Re: [ARMini-support] Insignia / copyright manual
- From: Alan Wrigley <alan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: armini-support@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 10 May 2018 20:32:57 +0100
Jim Lesurf <jcgl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In article <gemini.p8iop900e34uq02cc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Alan Wrigley
<alan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Jim Lesurf <jcgl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Personally I've long felt that copyrights should revert to the author
when a company that bought them goes under.
The answer is for authors to ensure when handing over copyright that
there is a clause in the contract stipulating what happens if the
company ceases to exist. I would certainly always do that. I would also
try to negotiate an agreement on what happens if the company decides to
cease publication of the work, though I suspect that would be a tougher
job in most cases.
That may be *an* answer. My book contracts contained such conditions,
hence
I can now make 'free' copies available. [1] So authors should ask about
this before agreeing to sign up with a publisher.
But for many authors the choice is being told by publishers, "Our way or
the highway". Similar situation for musicians quite often.
I'm going to tentatively keep this going since the question of copyright is
relevant to our use of RISC OS computers, and indeed to all the software I
write for RISC OS not to mention anyone else's.
Copyright automatically rests with the author of the work unless it is
explicitly signed away. Granting someone a licence to publish your work
doesn't automatically give them the copyright. I think you could therefore
make a good argument that when the publisher is no longer physically capable
of publishing, e.g. through insolvency, death or whatever, the author should
be free to grant a licence to anyone else, unless copyright was explicitly
reassigned.
As for being dictated to by publishers, a contract is an agreement between
two parties, not a diktat by one. Its purpose is to establish a solution
agreeable to both parties. The publisher has a perfect right to demand tough
terms, but the author has an equal right to refuse them. I don't necessarily
agree that this is ideal but in a commercial situation you either agree to
terms and accept them, or you walk away if you can't accept them.
Spoken by an anarchist who finds the practice of capitalism distasteful. But
I have to live with it. My signature is my promise and because I expect
other people to keep their promises I keep my own. Unless I've been wilfully
deceived of course.
Alan
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