Copyright Issues

Todd Moritz

LIBR 099

TR 9:30AM – 10:45AM

04/02/13

Assuming that I have written a college-level textbook and was approached by a publisher who was interested in publishing it, I would want to know a bit more details about the contract I am about to sign before I just sign over any rights to the publishing company. The prompt states that the “contract requires you to sign over the copyright” which makes me think that I would be signing over all of my rights. This would make me a bit hesitant. One reason that I would be hesitant is simply due to my lack of in-depth knowledge regarding how textbooks are published and viewed as far as legal copyright matters go. One initial question I have would be concerning derivative works. If I sign over all of my rights to the textbook over to the publishing company but then write another textbook next year over the same topic, but with updated information, would that then be considered a derivative work of the first textbook I wrote? My opinion would be that it is not a derivative work, but I point this possibility out because I am not well versed in the textbook industry, and am simply acknowledging a potential concern of mine.

I would also want some clarity from the publishing company as to what compensation I would receive if the book did not “take off.” What are the definitions of “taking off” and how do we gauge how much a book has “taken off?” If I am to understand that I would be signing all of my rights to the work over to the publishing company, I would want more cut and dry explanations of what I would be receiving in return. Furthermore, if I sign over all of my rights, do I have any say at all in how the publishing company uses my book? It seems that the answer is that by signing all your rights to the publisher, you are actually signing away each and every right over to them, unless you specify otherwise. This makes me very hesitant about the whole publisher concept, especially since only $500 per semester seems...