On Fri, Jan 27, 2012 at 10:32:06AM -0800, James Adcock wrote:
Wow, seems like a lot of work. Do you have any practical suggestions based on experiences from PG copyright clearance people about how many hours one might expect to take to research a Rule 6 clearance? I'm just trying to get a feel for this.
It is a whole lot of work. We've discovered that there are numerous points at which an error could be made. Our main copyright lawyer gave me some specific guidance, which was rather challenging to turn into a set of steps. The time to invest will depend primarily on familiarity with the needed information sources. Greg Weeks did a lot of our Sci Fi Rule 6 clearances (using the older rules), and gained a lot of expertise with copyright and renewal records, as well as online sources for information about authors and their biographies. I think someone like him with solid experience and good access to information resources could complete the research in an hour or two. For someone less experienced, I'd guess at least 3-4 hours, likely closer to 8-12 hours in order to (a) identify and get familiar with good tools for the particular book, genre, author, and time period of interest, and (b) be extra diligent, taking multiple search strategies to get assurance of the evidence. However, one thing to keep in mind is that I strongly discouraged people from doing Rule 6 submissions until they've done a lot of others (including Rule 1 and Rule 5). It definitely gets easier with experience. Fundamentally, we're looking to demonstrate that something does NOT exist (or does not apply): the non-existence of a copyright renewal. So, it's necessary to use multiple strategies to show that due diligence was exercised in seeking a renewal. -- Greg