It is unlikely that your title is protected by copyright. Generally, you can’t prevent someone using your book title before it is published, unless you disclosed it to them on a confidential basis. If someone else thinks of the same title independently and publishes before you do, there is generally nothing you can do under copyright law to stop them. Th title may, however, be protected as a trade mark if it has been used or registered as a trade mark.

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You will not need to get permission unless the words you are using are a “substantial part” (that is, an important, distinctive, essential or recognisable part) of the work that you are taking them from.

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Book titles are generally not protected by copyright, so you will need to look to other areas of law for protection. You may, for example, be able to register your title as a trade mark. You may also be able to use passing off laws, or the Trade Practices Act or fair trading laws to prevent someone else from using your title in a way which would mislead or deceive consumers into thinking that you had authorised the use of your title for that product or service or were endorsing that product or service.

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Generally, copyright does not protect a name, whether it is the real name of an author or a pen-name. However, if the writer has established a reputation in a pen-name, he or she may be able to prevent others from using the name in a way which causes confusion by relying on the law of passing off, or fair trading laws. A distinctive name may also be registrable as a trade mark.

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Under the Copyright Act, educational institutions are entitled to copy certain material, including journal articles, for educational purposes. The institution must be covered by a "remuneration notice" (an undertaking to pay copyright fees). The fees are paid to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL), which distributes them to the rights owners. CAL’s information about which material has been used comes from a statistical sample of use rather than from records of each and every use.

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Many email jokes (including text, cartoons and photographs) are likely to be protected by copyright. This means that you will need permission to publish them. If the person who originally sent the jokes is the copyright owner, it is possible that some or all recipients have an “implied licence” to reproduce the jokes for personal use, or to forward the email. However, any such implied licence would not extend to publication of the jokes in a book.

It may be difficult, and in many cases impossible, to identify and contact the owner of copyright in this kind of material. The Copyright Act does not allow you to use material without permission merely on the basis that you can’t identify the copyright owner or can’t contact them, or if they fail to reply to your request for permission. You could discuss with your publisher whether it is willing to take the risk of publishing without permission.

For more information, see our information sheet Owners of copyright: how to find, available at www.copyright.org.au/permission.

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