Overreaching Clause for Literary Authors

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.

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.

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.