Copyright Cautions

SPECIAL CAUTIONS

This a collection of miscellaneous information about copyright issues, collected from various sources. Where a URL is given, please go to the source to read the original.

1. An author found her articles being sold on Amazon. Amazon told her that it had a licence to sell her work through an American "content aggregator" called ProQuest Information and Learning. I have found an old article of mine sold on various websites, and traced these back to Amazon and to Thomson-Gale, a U.K. "content aggregator." You need to check various search engines regularly, or employ a service like Google Alert to keep track of who is reprinting - and perhaps selling - your work.

2. One PWAC member uses the following statement at the bottom of every piece she submits, and also includes it on her invoice: "Copyright licence: one-time Canadian print rights in English only. If the article is not published within 12 months of submission, the licence is terminated. All other rights reserved, including syndication and electronic rights."

3. Re Google's Book Search Project, "Google cannot opt out of the law's obligation to respect the rights of others." Quote from Thomas Rubin, associate general counsel at Microsoft, speaking at the Association of American Publishers annual meeting, March 6, 2007.

4. Many freelance contracts contain a clause similar to the following:
"Author represents and warrants that the Work is the Author's original work, that the work is accurate, that the Author has the right to sell the Work, that publication of the Work will not infringe upon any other person's copyright or violate any other rights of any party, including but not limited to rights of privacy and rights relative to defamation and the author has obtained all the waivers of rights or releases which may be necessary. Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless in the event of any breach of these representations and warranties." Make sure you change that last sentence to read:
"Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless in the event of any PROVEN breach of these representations and warranties."

5. YouTube's Terms of Service:
"For clarity, you retain all of your ownership rights in your User Submissions. However, by submitting User Submissions to YouTube, you hereby grant YouTube a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the User Submissions in connection with the YouTube Website and YouTube's (and its successors' and affiliates') business, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of the YouTube Website (and derivative works thereof) in any media formats and through any media channels. You also hereby grant each user of the YouTube Website a non-exclusive license to access your User Submissions through the Website, and to use, reproduce, distribute, display and perform such User Submissions as permitted through the functionality of the Website and under these Terms of Service."

Knowledge Networks, a U.S. market research consulting company, has paid $300,000 US for distributing copyright-protected articles and research reports to employees via e-mail newsletters. The company had been forwarding articles from publishers such as Reed Elsevier and the Associated Press, without obtaining licenses or permissions.