Copyright Question

RoxieW

If a writer sells a piece of work (say, an article), and there is nothing specified about copyright/right to reproduce etc, do the rights stay with the writer or go to the buyer?

InsideInsurance

Depends on the law governing the contract.

In the UK, if copyright isnt addressed then the writer retains it however the courts normally will assume the buyer has an indefinite license to use it.

In the US the copyright would automatically transfer to the buyer upon final payment

paddyrg

If whoever paid you for it didn't sort out the rights position, more fool them.

If they commissioned the piece, it may be arguable that you were a writer for hire and that they have some right of veto over third party use, however if you wrote a spec piece and they bought it without any rights agreements they were a bit naive if they expect an exclusive license.

You have to actively waive your copyright (it is automatic) so I doubt they could stop you short of legal threats which would take more time/life force than it's worth defending.

Buzby

By default, anything you write remains your copyright - the purchaser gets the right to use it, that is all, and they can only use it once - not repeat it or add it do a digest. To do this, they have to agree in advance additional usage fees.

Should then do this without your agreement (ie you found out after the event) you can set the fee, perhaps even higher than first use. With your prior agreement, you set the tariff for reuse - perhaps free, perhaps not but the ball is in your court in nothing was agreed before the reuse.

purplestar1uk

By default the copyright belongs to the writer, otherwise every time we bought a newspaper or a novel, we'd gain the copyright!

As a full-time writer, I have agreements in the contracts I have with my clients about when the copyright shifts to them, so it has to be clearly laid out for that transfer to happen.

InsideInsurance

purplestar1uk wrote: »

By default the copyright belongs to the writer, otherwise every time we bought a newspaper or a novel, we'd gain the copyright!

No, because you haven't commissioned the writer to write it, you've bought a non-exclusive copy.

In the USA if you explicitly commission someone to create/ write something for you then copyright automatically passes to the commissioning party upon full payment. Obviously when you're buying something that already exists (eg a newspaper) the copyright doesnt move. Likewise this can be stopped by wording in the contract.

There is logic to both methods. I have to say I do slightly prefer the USA approach and in reality I suspect more "creators" are aware of the law than commissioners and therefore it feels right that the duty to restrict use lies with them.

It would also seem a little odd to commission someone to write the blurb to describe your new product, not deal with copyright in the contract and then find yourself in court because you allowed your distributors to use the copy/ photos on their websites without the writers/ photographers permission.