Authors’ & Other
Creators’ Rights
OSCP Lunch & Learn Talk #18
28 January 2015
Prepared by John Barnett
CC BY 4.0
Learning objectives
 Gain an understanding of the similarities and differences between authors’
rights and the rights of copyright owners
 Ponder the many potential creators for music, performance, motion
pictures, and art
 Learn about economic rights and moral rights as part of creators’ rights
 Be able to identify some areas of concern in
publishers’ agreements related to
authors’ rights
Copyright: The basics
 A form of intellectual property law, grounded in the U.S. Constitution
 Right of authors* to control use of their works for a limited time
 Also established to promote creativity and learning
 Covers both published and unpublished works
 Covers original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression
 Copyright notice is no longer required—but it may be wise to affix one
 Copyright registration is no longer required—but it can be helpful
 *Assuming that the author is the one who owns the copyright
Just do it! What’s protected—
and what’s not?
 Protected—
 Original works of authorship including
 Literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works
 e.g., poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, architecture
 Not protected—
 Facts, ideas, systems, methods of operation
(although it may protect the way these are expressed)
 Names, titles, slogans, or short phrases (although
these may be protected as trademarks)
 Kinda, sorta—
 Logos—may be protected by copyright if the logo
artwork contains sufficient authorship
 Or an artistic logo may also be protected as a trademark
You have the right to . . .
 Reproduce the work in copies and “phonorecords”
 Prepare derivative works based upon the original
 Distribute copies of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of
ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending
 Perform the work publicly (literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic
works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works
 Display the work publicly (literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic
works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works [including
individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work]
 Perform the work publicly (in the case of sound recordings) by means of “a
digital audio transmission”
Authors’ rights vs. copyright
 Authors’ rights belong to the author/creator of a work
 Authors can transfer, sell, rent, lease, etc., some or all of those rights to
others
 When the rights are transferred, sold, or signed away, the authors’ rights
generally* come to an end
 The recipient of these rights becomes the copyright holder/owner
* Don’t forget about moral rights for creators!
Other concepts
 Exclusive vs. non-exclusive rights
 Deposits to D-Scholarship@Pitt
 “In self-archiving this Work, I grant the University and its agents the non-exclusive and
perpetual license to . . .”
 Pitt students who complete ETDs grant a non-exclusive license to the university to
distribute their ETDs
 “I hereby grant to the University . . . And its agents the non-exclusive royalty-free license
to archive and make accessible . . .”
 Subsidiary rights
 Examples: Translations, foreign markets, permissions, formats, etc.
 Economic vs. moral rights
Why do author/creator rights matter?
 Attribution
 Be acknowledged for the work you do
 Be rewarded for it
 Copy
 An author may want to make copies of his/her “own” work
 But if rights are transferred to another entity, now the new copyright owner has that right
 Remix (make derivatives)
 Make versions or new editions of the author’s work
 Reuse (grant permissions)
 Authors can give permission on how they want their works to be used or distributed
 If those rights are assigned to a publisher, the publisher then determines use and distribution
Musical compositions
 Musical compositions = Music and accompanying words
 Includes both original compositions and original arrangements
 Includes other new versions of earlier compositions to which new copyrightable
authorship has been added
 Forms (physical items)
 Sheet music
 CDs, LPs, cassettes
 Author

The composer

The lyricist (if there is one)
Sound recordings
 Sound recordings = Works that result from the fixation of a series of musical,
spoken, or other sounds
 Examples: Recordings of music, drama, or lectures
 Author
 The performer(s) whose performance is captured
 The producer who processes the sounds and fixes them in the final recording
 Or both
Motion pictures
 Audiovisual works consisting of a series of related images that, when shown in succession,
impart an impression of motion, together with accompanying sounds
 Film, videotape, videodisk
 Only the expression (camera work, dialogue, sounds) is protected under copyright
 Not protected—Ideas, concepts, or even characters portrayed
 Authors
 Director
 Scriptwriter
 Cinematographer
 Sound engineer
 Others!
Multimedia works
 Combines authorship in two or more media
 May include text, photography, artwork, sounds, sculpture, music,
cinematography, choreography
 May included printed matter, audiovisual materials, phonorecords,
machine-readable copy (disc, diskette, tape, chip)
Visual arts
 Includes 2- and 3-D works of fine,
graphic, and applied art
 Advertisements, artificial flowers
and plants, bumper stickers,
cartoons, dolls, fabric designs,
games, greeting cards,
holograms, jewelry designs, maps,
models, mosaics, needlework,
paintings, photographs,
sculptures, silk-screen prints,
stained glass designs, technical
and mechanical drawings,
weaving designs . . .
Not protected
 Familiar symbols or designs
 Mere variations of typographic
ornamentation, lettering, or
coloring
 It’s complicated:
Useful articles/
utilitarian items
So many economic rights
Such limited moral rights
 Significant in other countries (e.g., France, Germany, Canada)
 Included in the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic
Works
 Right of attribution
 Right to have a work published anonymously or pseudonymously
 Right to the integrity of the work
 Bars the work from alteration, distortion, or mutilation
 Applies even after the work leaves the artist’s possession or ownership
 Applies even if an artist has assigned copyright to a 3rd party
But in the U.S.?
 Less emphasized—felt to be covered by existing legislation
 e.g., Adaptations: Derivatives works section of copyright law
 e.g., Attribution: Lanham Act governing false and misleading advertising
 U.S. recognized some moral rights in signing the Berne Convention, 1989
 Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA) of 1990
 Applies only to a narrow class of works
 Art, sculpture, and other works of visual art that are produced in 200 copies or fewer
 States that an artist’s name must be kept on the work
 Or allows the artist to have the name removed if the work has been altered in a way
objectionable to the artist
 Provides limited abilities to prevent works from being defaced or destroyed
 Some states also have moral rights laws for visual art and artists
And now for something
completely different . . .
 In 1976, Terry Gilliam/Monty
Python claimed ABC violated
copyright and caused damage
to their artistic reputation by
broadcasting drastically edited
versions of their shows
 U.S. district and appeals courts
found in favor of the troupe
 Case was primarily decided on
the basis of whether the BBC had
the right to let ABC edit the shows
Loosey goosey
 Artist Michael Snow created a
sculpture of Canada geese for
the Toronto Eaton Centre
shopping mall
 The Eaton Centre wanted to
decorate the geese with
Christmas bows
 Snow successfully stopped the
shopping center from decorating
the geese
To the left, to the left: Different approaches
to authors’ and creators’ rights
 Copyleft
 Licenses works to be freely
copied, distributed, and modified
 Share alike
 Patentleft or Open Patent
Movement
 Licenses patents for royalty-free
use
 Share alike
Creative Commons
 7 licenses
 No registration required
 Standardized way to give public
permission to share and use your
creative work
 Not an alternative but a
companion to copyright
Public domain
 Intellectual property rights have
expired, been forfeited, or are
inapplicable
 Or no rights or license are
claimed, including the right to
attribution
 But what about
licensed images,
new recordings,
new editions, new
translations . . . ?
Software
 European Union Public Licence
 GNU General Public License—free
software
 Open Source Initiative (OSI)—
open source software
 HESSLA (Hacktivisimo EnhancedSource Software License
Agreement)—ethical restrictions
on the use and modification of
software
Still more options
 Against DRM License
 Design Science License
 Free Art License
 MirOS Licence
 Open Audio License
Analyzing a publisher’s agreement
 Different agreements
 Special concerns
 Books
 All rights reserved or some?
 Scholarly journals
 Exclusive or non-exclusive?
 Proceedings
 Subsidiary rights?
 Agreements for authors
 Option clauses?
 Agreements for editors
 Warranty clauses?
 Indemnity clauses?
Give it away, give it away, give it
away, yeah . . .
 The Author hereby grants and assigns to the Publisher for the legal term of
copyright (including any renewals, extensions, reversions and continuations
thereof) all rights and interests in the Work and any new or revised, adapted
or abridged editions thereof, including without limitation the exclusive rights,
by itself and/or with others, to print, publish, republish, transmit, display, sell
and distribute the Work and to prepare, publish and distribute derivative
works based thereon, in all languages throughout the world, in any form or
media of expression whatsoever now known or hereafter developed or
invented (including without limitation any form of electronic publication
distribution or transmission that the Publisher may wish);
 And to license such rights to others as set forth in Schedule II Paragraphs A3
[E-Books] and B [Subsidiary Rights] on such terms as the Publisher may
determine.
In case you weren’t sure . . .
 The copyright in the Work will belong to the Publisher.
 The Publisher will cause the copyright notice authorized by U.S. copyright
law to be imprinted in each copy of the Work issued by it.
 The grant in Paragraph 1.1 above includes a grant to the Publisher of the
right to secure registration of copyright in the Work in the Publisher’s name
or any other name the Publisher elects in such countries as the Publisher
may deem expedient; the Author agrees to take all steps necessary to
effect such registration or any renewal thereof.
 The Author agrees to execute and deliver to the Publisher any and all
documents in proper or customary form necessary or helpful to record in
the United States or other copyright office the Publisher’s ownership of the
copyright in the Work.
Permit me to pay you for the work I do
 If releases or permission are required for any material contained in the
Work (including without limitation textual extracts or illustrations,
photographs, maps, diagrams, tables, artwork and/or software), then the
Author will obtain satisfactory permissions or releases as needed to
reproduce the same in the Work as directed by the Publisher.
 The Author will forward the originals of the permissions to the Publisher as
soon as possible after signing this Agreement and in any event no later than
the date agreed with the Publisher for delivery of materials.
 The costs of permissions will be paid by the Author.
Permit me to permit you to pay
someone else
 If the Author fails to clear and/or pay for permissions as stated above, the
Publisher has the right to obtain or engage another person or entity to
obtain the necessary clearances and/or make the necessary payments to
third parties.
 Any costs incurred by the Publisher in obtaining such clearances will be
charged against any amounts due to the Author from the Publisher, unless
such amount is insufficient to cover the permission fees, in which case the
Author will repay the amounts so paid by the Publisher within thirty (30) days
of receipt from Publisher of an invoice therefor.
Competing works
 During the continuance of this Agreement, the Author will not write, edit,
print or publish or cause to be written, edited, printed or published any work
that may reasonably be regarded by the Publisher as likely to compete with
or prejudicially affect the sale of the Work or the exploitation of any rights in
the Work granted to the Publisher under this Agreement.
New editions
 The Author will, if called upon to do so by the Publisher and without
additional charge to the Publisher, prepare new editions of the Work as
may be needed to keep the Work up to date on a schedule the Publisher
reasonably requests.
First refusal
 The Publisher will have the first opportunity to read and consider for
publication the Author's next work.
 If the Publisher and Author are unable to agree to terms for its publication
within a reasonable period, the Author may enter into an agreement with
another publisher, provided that the Author will not subsequently accept
from anyone else terms equivalent to or less favorable than those offered
by the Publisher.
Beyond the grave
 In addition to the rights granted to the Publisher pursuant to Paragraph 4.2
above, if the Author be prevented by disability or death from completing
the Work, the Publisher may, at its option, either:
 (i) purchase from the Author's executors administrators or assigns (as the case
may be) such writings the Author has done in respect of the Work and a grant
and assignment of the copyright therein at a price to be agreed in lieu of any
monies that would otherwise be owing pursuant to this Agreement if the Author
had completed the Work, and entrust the completion of the Work to another
party; or
 (ii) terminate the Agreement by notice in writing, without liability for any payment
to the Author's executors administrators or assigns.
Warranty clauses

The Author represents and warrants to the Publisher and its assignees and licensees that:

The Author owns and has the right to convey all of the rights conveyed herein to the Publisher and has the unencumbered
right to enter into this Agreement;

The Author is the sole author of the Work (or of the Author's contribution to the Work, as the case may be);

The Work or the Author's contribution to the Work is original and has not previously been published in any form (except for
material of others included in the manuscript with the Publisher’s written consent and the written permission of the copyright
proprietor or written confirmation of the Publisher’s determination that permission is not needed);

The Work is in no way whatsoever a violation or infringement of any existing copyright or license or duty of confidence or
duty to respect privacy or any other right of any person or party;

Neither the Work nor any material portion thereof is, or will be during the statutory term(s) of copyright, in the public domain;

The Work contains nothing that violates any right of privacy, is defamatory or otherwise violates any other right of any kind of
any person or entity, nor does the Work contain anything that is obscene or in any other way unlawful or misleading;

The Author has not misrepresented to the Publisher the Author’s academic or other credentials;

And all statements in the Work purporting to be facts are true and any recipe, formula, diagram, table, recommended
treatment, dosage or instruction contained therein, whether textual or illustrative, and whether intended to be informative
or instructional, is based on the best information currently available.
Indemnification clauses
 The Author agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Publisher, its affiliates,
assignees, and licensees and its and their respective directors, officers,
members, managers, employees, agents, distributors and customers (each, an
“Indemnitee”) against any damage, loss, liability, injury, or cost or expense
(including without limitation reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs), settlement or
judgment arising out of any claim (a “claim”) by third parties that any of the
above representations or warranties has been breached.
 If a claim is brought against an Indemnitee, the Publisher will have the right to
defend with counsel of its own choice.
 The Author agrees to cooperate in the defense and will have the right to
participate in the defense at the Author’s own expense.
 The Publisher may withhold payments due or to become due to the Author
under this Agreement pending the final resolution of the claim and/or apply any
such payments to the reduction of the obligations of the Author to the
Indemnitees described in this Paragraph 10.2.
Journal publisher agreements
 May be less restrictive and all-encompassing
 May be a non-exclusive agreement
 Some journals may not restrict classroom photocopying, reprinting in anthologies
or other scholarly works, or being able to license content to appear in article
databases
 Other licensing options
 Creative Commons
 Open Access
Proceedings publisher agreements
 Editor may have a separate status as an author because of the collective
nature of the work
 Contributors of individual parts will have status as authors as well
 Published as a journal issue
 Editor needs to sign a journal publisher agreement
 Individual authors of articles need to sign journal publisher agreements
 Published as a book
 Editor needs to sign a book publishing agreement
 Individual authors of papers need to sign publisher agreements as well
What’s an author to do?
 Be aware of key clauses
 Understand what they mean
 Ask for them to be changed or removed
 Understand your rights and retain as many as you can
 Use Creative Commons or other copyleft licenses to help you modify
agreements
Questions?
 Thank you!
 Authors’ & Other Creators’ Rights
 OSCP Lunch & Learn Talk #18, 28 January 2014
 Prepared by John Barnett, Scholarly Communications Librarian
 Office of Scholarly Communication and Publishing
 University Library System, University of Pittsburgh
 CC BY 4.0
Sources
 American Psychological Association. (2010). Protecting intellectual property
rights. In Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th
ed., pp. 18-20). Washington, DC: Author.
 Crews, K. (2006). Copyright law for librarians and educators: Creative
strategies and practical solutions (2nd ed.). Chicago: American Library
Association.
 Strong, W. (2010). Rights, permissions, and copyright administration. In The
Chicago manual of style (16th ed., pp. 155-197). Chicago and London:
University of Chicago Press.
 U.S. Copyright Office. (2012). Copyright basics (Circular 1). Washington, DC:
Author. Retrieved from http://copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf
Sources, continued
 U.S. Copyright Office. (2013). Copyright notice (Circular 3). Washington, DC:
Author. Retrieved from http://copyright.gov/circs/circ03.pdf
 U.S. Copyright Office. (2013). Copyright registration for multimedia works
(Circular 55). Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from
http://copyright.gov/circs/circ55.pdf
 U.S. Copyright Office. (2012). Copyright registration for musical compositions
(Circular 50). Washington, DC: (Author). Retrieved from
http://copyright.gov/circs/circ50.pdf
 U.S. Copyright Office. (2014). Copyright registration for sound recordings
(Circular 56). Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from
http://copyright.gov/circs/circ56.pdf