Book Reviews

how to handles quotes

[laertes]

For those who review books, if I am writing a book review and wish to include brief passages in the book to make a point, is this a copyright infringement, or is there an accepted amount of words you are allowed to excerpt?

Most books state in the frontpiece something like "this book may not be copied in whole or in part in any form" etc.

So what do reviewers do to get around this?

[ronburk]

Fair use is a fundamental concept for book reviewers. It cannot, however, be boiled down into a simple litmus test -- you have to understand what factors go into deciding what is fair use and use good judgement to stay far away enough from the line to avoid getting sued (unless you work for a publication that offers you legal review). It's really worth spending a little time getting up to speed on the subject.

Google for the not-quite-a-Googlewhack:

fairuse.html codification geophysical salinger

for a good start.

[laertes]

Thanks. Looks like this is another skill I get to develop- getting a feel for acceptable fair use.

Would it be fair to say that since the bigger book review pubs like NYT, New Yorker etc. have lots of experience and legal staff, that a steady diet of reading their reviews would give one a good feel for where the gray zone is or is not?

Just for the benefit of others reading this thread, here is the takeaway from ronburk's almost-Googlewhack above:

One must remember there are no absolute rules when the issue involves how much one is permitted to take of another's copyrighted work and still be protected by the fair use doctrine.

Do not depend on word-count guidelines.

Commercial use of another's work is less likely to be considered fair use than uses that are educational or criticism.

Factual works receive less protection than fictional works.

If you are quoting another's work without permission, and are relying upon the fair use doctrine to protect your copying, make certain that you quote accurately, provide proper credit to the source of the copied work, and if possible add value to the quoted material by comparing, criticizing or commenting upon such material.
There is no certainty, when copying another copyrighted work without permission, that a court will interpret the specific circumstances as fair use. Ultimately, whether a court will determine a specific use to be fair use will be dependent upon the circumstances and the court's analysis of the four fair use factors enumerated in Section 107 of the Copyright Act.

[Sanenet]

I would have thought that a bit of common sense would point out that a simple review is not going to be able reprint enough of the book to even come close to infringing copyright.

Now, unfair disclosure is something else. Don't go and copy and paste the ending, or the death of a major character within the review :)

[hunderdown]

"Fair use" is a slippery term largely because what's fair in one situation isn't fair in another. It would be perfectly fair to quote four sentences from a 300-page book in the course of a review. It would not be as fair to quote four lines from a six-line song.

With reviews, be reasonable. Don't quote lengthy passages, even if they are loaded with lots of keywords. Do make short, selective quotations that support the points you are making in the review. Don't write reviews consisting more of quotation than of review. Do add interest to a review by including a few quotations.

Publishers welcome reviews, online or offline, because they help sell the book. So long as you don't go overboard, you'll be fine--in my layman's opinion.

[Essex_boy]

I use around two paragraghs lifed directly from a book when I review it, however I do review the book and the excerpts to add interest to a point.

Providing your not lifting the book in all its said then I dont think teh publisher would object.

[ronburk]

I would have thought that a bit of common sense would point out that a simple review is not going to be able reprint enough of the book to even come close to infringing copyright.

These are legal issues, not common sense or what feels right. The courts most definitely have identified cases where a review infringed copyright. Anyone writing reviews should take the time to grasp what criteria the courts use for deciding what is infringement.