Legality of publishing letters written by someone else

[MikeS]

@Argent_Towers

OK, what about this: could I publish a book about my correspondence with this person, which included excerpts from his letters, but not the letters duplicated in their entirety?

You’re pretty much describing the circumstances of the Salinger case mentioned in Post #2 (bolding mine):

By May 1986 [Ian] Hamilton had completed a version of his biography [of J.D. Salinger]. Salinger received a set of the galley proofs of this version (the “May galleys”) and learned from the galleys and the footnote citations to his letters that the letters had been donated to university libraries. In response, he took two actions. First, he registered 79 of his unpublished letters for copyright protection. Second, he instructed his counsel to object to publication of the biography until all of Salinger’s unpublished materials were deleted.

In response to Salinger’s objection, Hamilton and Random House revised the May galleys. In the current version of the biography (the “October galleys”), much of the material previously quoted from the Salinger letters has been replaced by close paraphrasing. Somewhat more than 200 words remain quoted. Salinger has identified 59 instances where the October galleys contain passages that either quote from or closely paraphrase portions of his unpublished letters.

Salinger won the case, by the way, in no small part because Hamilton’s “paraphrasing” was deemed too close to the original phrasing of the letters.

[iamthewalrus_3]

@coremelt

Um, why not ask permission of the felon / copyright holder to publish? Even though he can’t profit from it, it bring him/her fame or notoriety. It’s worth a try right?

This is really another question entirely, so maybe I should start another thread, but:

If a person can’t profit from his crime, can someone else? If I’m best buds with a guy who committed some horrible crimes, and any money he would make would be destined for the estates of his victims, can he just tell me the juicy bits, and I can publish it and make money?

That seems like a fairly major loophole.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

@iamthewalrus_3

This is really another question entirely, so maybe I should start another thread, but:

If a person can’t profit from his crime, can someone else? If I’m best buds with a guy who committed some horrible crimes, and any money he would make would be destined for the estates of his victims, can he just tell me the juicy bits, and I can publish it and make money?

That seems like a fairly major loophole.

Already done.

Son of Sam laws were ruled unconstitutional. A person can write about one’s own crimes and profit.

[sbright33]

That’s what ArtS did (above). I wish it were me that he trusted because I wouldn’t give it back!