Clause 20

This clause is incredibly overreaching, asking the author to give up too much.

CLAUSE TEXT:

If the Work is one to which the provisions of 17 U.S.C. 106A apply, the AUTHOR hereby waives and appoints [publisher] to assert on the AUTHOR'S behalf the AUTHOR'S moral rights or any equivalent rights regarding the form or extent of any alteration to the Work (including, without limitation, removal or destruction) or the making of any derivative works based on the Work, including, without limitation, photographs, drawings or other visual reproductions or the Work, in any medium, for [publisher's] purposes.

EXPLANATION:

This is a clause from a contract granting rights in a video game program. It entitles the publisher to make any kind of reproduction or adaptation of the work, in any medium for any purpose. It also purports to entitle the publisher to alter or destroy the original copy of the work: hence the reference to Section 106A, the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA). VARA protects the rights of the authors "works of visual art" to receive name credit for their works, and in certain circumstances to protect their works against alteration or destruction. It is not clear that VARA would apply, but if it did, this contract would not effect a valid waiver, because the terms are too overarching and general to meet the requirement that any waiver be specific as to the works covered and the uses made.