Unfriendly Clauses for Writers

To the extent permitted by applicable law, you grant all of the foregoing rights irrevocably, and free of royalty or other participatory claim. The [publisher] may transfer, assign, or sublicense these rights without further permission from you.

This is a contract for an academic journal. It means that whatever rights the author gave up are granted forever, and the publisher doesn't have to pay anything for the rights. The contract also allows the publisher to transfer any or all of the rights it has under the contract to anyone else without asking or paying the author.

"SOCIETY'S" Copyright Transfer COPYRIGHT TRANSFER

The undersigned, with the consent of all authors, hereby transfers, to the extent that there is copyright to be transferred, the exclusive copyright interest in the above cited manuscript, including the published version in any format (subsequently called the "work"), to the Society subject to the following (If the manuscript is not accepted by the Society or withdrawn prior to acceptance by the Society, this transfer will be null and void.): A. The undersigned author and all coauthors retain the right to revise, adapt, prepare derivative works, present orally, or distribute or transmit to not more than 50 colleagues, their own paper, provided that copyright credit is given to the source and the Society, that recipients are informed that they may not further disseminate or copy the paper, and that all such use is for the personal noncommercial benefit of the author(s) and is consistent with any prior contractual agreement between the undersigned and/or coauthors and their employer(s). Authors/employers may post the title of the paper, abstract (no other text), tables, and figures of their own papers on their own Web sites, and include these items in their own scholarly, research papers. B. Where a work is prepared as a "work made for hire" for an employer, the employer(s) of the author(s) retain(s) the right to revise, adapt, prepare derivative works, publish, reprint, reproduce, and distribute the work in print format, and to transmit it on an internal, secure network for use by its employees only, and additional rights under A, provided that all such use is for the promotion of its business enterprise and does not imply endorsement by the Society. C. Whenever the Society is approached by third parties for individual permission to use, reprint, or republish specified articles (except for classroom use, library reserve, or to reprint in a collective work) the undersigned author's or employer's permission will also be required. D. No proprietary right other than copyright is claimed by the Society.

This clause, from an academic society's journal, requires the author to assign the journal her copyright in the work. While the author retains the right to create derivative works and present the paper to a limited number of colleagues, she may not make any profits from the work. The society may not, however, reprint the work without the author's permission.

The Work will be a work made for hire under the U.S. copyright laws. If a court determines that this agreement does not provide for the creation of a work made for hire, then you agree to give COMPANY its affiliated corporations and licensees exclusive publication rights of your Work for COMPANY, as well as the exclusive rights to reproduce, edit, adapt, modify, perform, transmit and otherwise use the Work, including any derivative works created therefrom, in any manner or medium throughout the world in perpetuity without additional compensation. This includes, but is not limited to, the right to reproduce and distribute the Work in electronic or optical media, or in CD-ROM, on-line or similar format.

Following your submission of the Work to COMPANY, COMPANY is willing to consider a request by you for a non-exclusive license to reproduce and/or distribute the Work to third parties. Any such request should be addressed to your editorial contact.

This is an excerpt from a contract between a journalist or photographer and a major news service. This would look, at first glance, like a standard work-for-hire agreement. People who sign this, however, should consult our definition of work-for-hire and ensure that their project can be classified under this Section of the Copyright Act. Furthermore, the language in the second paragraph should be looked at closely. The Company may give the author the right to reproduce and/or distribute the work to third parties. This right is not guaranteed however, and must be agreed upon at the time the contract is signed. Also, the language of the contract seems to indicate that the author may only reproduce and/or distribute his work to a third party, which would not necessarily include the right to post the material on one's own website or allow others to reproduce the work. Further clarification on these points should be requested before this document is signed.

The Photos shall be specially commissioned works made for hire pursuant to the Copyright Act. HOTEL shall own all rights in and to the Photos and all physical copies of the Photos in all media, including all digital files containing the Photos. To the extent that any or all of the Photos may be deemed ineligible for work for hire status, you hereby assign and agree to assign to HOTEL your entire right, title, and interest in those Photos, including all copyright. You agree to execute any further written assignments of copyright in the Photos that HOTEL may reasonably request. You hereby appoint HOTEL as your attorney in fact for the sole purpose of executing and recording any such assignments.

This was actually an agreement between a resort hotel seeking publicity shots and a photographer. The agreement stipulates that the work is a work-made-for-hire but a work can't be a work-for-hire unless it meets certain criteria. It is important to understand whether or not your work falls into this category before signing any contract.