Re: droit de suite

On Thu, 6 Apr 2000, Pat Sloane <patsloane[_at_]aol.com> wrote:
>
> On 04/06/2000, Marty Hayes <9ball[_at_]hostsite.net> wrote:
> >
> > It would reasonably follow that the authors/creators were paid by
> > the publisher to sell their rights at a price that both agreed upon.
>
> But this isn't usually what happens, though it may seem to you to
> "reasonably follow."

Errrrrrrr... huh? Again, a publisher does not *create* the work and therefore doesn't have initial possession of the associated rights -- the creator does. Because those rights are exclusive, s/he is the ONLY one with those rights, and the only way I'm aware of that anyone else can obtain those rights is for the creator to either share them or surrender them, whether to a publisher or any other party.

Why would a creator do that? One answer is that s/he was compensated to do so. Another reason may be that such a requirement was part and parcel to negotiating the deal to publish. Whatever the reason, the creator has the *choice* to retain or surrender his/her rights.

Perhaps you are struggling with the issue of the "price" or "payment". Payment may be a lump sum to buy the rights. Payment might be that the publisher bears the expense/risk of making the work accessible in a deliverable form where it can possibly earn a profit. Payment can be a percentage of gross receipts.

In the last few days, someone (and please forgive, I've read so many posts in the last few days I'm not sure who) made an analogy of purchasing a house for a really favorable price, in fact lower than its market value, and a discussion ensued as to whether or not the purchaser, upon reselling for a really sound market price, should go back and offer the initial seller who undervalued the property more money.

I think *that* is really the crux of the issue -- the perception that the big nasty publishers *fleece* creators out of their rights by paying them a pittance of what those rights are worth. BUT, at the time of negotiation, the true value of those rights is not yet established. Prior to Grisham's first hugely successful book, the perceived value of his rights to a work in manuscript form certainly wasn't the same that as a manuscript would be today.

Bottom line -- it is up to the creator to make choices about the value of his/her rights and what terms or payments they will accept in exchange for them. It is up to them to learn about the process so they don't get *taken*, the same way it is up to me to make sure that I understand how to negotiate in purchasing a car so I don't get soaked.

Marty Hayes
<9ball[_at_]hostsite.net> Received on Fri Apr 07 2000 - 15:03:15 GMT