Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
Keep in mind that you are discussing contract law rather than copyright law. The author still holds the copyright on the article. I would not be shocked if someone finally takes them to court and wins. One of the criteria of a valid contract is it can not be one sided, both sides must get something. That is why you see the various court cases where some inventor sells an invention for a penance, then sues (and wins) when the invention makes the company he or she sold it to a fortune.
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The contracts concerned can assign all of the author's rights in the copyright or grant a license amongst other things. If you sell your house there will be a contract governing the terms of the sale. To distinguish between copyright law and the relevant contract dealing with it is just as useful as the distinction between real property law and the contract to sell your house. That is, not very useful at all unless you are framing a lawsuit. And, of course, the new "rights holder" or licensee can enforce their rights against third parties pursuant to copyright law, Against the author they can enforce using contract law or, in the case of an appropriate assignment or licence, copyright law.
Sometimes an inventor sells something which later proves to be very valuable for a pittance (for which the inventor perhaps later does penance) and then later wins a lawsuit, usually when fraud or some type of colourable conduct is involved. Mostly they lose such cases. Laws governing unfair contracts and unconscionable conduct vary widely among those jurisdictions that have them, and are usually creatures of statute designed to remedy the harshness of the common law. I don't have the knowledge to comment on civil law jurisdictions.
Finally, many different journals have different policies. Some journals have relaxed their policies to some extent since those policies have been exposed to the light of day. I will of course refrain from speculating here as to how such policies were so exposed or even commenting on whether this was a good thing.