RE: Re: Magazine owns my voluntarily contributed article?

From: Scott Butcher <s_butcher[_at_]jdbe.com>
Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2005 16:30:46 -0400

I've done some freelance writing - both paid and non-paid - and while I haven't run into the exact same situation, I've come across something similar when wanting to reproduce a previously-published article. My understanding (based upon U.S. copyright):

1. You wrote the article, you own the copyright. It may not be "registered," but you still own it.
2. Any legitimate publisher should contact you to negotiate rights prior to publishing your article.
3. For cases in which rights are not discussed, the "default" is one-time rights. And if you sent it for consideration to be published in print, the magazine does not have electronic rights.
4. Unless you sold them the copyrights to your article, in writing with both parties signing (which isn't the case here), then you maintain ownership of all copyrights and you do not need their permission (or to give them credit) to publish your article elsewhere.

Because they published your article WITHOUT getting your permission, as you required in your query letter, it sounds like they infringed upon your copyright.

Scott Butcher
York, Pennsylvania  

-----Original Message-----
From: CNI-COPYRIGHT -- Copyright & Intellectual Property [mailto:CNI-COPYRIGHT[_at_]cni.org] On Behalf Of Frederick Emrich, Editor, info-commons.org
Sent: Monday, June 20, 2005 3:35 PM
To: CNI-COPYRIGHT -- Copyright & Intellectual Property Subject: [CNI-(C)] Re: Magazine owns my voluntarily contributed article?

I don't know about the legal details here, but I do know that in the publishing world it is considered highly unethical to submit identical (or even similar) material to more than one publisher at the same time. In part this is to avoid problems such as the one you are facing now, and in part it is to minimize the possibility that publishers put effort into reviewing a submission only to have it "de-submitted" by an author who chooses to publish elsewhere.

--Frederick Emrich

• Original Message ----- From: <islam_for_life[_at_]hotmail.com> To: CNI-COPYRIGHT -- Copyright & Intellectual Property <CNI-COPYRIGHT[_at_]cni.org> Sent: Monday, June 20, 2005 12:05 PM Subject: [CNI-(C)] Magazine owns my voluntarily contributed article?

> Hello,
> I was wondering if someone who knows the law could help me out here.
>
> Recently, I sent an article of mine to a couple of magazines, some
> based

in the
> US and others elsewhere. Now, I said in my letter that if any
> institution

was
> interested in publishing my piece, I would like to know beforehand.
> Two magazines (one in the US, one in the UK) responded, saying they
> were

interested,
> but at the same time, I came to know that another magazine (based in
> the

US) had
> already printed my article without informing me. Although I did not
> have

any
> problem with that, I was now confused as to whether I could let the
> other

two
> magazines who had actually replied, print my piece or not. When I
> called

those
> who had printed my piece to ask regarding this, they said sure, we
> give permission, but the other magazines must cite us as the source. I
> don't

agree
> with them, because, firstly, I requested to be informed before
> publication

of my
> article which they didn't, and secondly, because I did not receive any
monetary
> compensation or anything of the sort from the magazine or even any
contract that
> would stipulate that by simply submitting my article to their email
address I
> give away my entire rights to my original work to them (not that my
> work

is
> really copyrighted by law), and thirdly, the other two magazines
> received

my
> work directly from me. Am I right? Please let me know.
>
> Thank you very much in advance.
> Sincerely,
> SA
>
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Visit the CNI-COPYRIGHT e-mail list archive at <https://mail2.cni.org/Lists/CNI-COPYRIGHT/>. Received on Tue Jun 21 2005 - 00:30:46 GMT