Publishing a MS containing a found poem

starrykitten

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I am putting together a chapbook manuscript, and there is a found text I really want to use as a found poem. it is not under copyright by anyone else.

If I acknowledge in the MS that I am not the author and credit the person who wrote it, is that all I need to do legally to be in the clear?
 

Marlys

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Do you mean the poem is no longer under copyright because the original copyright has expired? If that's the case (like, it was first published in the US before 1923), yes, you can print it, with credit to the original author.

But if by "found text" you mean you just stumbled across it somewhere and can't find any evidence that it's ever been published, that's not enough to assume you can use it. We'd need the details to help you further.
 

starrykitten

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Do you mean the poem is no longer under copyright because the original copyright has expired? If that's the case (like, it was first published in the US before 1923), yes, you can print it, with credit to the original author.

But if by "found text" you mean you just stumbled across it somewhere and can't find any evidence that it's ever been published, that's not enough to assume you can use it. We'd need the details to help you further.

Sure. It's not a poem at all. It is probably best described as a legal document.
 

Marlys

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Okay, do you know who wrote it, and when, and when it was originally published (if it was)? And what country are you planning to publish your book in? Those are the kinds of details I meant.
 

starrykitten

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Okay, do you know who wrote it, and when, and when it was originally published (if it was)? And what country are you planning to publish your book in? Those are the kinds of details I meant.

I know who wrote it and when. It is a form completed by a government official. It's on the public record, so I don't know if that's the same as it being published.

And I'd be publishing in the US.
 

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If it's the text from a government form then yes, it is under copyright and no, I don't think you'd be given permission to use it in this way.

Your best bet would be to ask permission from the copyright holder.