Legal Question in Intellectual Property in New York

Re: compensation for use of copyright materials

Yes.

The material can be licensed for use in the book the author is writing, and you may be paid a licensing fee for the materials.

Re: compensation for use of copyright materials

As the owner of the work and someone who may be able to relate stories, anecdotes, research leads and other valuable materials as well as a license to use the specific material, you should be compensated. However, with a professor writing the book, it may be intended as a scholarly work in which case he may be able to assert what's called a "fair use" for the use of the copyrighted material in which case you wouldn't be entitled to anything. You should certainly explore some compensation but be prepared for a negative response in which case he proceeds at his peril if he uses the material without permission. There are various aspects that would go into the mix as to whether he'd be willing to compensate you including whether he's getting paid to write the book or is it being written on a speculative basis, how essential is the material, how much does he intend to use, would he be willing to acknowledge you, is the book intended to be a trade biography as opposed to a scholarly work with limited distribution, etc.