I wrote to This I believe and asked them for permission to do a video reciting the essay and also asked them about the validity of the email that Renetto spoke about. They did contact him, so he was not lying about that part of it. So all he had to do was get permission, not monetize it, and none of this would have happened.
Email from this I believe:
Dear Ms. Mack,
To answer your question about whether we give consent to recite any This I Believe essay, the answer is: Yes, with our permission and proper copyright attribution. Mr. Robinett, the man you refer to in your email, did not recite Ms. Allen's essay with her permission or our permission.
If you would like to post a vlog that includes any portion or the entirety of Ms. Allen's essay, we simply require that you include the following text at the beginning of the video:
"Leaving Identity Issues to Other Folks," Copyright ©2005 by Phyllis Allen. From the book This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women, edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman.
Copyright ©2006 by This I Believe, Inc. Reprinted by arrangement with This I Believe, Inc.
In addition, we ask that you send us a link to the vlog when it is posted.
If you agree with these terms, please write back to confirm such agreement.
And thank you for writing.
All the best,
-Mary Jo
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Mary Jo Gediman
Outreach Director
This I Believe, Inc.
Tags: lovie2000 DMCA RENETTO business communications language media performing arts visual economics misleading lies
