Copyrights and Permissions Guidelines

Faith Alive Christian Resources strives to maintain compliance with United States copyright law. We provide these guidelines to assist those wishing to utilize our published materials.

Fair use guidelines

What is fair use? Though not specifically defined, fair use allows for small amounts of copyrighted work to be used without seeking permission, provided that correct credit is given to the source. Use is never fair if the source is not noted.

Faith Alive fair use policy:

1. No more than 300 consecutive words may be reproduced without permission.
2. No more than 500 words total from one book or publication may be reproduced or used without permission.
3. No copyrighted songs, hymns, poems, or prayers (complete or partial) may be used without permission.
4. Faith Alive published work may not make up more than 5% of the new work without permission.
5. No more than 5% of the source work may be reproduced.
6. Ellipses (…) may not be used in ways that alter the ideas of the original work.
7. All quoted material must be properly cited.
   Example:
   Taken from _______(name of book) by ________(author). Copyright © _______(year) by ________________(copyright holder). Used by permission of Faith Alive Christian Resources.

What is not covered by fair use?

1. Any Faith Alive material on a website, musical work or adaptation, artwork, charts, maps, photographs, cover images, or illustrations may not be used without seeking permission.
2. Reproduction of Faith Alive material in a text box, or where the text stands alone rather than being incorporated into the discussion by the author, is not permitted without requesting permission.
3. Copies or projection of any copyrighted music.

What is public domain?

Anything that is not currently under copyright is in the public domain. This includes anything published before 1923 in the U.S. There are other guidelines for public domain, depending on the type of material used (music, book, etc.). If you have questions regarding specific material, contact Permissions@FaithAliveResources.org.

May I copy or print words to a song from one of the hymnals published by Faith Alive for my church worship services if I have the hymnal in the pew?

No, owning copies of the hymnal does not allow you to make copies of the music or words or to project them. Each song has its own specific copyright information in the credit lines at the bottom of the hymnal page. Note that many songs will be covered by copyright license, and several are in the public domain. Please refer to this webpage to clear up copyright confusion specific to worship services. There is also valuable information at www.ccli.com.

If you are interested in reprinting any of our songs for use in worship services, Faith Alive is a member of both CCLI and OneLicense.net. If your church or organization has a license with either of these licensing agents, you will not need to contact us for permission; simply report your use of the songs to them. Note: CRC Publications is now known as Faith Alive Christian Resources, and all CRC Publications copyrights are effective and held by Faith Alive Christian Resources.

May I make copies of out-of-print materials?

Out-of-print materials may still be under copyright. Our guidelines depend on several different criteria, such as whether the material is scheduled to be reprinted soon, whether there is a comparable new version for sale, author rights, etc. There may be a content fee charged for making these copies. Please contact Permissions@FaithAliveResources.org with your request.

To request permission

Please send ALL of the following information that applies to your request:

• Your name
• Organization or affiliation
• Email address
• Phone number
• Fax number
• Mailing address
• Title of Faith Alive publication
• Author of the publication
• Date of publication or copyright date
• Printed material that you desire to use – include page number(s) and copies of pages from the publication containing the desired material
• Quantity of copies to be printed or made
• Expected publication date
• Expected price of publication
• Countries of distribution
• Brief explanation of use of desired material

Send all requests in writing by email or postal service. Please allow 3-4 weeks for a response. If the request is urgent, please mark it as URGENT or call us.

Send Requests to
Copyrights and Permissions Office
Faith Alive Christian Resources
1700 28th St SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49508-1407

Permissions@FaithAliveResources.org