Need Advise For Publishing A Book..

[bwitiacumen]

I know that generally, if you're writing a book, you need to get permisson from the author if you want to guote a sentence or paragraph from their book, but what about quoting patents? If quoting, who should I ask for permission to put parts of syntheses in the book(if I need to)? What if they can't be contacted because their dead, or they're fuck-heads, whoever they are? Any advise will be much appreciated. Peace!:cool:

[Paregoric Kid]

I believe it would be information that is in the public domain as long as you acknowledge what it is and where it is from. if you are publishing a book and you want to be totally safe, e-mail the patent office, or better yet, write whatever you want, and leave the legal shit up to your publisher to sort out. also it depends where it was patented. you aren't really giving enough information for a good response. is it a us patent? how old is the patent? do you just want to republish the entire patent document or just a few sentences? but like I said the best answer would be to ask the patent office. write what you want, worry later. I'm 99% sure you will be allowed to use the information, if not just cite it or rewrite the info that is in it and say "for the exact words refer to patent number..."

[jacky]

I dont think you need permission to QUOTE a few lines, journalists do that all the time. That is if the quote is relevant to the body of the paper.....PERIPAT I think is a journalist....she may be able to answer some questions regarding this. I think that patented procedures may also be explained in print especially if being used as a topic of the natural processes of scientific research, just not used to produce the said procedure.

[Peripat]

Well yes, Jacky, I am a journalist, but I'll preface my comments here by saying that the laws can vary from country to country.

I believe in the USA, however, that "fair use" for the purposes of study, research and quoting in subsequent publications applies... just to be sure, however, I'd call the Patent Office and ask if they have some sort of booklet on guidelines for writers.

As PG Kid said, your question is a little general for me or others here to give a more detailed response.