pertaining to domain name infringement, linking, framing, metatags, and immunity from defamation and copyright claims. She even manages to include some interesting jurisprudential nuggets concerning Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the nationally recognized proponent of assisted suicide as well as John Cerasini, a mafia associate.

Part four deals with the procedures to secure clearing rights and seeking permission-something that can be overwhelming when you consider the amount of paper work involved. It is here where readers are informed as to how to organize your documents in order to approach a rights clearance project. The fifth section delves into the topic of seeking permission to use specific materials to use in books, visual art productions, film, TV, video and other media. The concluding chapter deals with minimizing liability and dealing with the unwanted lawsuits.

The book is a solid presentation of a subject matter that could have easily fallen into the realm of the mundane. However, with clear and concise language, devoid of legalese, Butler manages to keep her readers awake as they fill in the blanks pertaining to the many issues involving media law. In addition, readers will be grateful for the inclusion of over fifty pages of resources and sample forms. This is one book that, as the press releases states, can become the "Bible of the rights clearance community."

Norm Goldman, Editor Bookpleasures