Overreaching Clause About Changes to the Work

In consideration of his/her acceptance by the Publisher as a contributor (the “Contributing Author”) to the Work and other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which is hereby acknowledged, the undersigned Contributing Author agrees as follows:

The undersigned Contributing Author grants to the Publisher the exclusive worldwide right to publish and sell the Article, in print format or in any other media, and all Articles contributed to subsequent editions, under its own name and under other imprints or trade names, during the full term of copyright and all renewals thereof. The undersigned Contributing Author assigns to the Publisher the worldwide copyright in the Article, for use by the Publisher in such manner and medium, including electronic media, as the Publisher wishes. In exercising this right the Publisher may (i) make translations, (ii) prepare other versions, or (iii) quote from and otherwise utilize the Article or material based on the Article, and the Publisher may grant permissions and licenses to third parties to do the same.

This is a contract for the publication of a contribution to a book of articles by several different authors.

The first paragraph of this excerpt means that the publisher will not pay the author for the rights the author grants.

The second paragraph means that the author gives up all her publishing rights -- print, digital, audio, and any other media -- for the whole world, for the full term of copyright. The publisher has the right to publish the work under its own name, but also under other imprints, and to allow others to publish: this can mean that the work, which the author expected would be published by the Publisher's prestige imprint, can end up being published by some less desirable imprint owned by the same Publisher, or even by someone else. Because the author assigns her full copyright to the publisher, she has no rights left in the work to sell to anyone else. The publisher may change the article, translate the article, make other versions of the article, and use any material from the article - all without getting the author's approval to any change, translation, version, etc.

[1] The AUTHOR and [distributor] intend this to be a contract for services and each considers the products and results of the services to be rendered by the AUTHOR hereunder (the "Work") to be a work made for hire. The AUTHOR acknowledges and agrees that the Work (and all rights therein, including, without limitation, copyright) belongs to and shall be the sole and exclusive property of [distributor].

[2] If for any reason the Work would not be considered a work made for hire under applicable law, the AUTHOR does hereby sell, assign, and transfer to [distributor] its successors and assigns, the entire right, title and interest in and to the copyright in the Work and any registrations and copyright applications relating thereto and any renewals and extensions thereof, and in and to all works based upon, derived from, or incorporating the Work, . . . throughout the world.

This language is designed to grab all rights from a free-lance author or artist. The first clause purports to create a work for hire agreement, which would mean that the author has no rights left at all, ever (and cannot even get them back through the termination right). The second clause takes a belt-and-suspenders approach: if for any reason the work is not for hire -- which it would not be if the commissioned work did not fall within the statutory categories -- the author explicitly assigns all rights not only in this work, but in any work based on this work, for the full term of copyright, for the whole world.

[Contestant(s)] irrevocably assign and transfer to the Sponsor and its agents, licensees and assignees all rights in the Video, including, without limitation, all copyrights; grant to the Sponsor and its agents, licensees and assigns the right to reproduce, publish, broadcast/use, adapt, delete, edit and/or modify the Video in any manner or format, for any programming, publicity, advertising and promotional purposes, and in any and all media worldwide in perpetuity, in all languages and versions, and without additional consideration, [Contestant] unconditionally assigns and transfers all ideas, concepts, copyrighted materials and trademarks contained in the Video and any and all rights including “moral rights” in the Video to Sponsor and its agents, licensees and assigns. Sponsor and its agents, licensees and assigns have the right to use, assign, modify, edit, adapt, dispose, and electronically alter the Video, including bur not limited to, for moral rights, to appear in promotional and/or commercial materials, as well as to reproduce them, in whole or in part, without compensation or additional consent from me or any third party.

I unconditionally assign and transfer all ideas, concepts, copyrighted materials and trademarks contained in the Video and any and all rights including “moral rights” in the Video to Sponsor and its agents, licensees and assigns. Sponsor and its agents, licensees and assigns have the right to use, assign, modify, edit, adapt, dispose, and electronically alter the Video, including bur not limited to, for moral rights, to appear in promotional and/or commercial materials, as well as to reproduce them, in whole or in part, without compensation or additional consent from me or any third party.

Caveat contestant! This is a release form from a song-writing contest. The contestant who sends in a video of herself singing her song assigns all the rights in the video to the sponsor of the contest (the "Sponsor"). The sponsor can then make every conceivable kind of use of, and make any kind of change to, the video, throughout the world, forever, and without paying the contestant. The rights transferred to the do not appear to be limited to the exploitation of the video, but would include the rights in the music apart from the video.

Furthermore, it says that the entrant transfers any copyrights she holds in the video she is submitting to the sponsoring company and that the sponsor may use the video in any way it wants without paying the contestant anything. It also mentions that the contestant assigns any moral rights she may have in the work. The United States does not recognize moral rights per se and, therefore, this clause is moot. (For more information on moral rights, click here.) (Furthermore, it should be noted that moral rights cannot be assigned in jurisdictions that do honor them.)

By submitting an Essay, each entrant will be deemed to have granted Sponsor all rights, including copyright, in the Essay, any photo of the winner, and any other copyrighted or copyrightable materials furnished by entrant in connection with this contest, including the right to copy, edit, broadcast, publish and use, in whole or in part, and to license others to exercise the same rights, in any manner without further compensation.

This is an excerpt from the terms and conditions of The Hachette Book Group USA photo essay contest. The photographer grants the contest sponsor the entire copyright in the photographs and any other material submitted with the photographs (asuch as explanatory text . . .). Hachette can make any use it wants, and can permit others to make any use, without consulting or paying the creator.

The Author, in consideration of the Publisher undertaking as provided herein to publish the Work and for other good and valuable consideration paid by Publisher, receipt and sufficiency of which is hereby acknowledged, grants to Publisher, its successors and assigns, an exclusive worldwide license to publish the Work and to exercise all rights under the copyright for the full term of copyright. It is understood that this full license of rights includes but is not limited to [list of uses including commercial book clubs, periodicals, lecture use, reprints and royalty-free uses such as those for the visually impaired.]

Although the contract calls itself a "license," it gives to the publisher exclusive rights to all uses of the literary work for the full term of copyright, throughout the world. No rights are left for the author.

The Author hereby grants and assigns exclusively to the Publisher all rights in the Work, including book publication rights and the right to fully develop the Work in all languages throughout the World for the full term of copyright (under current or subsequent copyright laws). Such rights shall include, but are not limited to the right to print, publish, license, distribute, and/or market, either directly or where applicable by third parties, any marketable right associated with the Work.

This is a contract for publication of an article in a newspaper or magazine. It gives the publisher all the author's rights in the work, including the right to turn the article into a book, all foreign languge rights, and any other conceivable way of making money from the article, anywhere in the world, for as long as the copyright lasts.

If the Work is one to which the provisions of 17 U.S.C. 106A apply, the AUTHOR hereby waives and appoints 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
purposes.

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.

All Master Recordings recorded during the Term which embody the performances of Artist, from the inception of the recording thereof, and all artwork ("Artwork") created for use on or in connection with Phonograph Records or other derivatives of such Master Recordings, shall be deemed "works made for hire" for [XYZ Company]. All such Master Recordings, from the inception of the recording thereof, and all Phonograph Records and other reproductions made therefrom, together with the performances embodied therein, and all Artwork, and all copyrights therein and thereto, and all renewals and extensions thereof, shall be entirely [XYZ Company's] property, free of any claims whatsoever by Grantor, Artist, or any other Person, throughout the world and in perpetuity. Accordingly, [XYZ Company] shall have the exclusive right to obtain registration of copyright (and all renewals and extensions) in those Master Recordings and in all Artwork, in [XYZ Company's] name, as the owner and author thereof. If for any reason any such Master Recording(s) or Artwork are deemed not to be "works made for hire", then Grantor and Artist hereby irrevocably assign to [XYZ Company] all of Grantor's and Artist's right, title and interest in and to such Master Recordings and Artwork (including, without limitation, all copyright therein, and all renewals and extensions thereof). Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, [XYZ Company] and its subsidiaries, affiliates, licensees and designees shall have the sole and exclusive right, throughout the world and in perpetuity, to manufacture Records, by any method(s) now or hereafter known embodying all or any portion(s) of the performances embodied on such Master Recordings and/or all or any portion(s) of any such Artwork; to publicly perform such Records; to import, export, sell, transfer, lease, license, rent, deal in or otherwise dispose of or exploit such Master Recordings, Artwork and Records derived therefrom throughout the world under any trademarks, trade names or labels designated by [XYZ Company]; to edit or adapt such Master Recordings and/or Artwork to conform to the technological or commercial requirements of Phonograph Records in various formats now or hereafter known or developed, or to eliminate material which might subject [XYZ Company] to any civil or criminal action; to exploit such Master Recordings for background music, synchronization in motion pictures and television soundtracks and other similar purposes, including, without limitation, use on transportation facilities, without any additional payments to Artist or Grantor other than as expressly set forth in [the discussion of royalty payments herein]; or, notwithstanding the provisions of this agreement, [XYZ Company] and its subsidiaries, affiliates and licensees may, at their election, delay or refrain from doing any one or more of the foregoing.

This contract not only demands a total assignment of rights in the musical recording, it also categorizes the recording (and accompanying artwork) as a "work made for hire," which means that the actual creator has no copyright whatsoever. There is, however, some uncertainty concerning whether musical recordings are in fact "works made for hire." If, under the law, they are not, then saying they are in a contract won't make it so.

[Contest Entrant(s)] [4] irrevocably assign and transfer to the Sponsor and its agents, licensees and assignees all rights in the Video, including, without limitation, all copyrights; [5] grant to the Sponsor and its agents, licensees and assigns the right to reproduce, publish, broadcast/use, adapt, delete, edit and/or modify the Video in any manner or format, for any programming, publicity, advertising and promotional purposes, and in any and all media worldwide in perpetuity, in all languages and versions, and without additional consideration, except where prohibited by law;

[Contest Entrant(s)]warrant and represent that the Video for this Contest is wholly original and my own creation, and that I am the sole owner of all rights (other than Sponsor’s) relating to the Video. I unconditionally assign and transfer all ideas, concepts, copyrighted materials and trademarks contained in the Video and any and all rights including “moral rights” in the Video to Sponsor and its agents, licensees and assigns. Sponsor and its agents, licensees and assigns have the right to use, assign, modify, edit, adapt, dispose, and electronically alter the Video, including bur not limited to, for moral rights, to appear in promotional and/or commercial materials, as well as to reproduce them, in whole or in part, without compensation or additional consent from me or any third party. If moral rights are not permitted to be transferred to any third party under applicable laws, I will not exercise moral rights to Sponsor and its agents, licensees and assigns without compensation or additional consent from me or any third part

Yet another example of a contest entrant relinquishing all their rights to their work. Here, the contest sponsor has included the assignation of any moral rights. The United States doesn't recognize moral rights (except in limited circumstances relating to visual works of art).

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.

The Author hereby grants and assigns the entire copyright in the Article to The Law School (“The Law School”) for its exclusive use. The Law School shall be the sole proprietor of the copyright, consisting of any and all rights of whatever kind or nature now or hereafter protected by the copyright laws of the United States and of all foreign countries, in all languages and in all forms of communication,including, but not limited to, books, magazines, newspapers, pamphlets, and any current or future electronic medium or data storage system. The Law School, through itself or others, shall have the right to publish the Article in all languages and in all forms of communication.

The Law School grants the Author the right to reprint the Article in any book of which the Author is the author or editor, subject to the Author’s giving credit in the book to the original publication of the Article in the Publication. Such credit shall include the original copyright notice as it appears in the Publication.

This agreement requires the author to assign all rights in the work to the law school which publishes this journal. The only right the author retains is the right to publish the article as part of a book which she authors or edits.

A. Ownership of Contributions. Each of your Contributions will be original and solely created by you as a "work-made-for-hire" specially ordered or commissioned by us, with XXX Media being deemed the sole author of the Contribution and the owner of all rights whether now known or hereafter devised (including all copyrights and all extensions and renewals of copyrights) in and to the Contribution, with the right to make all uses of the Contribution throughout the world and all changes in each Contribution. Without further obligation to you, we may use, reproduce, edit, change, add to, take from, translate, reformat, or reprocess the Contribution in any manner. To the extent any Contribution is not deemed to be a work made for hire, you irrevocably assign to us all rights whether now known or hereafter devised (including all copyrights and all extensions and renewals of copyrights) in and to each Contribution throughout the world, including any and all of your rights to authorize or control the exploitation of each Contribution by any media and means now known or hereafter devised. You waive all "moral rights of authors" that may exist or any similar rights. We may, but are not obligated to, provide attribution to you in connection with any Contribution or to display, use or otherwise exploit any Contribution. We have the right, without liability to you, to use any ideas, suggestions, or questions provided by you to us. Upon request by us, you will promptly provide us with such documents and agreements as we may require to further evidence and confirm your representations, warranties, and covenants under this Agreement, including material and location releases and assignments.

B. Our License To You. We grant you a royalty-free, limited, nonexclusive, nonlicensable license to the Contributions for performance, distribution, and display on your personal or business website so long as your website contains no less than 1 prominent crawlable link to the WEBSITE OPERATOR Website appearing in close proximity to each Contribution on your website.

This could be one of the most overreaching contracts we have on our site. It's between a company that runs a website and seeks contributions (photographs and written works). This contract dictates that the work is a work for hire even though there is no evidence that the contribution fits the description in Section 101 of the Copyright Act. Furthermore, it says that the site does not have to give the author credit for his or her work and may even use the author's ideas or suggestions without remuneration or credit. Finally, it allows the author to use his or her work only in connection with his or her own website and then only if a link is provided to the website to which the work was contributed.

COPYRIGHT:

[Publication] agrees to pay Author for the aforementioned project. Editor of Publication has the right to edit all of material and delete any copy or visuals deemed to be unneeded or impractical. The published material becomes the property of [Publication] with [Publication] owning the copyright.

It is agreed by both parties that all material prepared on a freelance/correspondent basis for [Publication] is the property of [Publications]. In addition to owning the copyright for the print versions, [Publication] owns the copyright for all electronic versions that may be used on xxx.com or xxx.com. Author relinquishes “all rights” to both electronic and print versions of her work as commissioned and paid for by [Publications].

If [Publication] is required to bring an action to enforce this Agreement, Author shall reimburse the Company for all costs incurred, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, court costs, and reasonable costs of litigation. This Agreement shall be interpreted and construed in its entirety in accordance with the laws of this State.

This is a contract between a publisher and a freelance writer. This agreement receives our harshest grade not only because it allows the author to retain no rights to his work but because its language is quite vague and confusing. For instance, it gives the publisher copyright ownership in the print versions of the article, but it does not define what that means. Moreover, the publisher is specifically granted the right to edit or delete any material that it wants without asking the author’s permission. The publisher is also granted copyright ownership over all electronic versions of the article used on its affiliated websites. Again, “electronic versions” is a vague and undefined term which could be quite broad. Furthermore, the contract states that the author relinquishes “all rights.” The placement of “all rights” in quotations is confusing. It is unclear what the term means. The final paragraph states that the author must pay the legal costs for any challenges to the agreement. Finally, this contract makes no mention of attribution so the author may never receive credit for his work.

Except as may be set forth in an applicable Schedule, Publication shall own and retain all right, title and interest in and to all Work and all other reports, documents, materials, ideas, concepts, know-how, specifications, plans, notes, drawings, designs, pictures, images, text, audiovisual works, data, information and other items, expressions, works of authorship or work product of any kind that are authored, produced, created, conceived, collected, developed, discovered or made by Author in connection with the Work or which relate in any manner to the Work or which result from any Work produced by Author for Publication, including any and all intellectual property rights therein (collectively the “Work Product”). To the extent applicable, Publication shall be deemed to be the “author” of all Work Product, and all such Work Product will constitute "works made for hire" under the U.S. Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. §§ 101 et seq.), and any other applicable copyright law. To the extent that any Work Product does not constitute a work made for hire, Author hereby assigns to Publication all right, title and interest that Author may have or may hereafter acquire in all Work Product, including all intellectual property rights therein.

This contract is between an author and a travel magazine. It states that all work product of the author (including research materials) are the product of the publication and solely the publication owns all rights in them. It also states that the work is a work-for-hire.

2. COPYRIGHT AND TITLE

2.1 The Contributor hereby grants to the Publisher for the legal term of copyright including any renewals and extensions the exclusive and irrevocable right and license to produce publish communicate to the public and exploit and to license the production publication communication to the public and exploitation of 2.1.1 the Text 2.1.2 any part of the Text 2.1.3 any new edition or other adaptation or any abridgement of the Text in all languages throughout the world in volume form and in any other form or medium whatsoever including (but not by way of limitation) any form of electronic publication distribution or transmission (whether now known or hereafter invented) that the Publisher may wish. The rights granted in this Clause may be exercised by the Publisher and its wholly owned subsidiary and sub-licenses of all translation and subsidiary rights on such terms as the Publisher may determine. 2.2 The copyright in the Text shall remain vested in the Contributor.

5. MORAL RIGHTS

5.1 The Contributor agrees that amendments alterations or additions to the Text made by the Publisher or the Editor or a third party pursuant to Clauses 1.1 or 6.2 or for the purpose of preparing supplements or new editions of the Work, will not infringe the Contributor's right of integrity in the Text as provided in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The Contributor further hereby waives such right when such a waiver is an essential condition of the exercise of any of the subsidiary rights.

This is a contract for a book to be published by a British publisher which is why there is a Moral Rights clause in the terms.

The terms of this agreement are very overreaching. Although the last line of Section 2 of the agreement purports to allow the author(s) to retain the copyright in the work, the rest of the clause renders it almost meaningless. Section 2 gives the publisher the exclusive right (meaning no one else has the right) to publish the book - or any part of the book or any new edition(s) of the book - around the world as long as the book is protected by copyright. Presumably this would include translations of the work, although that right is not specifically mentioned. This clause also gives the publisher the right to adapt the work in any media - even forms not yet invented. In a particularly egregious clause, clause 5, the author(s) is/are forced to waive any moral rights they might have in the work if said rights might interfere with the publisher's exercise of any of the subsidiary rights. Furthermore, as is mentioned in our section on moral rights, moral rights in written works are not recognized in the United States. Therefore, this clause is meaningless in the U.S.; it does not grant an author rights not recognized under U.S. law.