Collective Works: Copyright & Electronic Rights
The issue of electronic rights or copyrights is muddled when it comes to collective works. Who owns the copyright: the publisher or the creator? And does either party have rights to the work once it’s published?
There have been several court cases concerning copyrights and electronic rights when it comes to reprinting certain articles, stories or pictures for distribution. When an author or creator sells a written, drawn or photographed work to a publisher for use in a collective work, he or she usually retains the copyrights for that work.
In a 2001 Supreme Course case – New York Times vs. Tasini, Tasini and several other freelance writers sold one time North American rights to the New York Times for an anthology, but retained the copyright over the individual work. The New York Times held copyright over the collective work, but not each individual piece.
The New York Times decided, after publication of the volume, that they would also create online Internet databases and several CD ROMs that would feature the articles that the freelance writers contributed. As a result, Tasini sued the New York Times for unlawfully infringing upon their copyrighted work.
In the end, the courts ruled in favor of Tasini, deciding that although the one-time rights for the article was sold to the Times, the newspaper did not purchase electronic rights for the piece, which were maintained by Tasini.
What does this mean for publishers, both electronic and otherwise?
It is important for both publishers and contributors of collective works to pay attention to the agreement made concerning copyright. The purchasing of one-time rights for a collective work, and the subsequent copyrighting of the collective work itself, does not afford the publisher complete rights over individual contributions. Instead, the author or creator maintains those rights, and can publish the work electronically without the permission of the publisher.
Because an online database or CD Rom allows articles, stories and artwork to be displayed singly and out of context of a collective volume work, it is no longer considered to be a part of that collective work.
Now that the electronic publication industry has grown exponentially, electronic rights (or “e-rights”) become a valid point for publishers and contributors alike. Now, most publishing contracts include clauses that deal specifically with electronic rights so that there is no misunderstanding.
Further, if the subject of electronic rights is not discussed in the matter of a collective work, a court can rule that there was no “meeting of the minds” concerning the copyright for the work, and will rule in favor of the author or creator.
If you are a writer, an artist or a publisher, be sure that the contracts you sign concerning the copyright of your work mentions explicitly the context of electronic rights.
