℗ lemons and lemonade …

… How the actions of the Ted Hughes estate will change my biography | Culture | The Guardian. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

… copyright only exists in the exact words of an author, not their ideas. So it was that Peter Ackroyd, writing his biography of TS Eliot, could use paraphrase to get round the Widow's Restrictions. In addition, the Copyright Act does not require a scholar to seek a licence when quoting small amounts of literary works for the purposes of research, of "criticism or review," of news reporting, or indeed in "the public interest". In all these cases, a rule of "fair dealing" applies. It is sometimes said that there is a "10% rule" or a particular restriction on word count, but in fact the concept of "fair dealing" is wonderfully vague, determined only by case law when infringement actions are brought to court.