Administrative Procedure - Seeking Permission to Copy or Use Copyrighted Works

The following resources are a partial list of where to begin searching for permission to copy or use copyrighted work. Whenever it is unclear who the owner is, or if the owner is a legal entity of some kind (a business or organization), be sure that the person granting permission is authorized to do so. Once it is known whom to ask, initiate contact by writing a letter, calling, or emailing. Seek written permission that clearly describes its scope. Document the receipt of an oral permission and send the owner a confirming letter or email. A copyright protects materials regardless of whether the owner cares about protection or not. Thus, if required permission cannot be obtained, the work may not be used.

For information regarding how to find copyright owners, contact the Writers Artists and Their Copyright Holders (WATCH) program through the University of Texas, Austin’s Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at norman.hrc.utexas.edu/watch/. Phone: 512/471-8944, Email: see hrc.utexas.edu/contact/. 

For a part of a book or a journal article, contact: Copyright Clearance Center, “CCC” Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, Phone: 978/750-8400, Email: see copyright.com/about/contact/, copyright.com.

For images, contact: The Film Foundation, 7920 Sunset Boulevard, 6th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90046, Phone: 303/436-5060, Email: see film-foundation.org; American Society of Media Photographers, Four Embarcadero Center, Suite 1400, San Francisco, CA 94111, Phone: 877/771-2767, Email: see asmp.org/.

If the author owns the copyright in a contribution to a periodical, magazine, or newspaper, permission may be obtained through The National Writers Union, 61 Broadway Ste. 1630, New York, NY 10006, Phone: 315/545-5034, Email: see nwu.org/contact-us/, nwu.org; and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, 8271 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048, Phone: 323/782-1010, Email: see scbwi.org/contact-us scbwi.org.

For music, contact: American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), 250 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10107, Phone: 212/621-6000, Email: see ascap.com; Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI), 7 World Trade Center, 250 Greenwich Street, New York, NY 10007, Phone: 212/220-3000, Email: see bmi.com/licensing; or SESAC, 55 Music Square East, Nashville, TN 37203, Phone: 615/320-0055, Email: see sesac.com.

To record and distribute a musical composition recorded by someone else, or synchronize music with visual images, contact: The Harry Fox Agency, Inc. at harryfox.com; National Music Publishers Association, 1900 N St NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20036, Phone: 202/393-6672, Email: see nmpa.org.

For plays, contact:

For news archives, check the news organization's website. Many of the largest news organizations have placed archives of their back issues online.

For movies, contact: the Motion Picture Licensing Corporation at us.mplc.com/, Phone: 800/462-8855, Email: see us.mplc.com/customer-support/, info@mplc.com, grants public performance rights. If the author and the publisher are known, contact them directly. If the publisher is unknown, contact: The Literary Marketplace, literarymarketplace.com (for books) or Ulrich’s International Periodicals, ulrichsweb.com (for journals), both published by the R. R. Bowker Company, bowker.com.

For a changed owner where the apparent copyright owner may not be the real copyright owner, the U.S. Copyright Office, copyright.gov, provides online searching of its registration records and performs professional searches for a fee.

For software, contact the software’s manufacturer at the address given on the licensing agreement.

For musical theater, contact: Music Theater International at mtishows.com, Phone: 212/541-4684, Email: see mtishows.com/about/contact-us; or Broadway Licensing at broadwaylicensing.com, Phone: 212/540-9330 , Email: see broadwaylicensing.com/contact/.

Updated:    September 15, 2025