Author owernship of copyrights (WAS Re: Leaning the other way in Princeton v. MDS)

From: Eric Zohn <ezohn[_at_]wma.com>
Date: Thu, 7 Mar 96 12:42:14 -0500

Actually, most Authors of ordinary fiction and non-fiction (as opposed to text books, certain "how-to" books, reference, etc.) retain ownership of their copyrights, subject only to a license of certain exclusive rights to a publisher, motion picture studio, etc. Most publication rights revert to back to the Author if the book goes out of print.

While an extention of copyright benefits publishers (who's licenses usually extend for the length of copyright or until the book goes out of print, whichever is earlier) and motion picture studios (who own the copyright in the motion picture itself, but not the underlying book), author contracts usually provide for payment of a royalty for as long as the book is in print or if the studio shows a net profit (a concept which we can debate at another time). So the author (or the author's heirs and assigns) do benefit from an extention of the term of copyright.

With all that, however, I personally believe that life + 50 is long enough.

Eric Zohn
NY, NY
<ezohn[_at_]wma.com>

The above views are opinions only, not necessarily those of my employer, etc., etc.

On Wed, 06 Mar 1996, Christopher G. Wren" <cgwren[_at_]wisconsinlaw.com> wrote:
>
> March 6, 1996
>
>
> Authors don't always assign their copyrights to publishers. I pulled
> a few titles at random from my bookshelf to check copyright notices.
> The following examples represent about half of the titles I checked:
>
> (snip list of books)
>
> Chris Wren
> cgwren[_at_]wisconsinlaw.com
>

---

>
> At 04:39 PM 3/4/96 -0800, Christine Sundt <csundt[_at_]oregon.uoregon.edu> wrote:
> >
> > 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... Is this the original
> > chicken and egg issue?
Received on Thu Mar 07 1996 - 22:31:56 GMT