I am an independent “content provider”/music arranger based in the state of California who has released many “tracks” from an English publishing and e-commerce “company” used through a “label”. After several years and several online publications (company website), the label has since been defunctionalized and the company has now rebranded itself and agreed to release my “tracks” again, albeit with less power for some purposes. I don`t know if my “pieces” have had a remarkable effect anywhere and for everyone, whoever it is, and if there are any. The “label” is a bit vague when asked about the lawsuits mentioned above. Would it be too prudent to ask whether monetary “benefits” were owed by the publisher? I do not intend to demand unjustified payments from the generosity of a company. Does the author or publisher have to inform or obtain permission from a victim`s family when writing about an event and posting photos of the victim? The victim is no longer with us. A better approach – I can`t be sure without knowing all about the circumstances – would probably be to terminate the contract with the publisher on the grounds that the publisher is fundamentally violating that agreement if they don`t pay you. Termination is usually given by written notice. If a publishing contract can be successfully terminated, the author is generally free to exploit the work without restriction. However, it also depends on the terms of this contract, which must of course be implicit by the court. 3. Copyright Licenses. A third related measure is to be precise and careful when licensing to third parties.
Not only must the publisher be sure that it owns or controls the rights it licenses, but it must also be clear and narrow so that it never grants a licensee more rights than intended. I am the author and copyright holder of a book I recently published. A nonprofit church wants to freely print the book in e-book and print format and distribute it to its staff and members. What words must be included in the author`s license or permission? There`s nothing in the contract, and I think I`m getting ripped off, so I want the documents that the publisher denies me or a commission statement that shows anything. As is often the case, I think I should review the contract and discuss the circumstances in order to provide useful advice here. The best answer here is probably based on both practical and legal considerations. When it first came out in South Africa, I gave permission to use my name. Now circumstances have changed and I don`t want my real name to be used. Surely the publisher in the UK should get my written permission to use my real name? Although the First Amendment`s guarantee of freedom of the press makes it difficult for aggrieved readers to hold publishers accountable for their losses, such cases have been initiated and sometimes won. Perhaps the most notorious case is the 1992 Soldier of Fortune (a case of “undue risk” rather than “ordinary negligence”), in which the family of a man murdered by a hitman won a $4 million judgment against Soldier of Fortune magazine for publishing the ad hiring the killer.
Less dramatic cases include: Fodor`s Travel Publications sued unsuccessfully for failing to warn readers of dangerous surfing conditions on a Hawaiian beach; G.P. Putnam sued for misidentifying a poisonous mushroom in his Encyclopedia of Mushrooms, resulting in the serious illness of two plaintiffs; and Rand McNally sued, this time successfully, for the publication of a science textbook containing an experiment that seriously injured a student. Does your contract with the previous employer include anything specific about copyright and/or moral rights? And in which countries are you and the publisher and in which countries has the book been published? Second, I reminded publisher A that it had to comply with the notice obligations in the contract in order to be sure that the author could not avoid his compensation for abusive notification.