Re: guilds

On Wed, 07 Jun 2000, Ransford Pyle <pyle[_at_]mail.ucf.edu> wrote:
>
> [...]
> for most of us, the copyright law is an empty protection because
> we gave our rights to our publishers in order to get published.

That may be true in textbook publishing, Ran. It is not so in trade publishing. Copyright is normally retained by, and registered in the name of, the author. Pick up a few books in bookstores, and you'll see.

> I would appreciate some authoritative sources that might indicate
> possible means to wrest those rights from a publisher for breach of
> contract.

I assume that if the contract assigns the copyright to the publisher, unless the author signed under some sort of extreme duress, the contract would be legally binding.

> I am not optimistic about the authors' chances but a guild or union
> might have the clout to do some arm-twisting.

The logical organization to bring pressure on this issue would be TAA (Text and Academic Authors); I've often wondered why it has failed to do so. It does offer its members legal advice, and the last I heard, a lawyer well-known in this area served on the TAA council. If you're a TAA member, you might urge the group to become more active.

--Dodi Schultz
  <schultz[_at_]compuserve.com> Received on Thu Jun 08 2000 - 17:59:05 GMT