The Internet Archive (Archive.org) is carrying out a very large and growing program of scanning entire books and posting them on the public Internet. It is calling this project “Open Library,” but it is SFWA’s understanding that this is not library lending, but direct infringement of authors’ copyrights.
by Russell Galen
Have an agent. If you feel you don’t need one, find another human being to whom you have no emotional attachments, who knows a lot about the IP business, will tell you the truth, will be a sounding board for your literary and business questions, and will speak to the buyers of your work so that you can keep some distance from them.
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.
As part of its mission to serve professional genre writers, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America is pleased to announce that their Contracts Committee has released an updated Model Magazine Contract.
Join the National Writers Union, DC Chapter and the Special Libraries Association, Social Science Division, Labor Section for our panel session on the topic of copyright on April 24th between 12:30 p.m. and 2:00 p.m.
On March 10-11, 2014, the U.S. Copyright Office will host another round of discussions in Washington, D.C., concerning legislative solutions for orphan works and mass digitization under U.S. copyright law.
Early in their careers, writers sometimes sign away valuable rights under less than favorable terms. This article discusses the important right of termination under US copyright law, which allows writers to reclaim such rights in their works and to try to make a better deal.
Many writers have heard of the “DMCA takedown notice” but not everyone understands what it is. In this post, I’ll try to explain the basics and give you some ideas about how to use the tool to protect your rights and how to respond if you’re on the receiving end of one that you consider to be without merit.
Writers are sometimes confused by the “registration” requirement under the US copyright laws. In this post, I hope to clear up the concept and help you decide whether copyright registration makes sense for you.
Today’s guest post by multi-published author Doranna Durgin is about a publisher behaving badly.
More than that, however, it highlights something that every writer signing a publishing contract needs to be aware of: the importance of reversion clauses…
Determining when work passes into the public domain is tricky. There are resources online that can help.
This document has been endorsed by the Romance Writers of America (RWA), Novelists, Inc., Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of
