Legal Considerations When Writing Case Studies

"If the company refuses to sign the case release, can I disguise material and use it in my business case?" "Is it okay to use part of this quote in my case under the 10% rule?" Without attention to questions like these from the start of the case-writing process, the brilliance of having written a good business case study may well be rewarded by the embarrassment—or worse, humiliation—of a publisher pointing out copyright infringement or accusing you of having lifted the material from somewhere else. In the Internet era, you are writing for a global audience and face a set of global expectations with regard to copyright, permissions, case releases, and citations that authors must understand in order to succeed. Reading this note will help keep you clear of any possibility of plagiarism charges or running afoul of copyright restrictions.