In consideration for publishing and distributing an author’s work and for the risk that revenues from publication will fall short of expenses publishers take an exclusive license for the term of copyright subject to two forms of termination and reversion: by statute and by contract. I have discussed statutory termination in an earlier Note. Under [...]
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Authors ask whether they can protect their ideas by which they mean the conception rather than the expression. The answer is that copyright law protects ideas only to the extent they are organized in a creative way and fleshed out in language. When the question is put in the context of television and movie properties [...] Once in the public domain content (which includes characters) is free; to copy or create derivative works. P.D. James’ Death Comes to Pemberley and a continuing stream of novels featuring Sherlock Holmes are recent examples. Until works fall into the public domain content and characters are not free. They are copyright protected. Authors (defined in [...] The Copyright Act §101 defines a “joint work” as “work prepared by two or more authors with the intention that their contributions be merged into inseparable or interdependent parts of the unitary whole.” Embedded here are several difficult concepts. “Intention” from whose perspective? And, what contributions qualify for joint authorship? The questions are important because [...] What better to start the New Year than with grimy tales about authors, literary agents and publishers? It cannot truthfully be said that in the annuls of publishing there has not been deliberate misrepresentations, breaches of contract and “extraordinary” fraud. One such (you may remember because it reached the pinnacle of daytime entertainment with the [...] |
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Disclaimer:
These Notes covering a variety of legal issues are intended for writers unfamiliar with the pitfalls of authorship and publication. They are purposely general in nature and should not be taken as answers to particular legal problems. The Notes may not include exceptions to general rules or take into account specific factual circumstances that could result in a different conclusion. They are not intended as personal legal advice and should not be construed as creating an attorney-client relationship. Questions of law, construction of legal documents and remedies for perceived violations of rights should be addressed to a publishing attorney.
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