Impact on Publication

For UW authors and editors, using copyrighted works presents additional issues.

If you don't have permission to use the copyrighted work:

• Publisher may not accept the work
• You could assume liability

Most publishers ask authors to sign some kind of a statement that certifies that the entire work is the original work of the author or authors and that it does not contain any materials owned by someone else.

Publishers Require
Publishers ask authors to provide documentation or licenses for all materials that you have used. If you can't provide documentation that supports your use of the materials, the publisher may decline to publish the work.

Publishers further protect themselves and ask you to indemnify them if they get sued for infringement. This means that you'll be paying for their legal expenses, damages, losses and settlements, as well as your own.

As a UW Publisher
When considering a work for publication, be sure to consider whether or not you'll need to obtain permission to use other people's materials and if so, obtain permissions early in the development process to avoid any problems at the time of publication.