Thread: Opinions From Others On Subject Of A Book I'm Working On...

Subject: Opinions From Others On Subject Of A Book I'm Working On...

Hello Everyone, New here, of course - and I already need a question addressed, the reason I started. I am doing a book project on a few of the rental fire towers of Montana - visitors (including ourselves.) I have taken approximately 100 short stories from the 'visitor's log books'...and want to put them in a book I'm constructing. Problem is - do I have the right to do so? There is no way to contact the individuals in question, to get the clearance for a thing like copyright. I can only put down where they are from - no names involved. Question: Can I use the material?? Thanks... lookoutman

Who owns the visitor book? They probably own the stories. I suspect that when a person makes a voluntary contribution to something like a visitor book, they give up all of their rights to that story. In effect, they give away their copy rights. The people understood, or should have understood, that they did not own the visitor book and anything they left behind in that book was no longer theirs.

C.M. Aaron, Thanks for your input into this tricky subject. I'll do just that -- contact the Ranger Districts. On many of the 'entries,' the individuals left their names. As a writer...I will only put in, where they are from. Our short stories are included in that. I've started to place this topic on a few sites now, and the answers range quite a bit. But it would make sense to me, that the Ranger Districts would be in control of the 'visitor log books.' I found this to be true -- researching material on the Sasquatch/Bigfoot creature. I was allowed to go thru the 'logs' for possible reports. (Thanks again, for bringing that up!)

Thanks, lookoutman