Business to business letter in response to request for use of your copyright materials

When responding to any request for use of your copyright materials, you need to consider a few things before agreeing or declining:

What's the intended use of the materials?
Is it an appropriate use of your copyright?
Where are they to be used?
What sort of exposure to the market does the use achieve?
Is the request offering payment, or is it unpaid?

Let's be clear about the legalities of this.

There is no legal obligation upon you to agree to use of your materials.

The legal issues arise after you give consent.

You're bound by the terms of your consent.

You must fully understand the terms of consent you're giving.

The example below is a pretty typical scenario. The request was made for use of written and media materials on a website. No period of time was specified, no payment was mentioned, and the copyright owner isn't too sure about the website as a place for his material. The copyright owner isn't saying 'No', but giving his reasons for declining, and leaving the door open for a reply.

Example

Addressee

Your reference
Our reference
Contacts

Dear….

Request of permission for use of copyright materials

I refer to your request of (date) to use materials from my books Hirem Horem The Happy Gnome and Pirate Billy's Adventures on Toy Planet on your website PsychoDolls.com .

The following information is required, in writing:

No payment for use of materials was specified.
No period of use of materials was defined.
The intended use of the materials was not described. Please explain context of use of materials, and on which pages of your site.

Please note, I cannot give permission for any use of my copyright materials without this information.

Yours sincerely

Signed
Title
Date

Disclaimer

Please note:

This text is intended for advisory and guideline purposes only.

Any business letter can become a legal document, so check your content properly before issuing.

Any executable or statutorily defined document should be checked for compliance with legal requirements, and you should seek legal advice regarding its contents.