Quote:
Originally Posted by teh603
Just a note on this specific issue, I was under the impression from reading a lot of Writers' Market entries that the wording on the contract trumped whether or not the work was pre-existing. As in, "Any unsolicited works will be treated as a work for hire."
S&S just got lucky with their contract.
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And with the modifications made in the 1976 Copyright Act which allowed creators to reclaim their works under specific circumstances, it would seem.
Anyway, if anyone's interested, here's a bit more on how Action Comics #1 came to be, over at the
Comic Book Urban Legends archive, which contains some pretty nifty info about the industry.
PS. Actual IP/Publishing specialist lawyer's informal analysis of the HC vs Open Road case and the implications on his blog: "
Who Controls eBook Rights? - The Court Battle that Could Determine the Fate of the Book Industry:A Review & Analysis"
Well worth a read, IMHO.
PPS. Hey, it looks like that "use it or lose it/authors should be able to reclaim their rights after sufficiently long time even with an outright abusive contract" thing I was advocating for actually does kind of exist! I love it when that happens.
Albeit at lengths of 35, 56, and 75 years, and only after a certain date with certain timeframes for sending the notices out, but otherwise the basic structure is in place and can no doubt be improved upon.
Termination of Book & Music Publishing Contracts (mentions the Superman case as well, for anyone who hasn't gotten sick of reading about it yet)
More commentary on the subject in
Do publishers control e-book rights to their legacy titles?