Law and Authors: A Legal Handbook for Writers

by Jacqueline D. Lipton

Overview

Everything a writer needs to know about the law.

This accessible, reader-friendly handbook will be an invaluable resource for authors, agents, and editors in navigating the legal landscape of the contemporary publishing industry. Drawing on a wealth of experience in legal scholarship and publishing, Jacqueline D. Lipton provides a useful legal guide for writers whatever their levels of expertise or categories of work (fiction, nonfiction, or academic). Through case studies and hypothetical examples, Law and Authors addresses issues of copyright law, including explanations of fair use and the public domain; trademark and branding concerns for those embarking on a publishing career; laws that impact the ways that authors might use social media and marketing promotions; and privacy and defamation questions that writers may face. Although the book focuses on American law, it highlights key areas where laws in other countries differ from those in the United States. Law and Authors will prepare every writer for the inevitable and the unexpected.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520972247
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	08/04/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Jacqueline D. Lipton is an internationally recognized professor of law, a consultant, and a literary agent who has published widely on contract, copyright, and trademark law, cyberlaw, privacy, and defamation issues, with an emphasis on laws relating to the publishing industry. She is the coauthor of multiple editions of leading cyberspace casebook Cyberspace Law: Cases and Materials and coauthor of The Criminal Law of Intellectual Property and Information. She also authored Rethinking Cyberlaw; Internet Domain Names, Trademarks, and Free Speech; and Security over Intangible Property.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 

Introduction 
Setting the Stage: A Primer on the Law for Writers

1. Copyright Basics 
Ownership, Registration, the Public Domain, and Creative Commons
2. Know Your (Copy)Rights 
Understanding Your Rights and Protecting Your Work
3. Writing for Someone Else 
Ghostwriting, Freelancing, “IP,” and Works for Hire
4. Fair Use Basics 
5. Specific Fair Uses 
Parody, Fanfiction, and Educational Use
6. Contracts with Agents and Publishing Houses 
7. Self-Publishing Contracts 
8. Protecting Your Author Brand 
Trademark Basics
9. Writing about Real People 
Privacy Law
10. Damaging Someone’s Reputation 
Defamation Law
11. Marketing and Social Media 
Websites, Blogs, Book Trailers, Social Networking, and More
12. Photographs, Illustrations, and Other Artwork 
13. Finding Additional Help 

Notes 
Index

Editorial Reviews

Law and Authors is a very well-written book that should satisfy the needs of most writers in understanding the basics of publishing law.

Publishing Research Quarterly