Inheritance of Copyrights

Because of the death of writer Tom Clancy and artists such as Tom Clancy, Robin Williams, Prince, Whitney Houston, and Michael Jackson, this issue often is in the news.  Intellectual property (copyright, trademarks, and patents) can be bequeathed upon your death just as any other type of property. First, however, you must understand the difference between the PHYSICAL ownership of your...

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Republishing Public Domain Works

Q.  If I republish a public domain work, can I copyright the new version? A.  No, not unless you add new original material. Public domain works are anything NOT protected by copyright.  Such works may be used freely by anyone without permission from the author.  The numerous changes Congress has made to the term of copyright duration, however, have made it difficult to determine the copyright...

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When Is A Royalty Not A Royalty?

The wide diversity in publishing channels has a dramatic effect on the royalties received by novelists.  Digital, audio, and print-on-demand (POD) methods all have different compensation provisions, leaving many authors wondering if there still is such a thing as a “standard” royalty provision. Unfortunately, “industry standard” is a diminishing concept.  Traditional royalty provisions have been...

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Co-authors and Copyright

Q. I wrote a novel with a co-author that now is out of print. My co-author is writing another novel using the characters from our novel.  Can she do this without my permission? A.  Presumably you and your co-author didn’t have a collaboration agreement (or that agreement didn’t cover the issue of derivative works). Unfortunately, joint authorship without such an agreement can cause major...

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Trademark Rights

Q.  The publishing agreement for my first novel requires I assign my rights “in perpetuity in any series titles including any trademark, service mark or trade dress rights.” What is this all about? Should I agree? A.  It’s all about IP – intellectual property. If this agreement is for a single novel, then no, you shouldn’t agree.  A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, that identifies...

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Return of Rights

Q.  My novel is out of print. How do I get my rights back? A.  Have you read your publishing agreement? In a typical trade publishing agreement, the author assigns exclusive print and certain subsidiary rights (negotiable) to the publisher for the term of the agreement.  The author still owns the copyright, but the author cannot exercise the assigned rights unless those rights are “reverted” to...

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