Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Florida

Re: Intellectual Property

People own their works of authorship (in this case, written emails or letters). People can certainly waive or confer their rights for a specific purpose or any general purpose.

I looked up "Chicken Soup for the Soul" on the internet (I admit, I was not familiar with the line of books). Take a look at the website http://www.chickensoup.com/ and the story submission guidelines at http://www.chickensoup.com/cs.asp?cid=guidelines. People voluntarily submit their stories, and if they will later be published, the authors are notified and asked for permission. I think you can use this as a good example.

To do this legally, it really doesn't need to be very complicated, but you should have a lawyer's assistance. You will need some appropriate disclaimers, guidelines, privacy policy, copyright license/assignment/waiver documents.

I would like to make it clear that you cannot just search the internet for previously published stories and then compile them into your own book. If you find something on the internet written by someone else, and you want to use it, you need to contact them directly and ask for their permission. Contrary to some popular opinion, things published on the internet are not free for the taking and copying any more than books in a library are free for the taking and copying.

Please let me know if you would like additional assistance in this matter. I can be reached by email at [email protected]

Best regards,

Sarah