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Originally Posted by HarryT
Absolutely. And the author needs to be aware of this when signing such a contract. An author who signs a contract without having all its implications explained to them by a lawyer is acting somewhat unwisely.
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As with most things, these things aren't as cut and dried as people claim, nor are such situations unique to the publishing world. Heck, book publishers ended up losing a lot of money when various book stores went belly up without paying off their stock of books. Bankruptcy is a nasty business for all the parties concerned. If I were to sell 1000 computers to a company that then goes bankrupt without paying me, then I can't just take back the computers. It all goes before the judge.
BTW, book publishing contracts aren't an outright sale of the copyright of the books. It is an assignment of the copyright for a period of time, the time being included in the contract. An author can always sue for breach of contract if the contract terms are not followed by whomever purchases the rights in the bankruptcy processes. Any expectations or promises that were not included in the contract are another matter, of course.