Blogs, Websites & Podcasts: When Do You Need Permission?
This is a transcript of a podcast posted October 28, 2006.
 In this episode we’re going to examine what happens if you use other people’s material in your business -- for example, you use someone’s artwork on your blog, you use someone’s music on your podcast, or you use another company’s trademark at your website.
We’re speaking with Rich Stim, the author of the book Getting Permission: How to License & Clear Copyrighted Materials Online & Off, from Nolo, and an expert on copyright and fair use.
Question: First question, Rich do I need to get your permission to interview you for this podcast?
Rich Stim: Well, in my case, no, and it’s similar to the case of most interview subjects for podcasts or newspapers or magazines. I see that you’re taking notes. You’ve told me it’s for an interview. And in this case I see the microphone, so I’m impliedly consenting to have my words broadcast or recorded or used for whatever purpose you’ve told me it’s going to be used for.
There are times when you should get a signed interview release. And I want you to keep in mind one thing: we’re only talking right now about the right to use the statements that are made by an interview subject. I’m not talking about the rules for getting permission to use copyrighted music or photos or artwork or anything else. We’ll talk about that later.
But, as a general rule, as you move from editorial uses to commercial uses for interview subjects, if you follow that meter from one side to the other as it gets closer to commercial and further away from an editorial use, you should get a signed release.
What’s the difference between editorial and commercial? Well, if you’re interviewing a lawyer, like me, for an article or information style podcast, that’s probably an editorial use. But if you were creating a book of interviews with lawyers, or if you were using this interview as means of advertising some other legal service like a lawyer directory, I think at that point you definitely would want to have permission from the person, something signed and in writing indicating consent for those commercial purposes.
Another situation [where] you need permission from an interview subject is if you’re working on a project and it’s a project in which other companies or distributors are involved. For example, if you’re making a documentary film that involves distributors [and] production companies, everyone up higher in the food chain is going to ask you for evidence of permissions -- whether or not they’re following the rules I’m talking about. So even if the use seems purely editorial, the distributor or the book publisher may want the release. So, it’s best to get those at the time of the interview; it’s hard to go back and get that release later.
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