PUP v MDS

Christine Sundt says:
> One point of confusion? -- Isn't it the copyright owner (read
> "publisher") who actually gets these rights? Once copyright is
> assigned to the publisher, it appears to me that the author hasn't
> much to hold onto, except the possibility that a new spark of
> creativity will occur and lead to another work that can be passed
> onto a publisher who then owns the rights...
 

In these as in many such situations, the copyright holder is not necessarily the sole beneficiary of subsidiary income; assignment of copyright to one party or the other does not preclude incomesharing  arrangements.  

In trade (ordinary consumer) books, the author normally holds copyright--but the contract typically calls for sharing between author and publisher of the various subsidiary rights. In many textbook arrangements, and I believe such arrangements prevailed in the case of most of the texts in question here, the publisher holds the copyright but nonetheless shares subsidiary income with the author.

Posted by:
Sarah Wernick
<70530.435[_at_]compuserve.com>

on behalf of

   Dodi Schultz
   Past President
   Member, Contracts Committee
   American Society of Journalists and Authors Received on Wed Mar 06 1996 - 20:40:41 GMT