Cited in query

[LynneReilly]

I am working on a book and my authors have reproduced text from other publications. In instances a note states 'Cited in' or 'Quoted in' with a book title and author, etc., let's call that Book A. They take the view that as I have obtained permission to quote from Book A we are fine copyright-wise. However, I am of the view that the author/publisher of Book A does not have the right to allow us to quote the text that they have quoted from elsewhere, say Book B. They have quoted Book B and presumably sought permission to do so, but surely that does not give them the right to allow as to requote? Any thoughts?

[AndyJ]

Hi Lynne,

Welcome to the forum.

If your authors wish to cite their source(s) can they not refer to the original publication rather than an intermediate one which quotes the original? Since this seems obvious I'm sure there is a reason why it isn't possible in your case. If the intermediate source hasn't accurately quoted thier sources, your authors may need to do a bit of additional research to try and uncover the original source. Only if this proves to be utterly impossible should they rely on the quotation in the intermediate source. Since this outcome would mean it was impossible to seek permission from the original publisher, you may need to rely on the possibility that no permission is required.

Do you actually need permission from the publisher? Depending on the length of the item being quoted, it may not be necessary to get permission. Section 30 (1ZA) of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 allows for quotations to be made without the need for permission, provided that the use is fair and the source is cited. What constitutes fair is, generally speaking, that no more of the original work is copied than is necessary for the purpose. To take an example, if the book is intended to provide a review or critique of the work of another author etc it will frequently be necessary to use examples of the other author's work in order to show its quality (or failings). A second type of use of citations usually occurs in academic or scientific papers, where the work of earlier researchers frequently needs to be mentioned as the basis for an assumption or conclusion which the present author seeks to rely on to support or undermione his own thesis. In this kind of citation, it is rarely necessary to actually quote the earlier author verbatim, as the reader can easily search for the cited source, or will already be familiar with it. A paraphrase or summary is often all that is required, along with the citation.

Only if you feel that your present authors need to quote more than might be judged fair dealing do you need to get permission from the publisher, and of course that should be the publisher of the original work, not the intermediate one. You will frequently find that publishers tend to say things like 'you can quote 100 [or 50] words' without needing to get permission. This is nonsense as the law stands today, where the test for determining if something is fair dealing is qualitative not a quantitative. In simple terms the question is: would a fair-minded person think that the amount being used was fair in the specific circumstances.

I hope this helps. If you need any further clarification, please ask.