Reprinting a copyrighted article

Can't locate the author

[shallow]

I've been contacted by a huge, well-respected company seeking permission to reprint several articles and photographs at my site. The articles will be used in an educational, in-house training manual for new employees. There will be no compensation.

Most of the articles and any associated photographs are mine. Some of the articles were written by others at my invitation. There was no payment involved. The authors/photographers still hold the copyright.

I've been able to contact all authors/photographers, but one. That one person, previously very active in online forums, has seemed to fall of the face of the virtual earth. She has not responded to my email and others I've contacted haven't heard from her for a long time.

My question.

Can I give permission for that person's copyrighted material be used by someone else in an educational publication? Full credit will be given to the author.

[jimbeetle]

You already know the answer to that ;-). Whether the author can be contacted by you or not, she -- or her assignees or heirs -- still controls the copyright and is the only one who can give permission for the article to be copied.

[shallow]

You're right, jimbeetle. I suppose I was hoping against hope.

In any case, we were not able to contact the author/photographer, so the article will not be included in the publication.

Too bad; I know she would be pleased.