New Lit Policy?

[Selena_Kitt]

Just got this rejection:

"For legal reasons, we ask that you not quote more than a few lines of copyrighted materials such as lyrics, poetry, or other stories."

WTF!? Last time I posted song lyrics, they said no more than 50% of the song could be quoted...

but now it's only a few lines?? Anyone had experience with this one??

 

[CopyCarver]

Just got this rejection:



WTF!? Last time I posted song lyrics, they said no more than 50% of the song could be quoted...

but now it's only a few lines?? Anyone had experience with this one??

No experience with it at Lit, but plenty at commercial and academic publishers. 50% would be well beyond conventional standards of "fair usage" and could well bring demands for royalty payments.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

Guess Lit must have caught on...

They used to let you use a helluva lot more than just a few lines... *sigh*

Back to the drawing board............

 

[AchtungNight]

Policy noted for future tales. {sighs}

 

[Guest]

I had it happen to me with Tonight I Wanna Cry. The other place I posted that to let it go the way it was but Lit didn't. I guess I can understand their reasoning. All these damn laws. Sigh.

 

[drksideofthemoon]

Wow, and just when I was going to use all of the lyrics to Alice's Restaraunt...

I guess I have only used a few lines when I have used a song, or someone else's poem in my stories. I can understand their point but, all in all it still sucks.

 

[Antfarmer77]

This must be going around, the site I used to get most of my guitar tab from had this huge letter posted basically saying the owner had legal orders to cease posting tab/lyrics due to copyright infringement violations. All the songs had been tabbed by regular Joes and submitted ( some of them were wrong, is that still copyright infringement? LOL) *sigh*

 

[AngeloMichael]

I got busted by this poilicy. I just took the lyrics out completely and resubmitted, I think it would have been better with the lyrics of course but I don't think the chapter suffered because I had to change that small part. Funny thing though, I forgot to take the part out at the end where I give credit to the writers of the lyrics, so that's still in there.

 

[Straight-8]

Does this also apply to just regular postings on the board or only to stories?

 

[Selena_Kitt]

Does this also apply to just regular postings on the board or only to stories?

I assume only to stories...

although I just got a PM from Laurel saying they *haven't* changed their "no more than 50% policy"--that it was an error. So yay!

 

[R. Richard]

I assume only to stories...

although I just got a PM from Laurel saying they *haven't* changed their "no more than 50% policy"--that it was an error. So yay!

So far, so good. However, I would suggest that you plan to keep the quoted material to as little as practical. The music companies are restless and the rules may chage rapidly.

 

[AchtungNight]

{nods} Important rule of writing- omit unnecessary words.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

So far, so good. However, I would suggest that you plan to keep the quoted material to as little as practical. The music companies are restless and the rules may chage rapidly.

It's good to see that the stories you guys wrote won't be hindered by this error then. But R. Richard has a good point. It might be wise for Laurel and Co. to set such limits. Drawing attention to the site, especially the boards, might not be good since 2257 has taken effect. Copyright violations, even if they're only complaints and not suits, might just draw that attention.

Q_C