Cover Photo: This photograph shows a green typewriter sitting on a white table. The paper scrolling out of the typewriter reads "copyright claim"
Photograph by Markus Winkler/Unsplash

Avoiding Copyright Infringement

Make sure you won’t get in trouble for using others’ work in your writing.

de minimis

or

How can you avoid a claim for copyright infringement?

The Public Domain

ideas

Permission

So what about attribution?

don’t

What about a disclaimer: “No Infringement Intended”?

Speaking of damages…

What’s the bottom line?

And of course, my usual disclaimer applies: Nothing written here is intended as formal legal advice. If you are facing a copyright problem, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other expert.

Jacqui Lipton is the founder of Raven Quill Literary Agency as well as a consultant on business and legal issues for creative artists. She also teaches law and legal writing at the University of Pittsburgh, as well as several online venues. She writes regular columns on legal and business issues for authors for the SCBWI, Luna Station Quarterly, the Authors Alliance, and Savvy Authors. Her book "Law and Authors: A Legal Handbook for Writers" is forthcoming from University of California Press in the fall of 2020. She is repped by Jane Dystel at DGBLM.