Archive for the ‘Contracts Committee Alerts’ Category

Legal Affairs Alert on the New Zealand National Library

UPDATE 12/3/2021:  The NZ National Library has announced that they will be reconsidering their plans for this archival deal “in light of concerns raised by the various interested parties, including issues associated with copyright. The National Library will not export any of the OPC until it considered its next steps.” The full press release from […]

SFWA Contracts Committee Advisory on No-advance Contracts

Recently, SFWA’s Contracts Committee was made aware of a situation in which a well-liked publisher canceled the publication of a number of books it had contracted to publish. The publisher said the decision was made because of “unexpected changes” at the company.  The Committee has reviewed the contract in use, which lacked a provision for […]

Contracts Committee Alert – Copyright Class Action suit payments

A class action suit for violation of copyright, first filed in 2001, has finally brought checks to writers.  The initial settlement in the case, the Literary Works in Electronic Databases Copyright Litigation, was approved in 2005, followed by more years of litigation.  The deadline for authors to file claims was in 2005.  

Alert Regarding Closure of Great Jones Street

Great Jones Street is — and soon, was — a Web site and app that publishes fiction.  On December 24, they announced that they were going out of business, and that they planned to sell their inventory of fiction to an interested buyer. Writers who have sold work to Great Jones Street should carefully review […]

Contracts Committee Alert: Non-compete and Option Clauses

The SFWA Contracts Committee believes there are serious problems for writers with the non-compete and option clauses in many science fiction and fantasy publishers’ contracts. The non-compete language in these contracts often overreaches and limits authors’ career options in unacceptable ways.

Grievance Committee Alert: Contract Safeguards Under Siege

There is a recent tendency of some publishers to change their contracts in manners that are decidedly unfavorable to authors. We have had and are having particular issues with indemnity clauses. Griefcom urges all of you to compare any offered contract to the SFWA Model Contract and to ask for changes in any clauses that are non-beneficial to you.