Re: Copyright in Newspaper Employment Ads

Anthony Meehan <mci[_at_]mediacorp2.com> wrote:
>
> Recently, some of the newspapers have started including a clause in
> their advertising contracts granting themselves a copyright in the
> information in the employment ad. To my knowledge, the clause has
> yet to be litigated in an action against a third party.
>
> My questions are: (1) Does the original newspaper have a copyright in
> the content of an employment ad it prints? and (2) If not, can the
> newspaper rely on its advertising contract to prevent third parties
> from making use of the information?

OK i'll bite, yes I suppose they can claim exclusive rights (copyrights) to this if I, the creator (HEY!, I CREATED AND WROTE THE AD COPY), assign that right to them. 'Twould seem that the party paying them may even be on firmer ground if they suppose that the publication is a work for hire. I know less about the advertising contract than i should, but I would guess that that contract could be written with exclusive rights of publication in it (would that make it an exclusive license to publish rather than a copyright?)

Gary Newhouse
<garyn[_at_]oakton.edu> Received on Mon Oct 19 1998 - 03:07:26 GMT