Re: L.Rev (C) Release

On Tue, 26 Oct 1999, Andrew C. Greenberg <werdna[_at_]gate.net> wrote:
>
> Its fairly common. While I served as managing editor of a law review,
> every author we published executed our form letter. Frankly, the issue
> didn't come up -- the documents were usually sent back by return mail.
> This is not to say that these points would not have been negotiable
> under appropriate circumstances, but only to answer your question
> whether such language was/is routinely executed.

I find this a bit interesting, esp. compared to Mark Lemley's post that he never signs them (and as we all know, he does publish a bit). Of course, Mark has taught copyright, and (esp. from this forum) knows the subject well.

I suspect that this is because the students getting published are so happy to get published that they will sign anything (and probably don't know any better), whereas others, such as profs may be expert in other areas, but rarely in such an esoteric subject as copyright (well, some think it such).

But that brings me to the next question, which is why do the parties asking for these assignments think that the party signing has the right to give such rights away? Typically, the person who wrote the work is the one signing. While this may be effective for students, for most everyone else, there is arguably a work-for-hire situation involved.

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The preceding was not a legal opinion, and is not my employer's.
Original portions Copyright 1999 Bruce E. Hayden,all rights reserved
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Bruce E. Hayden                      bhayden[_at_]acm.org
Phoenix, Arizona                     bhayden[_at_]ieee.org
                                     bhayden[_at_]copatlaw.com