[San-Diego-pm] [OT] IP contracts for books?

[Randal L. Schwartz]

>>>>> "Bruce" == Bruce Timberlake <bruce at brtnet.org> writes:

Bruce> I know a few people on the list have been involved with writing
Bruce> books. I have been approached by a company to develop some
Bruce> courseware for them.  Their standard contract has me assigning
Bruce> all IP rights for everything to them, and I'm not keen on
Bruce> that.

This is *very* normal.  I don't own anything I've written for hire,
unless I do some special negotiation.

For example, the Llama contract specifically states that I retain the
rights to use the exercises in my courseware.  My column contracts
specifically state that I can publish the work only on my own website,
and N days (between 30 and 90) after the publisher has generated their
first publication.  (This is why my columns online often have an
"embargo" tag... that's what's going on.)

Of course, it's all what you negotiate... but it'd be pretty rare for
you to retain more than just "cutout" licenses for the material...
they're pretty much gonna own your hide if they're paying you.

-- 
Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. - +1 503 777 0095
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