Sample Contract Clause
Exclusive Rights. Author hereby grants to the Company throughout the world in any and all languages for the full term of the copyright of the work:
Exclusive "Electronic Publication Rights" to the Work. For purposes of this agreement "Electronic Publication Rights" shall mean the right to reproduce, transmit, make available, display publicly, distribute, syndicate and publish the Work in any and all languages on the Internet, in magnetic, CD-ROM, optical, electronic, digital, and other machine and computer rendable forms and media now and hereafter known. Exclusive film, television, video, DVD, and online video rights to the Work.
Exclusive 90-Day Rights. For a period of ninety (90) days after publication of the Work, exclusive right to publish the Work in any language in any and all media whether now known or hereinafter discovered or developed including anthology, collection, or compilation produced or authorized by the Company; it being understood and agreed that Artist shall not permit any other party to reproduce, publish, or use the Work in any form or media until the expiration of such exclusivity periods.
Non-Exclusive Rights. The Author hereby grants to the Company throughout the world in any and all languages for the full term of the copyright of the Work: After the expiration of the exclusivity period set forth in the preceding clause, nonexclusive right to publish the Work in any and all media whether now known or hereinafter discovered or developed including any anthology, collection, compilation, or magazine syndication produced or authorized by the Company.
The Company may, by itself or through third parties, exercise the rights granted in this agreement.
This is an excerpt from a publishing agreement for a work of fiction to be initially published in electronic form. It gives the distributor the right to exploit the work electronically, in any format, worldwide for the duration of the copyright term.
Furthermore, it gives them the exclusive right to sell the work on TV or video, in film or DVD and the online video rights. If a third party purchases the right to release the work in these media from the distributor, then the Author gets 25% of the net proceeds from that purchase. (Keep in mind that 'net proceeds' normally doesn't mean a lot of money!) If the Company finances the DVD, video, television show or other such production itself, the Author gets 2.5% of the production budget (except advertising and marketing - which is where a lot of the budget will be spent!)
For 90 days after the contract is signed, the Company has the right to exploit the work in any way it wants to in any media (although the geographic scope of this right is not addressed).
After 90 days, the Company has the non-exclusive right to publish the work in any media, worldwide for the duration of the copyright.