For books, the writer’s contract should generally state who is responsible for getting all necessary permissions to include third party copyright material. In many cases, the writer undertakes to do this. However, in many cases, publishers should generally also assess what permissions are needed, and check that they have been obtained and properly documented.

The reason for this is that, generally, it is the publisher who is sued for copyright infringement, not the author. The publisher may be entitled to recover money from the author if the author has breached an undertaking in his or her agreement, but this is only useful if the author is able to pay.