Q&A: Avoiding the Orphanage
Q. Do I need to bequeath my copyrights to my beneficiaries to avoid my works becoming “orphans” after my death? Also, does a “regular” will automatically include my copyrights, or is specific language necessary? A. In general, your copyrights will NOT become “orphans” after your death, even if you don’t specifically mention them in your will— and even if you don’t have a will. Let me...
Read MoreQ&A: Exclusive Agency Agreement
Q. I have an “exclusive” agreement with my agent. What does this mean? A. Typically in an agency agreement, the author makes the agent his “sole and exclusive representative” or grants an “exclusive agency.” This terminology often is misunderstood by agents and authors (and even some so-called publishing attorneys whose web sites I have visited!). Why is this important? Suppose this...
Read MoreFirst Publishing Deal
It’s arrived –your first traditional (not an e-book!) publishing contract: ten pages of single-spaced Times Roman. All the work, the revisions, the seemingly endless waiting for replies from publishers has finally paid off. And you’re grateful, right? Of course you are. Especially because your editor told you it’s a “standard” contract. “Just sign and send it back,” she said, and you...
Read MoreQ&A: Foreign Rights
Q. I’m self-publishing my out-of-print novel, in both digital and print. Please tell me about “foreign rights” and “foreign licensing deals.” A. Foreign rights are typically part of the “subsidiary rights” of your copyright, and can take different forms (also called “translation rights”). Foreign rights, as a whole, are the granting, (or “licensing”) of your copyright to a publisher to do...
Read MoreUpdate On The Google Book Search Lawsuit
In a version of Dickens’ Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce, we now are approaching the seventh year of the copyright infringement lawsuit againstGoogle because of its unauthorized digitizing of copyrighted works. (I addressed this topic in a previous post.) Briefly, in 2005 the Author’s Guild and other plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit against Google for its “Book Search,” alleging that Google...
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