Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Illinois

Re: Copyright query

Copyright lasts now for life of the author plus 70 years or, in the case of a magazine company, for 75 years from publication. That law went into effect in 1978 (although then it was for life plus 50 years), at which time the prior term was 28 years, renewable for 28 years. The law also provided that existing works would have their life extended, so your articles are still subject to copyright.

So, you would likely be infringing the copyright in that magazine if you were to duplicate an entire article. The fact that you asked for permission does not give you a license. Silence is not a license, it is the absence of a license.

You might have the copyright office tell you if the magazine was ever copyrighted, although it probably was, as the longer term under the new law did not apply to preexisting works which were unregistered.

Even though you would probably be infringing, you still have a business decision to make, namely whether or not to go ahead anyway and assume the risk that you might hear from the magazine at some time and that the magazine would try to stop you from producing your book or try to extract some royalty from you.

Another option is to contact the Copyright Clearance Center (the "CCC") www.copyright.com and secure a license from them, since they represent virtually all magazines of any size in granting blanket licenses to copy. If you want to be legal the CCC is your best bet.