Republish work under the original authors name

[watsonj80]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Michigan

I would like to re-publish the poetry work of my deceased fiancee in her memory. I currently have possession of her original manuscripts and artwork. What are the legal ramifications if I did publish them?

 

[FlyingRon]

What do you mean "republish?" If these were already published once, then she likely assigned the rights to that publisher and they could very much sue you.

If you just mean, publish, you still have problems. Being her fiancee doesn't give you any rights. The publication rights belong to the estate and eventually to whoever her heirs are. You'd need their permission. Barring a will to the contrary, if she has no spouse or children, her parent(s) likely will own the copyright.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Michigan

I would like to re-publish the poetry work of my deceased fiancee in her memory. I currently have possession of her original manuscripts and artwork. What are the legal ramifications if I did publish them?

Some clarification would be nice.

I agree with all that FlyingRon has said, and it seems likely that you will need permission from your fiancée's estate or perhaps the publisher of the poetry, but I would like to know more about the current status of the works created by your fiancée.

Were the copyrights on the poetry and artwork federally registered? Under whose name were they registered?

 

[LdiJ]

Some clarification would be nice.

I agree with all that FlyingRon has said, and it seems likely that you will need permission from your fiancé's estate or pehaps the publisher of the poetry, but would like to know more about the current status of the works created by your fiancé.

Were the copyrights on the poetry and artwork federally registered? Under whose name were they registered?

What if it was just a vanity publishing? Would that change things at all?

 

[quincy]

What if it was just a vanity publishing? Would that change things at all?

It could change things. It depends on the vanity publisher and on the contract with that publisher.

Some publishers will attempt to have all copyrights in a work transferred to them. A writer would be well-advised to avoid this. Generally a writer is best off licensing to a publisher a (preferably time-limited) exclusive right to reproduce, distribute and display the work.

My reason for wanting clarification as to the copyright status of the fiancée's works is that there are some circumstances under which permission would not be needed to reproduce a work. For one example (albeit an unlikely one) the fiancée could have donated her works to the public domain.

I am always reluctant to give any definitive answer without knowing all of the facts and, in a forum setting, we rarely are provided with enough facts to provide definitive answers. There are almost always exceptions to general rules.

 

[LdiJ]

It could change things. It depends on the vanity publisher and on the contract with that publisher.

Some publishers will attempt to have all copyrights in a work transferred to them. A writer would be well-advised to avoid this. Generally a writer is best off licensing to a publisher a (preferably time-limited) exclusive right to reproduce, distribute and display the work.

My reason for wanting clarification as to the copyright status of the fiancée's works is that there are some circumstances under which permission would not be needed to reproduce a work. For one example (albeit an unlikely one) the fiancée could have donated her works to the public domain.

I am always reluctant to give any definitive answer without knowing all of the facts and, in a forum setting, we rarely are provided with enough facts to provide definitive answers. There are almost always exceptions to general rules.

I asked for kind of a personal reason. I published a vanity publishing of my best friend's mother's diary for all of her children and grandchildren, and I did not get official permission first. Everyone was thrilled to have it and it never occurred to me that it could have been a problem.

 

[FlyingRon]

I asked for kind of a personal reason. I published a vanity publishing of my best friend's mother's diary for all of her children and grandchildren, and I did not get official permission first. Everyone was thrilled to have it and it never occurred to me that it could have been a problem.

If you only distributed it to family, while it's likely still a technical violation, it's not one that's going to net any real damages.

 

[quincy]

I asked for kind of a personal reason. I published a vanity publishing of my best friend's mother's diary for all of her children and grandchildren, and I did not get official permission first. Everyone was thrilled to have it and it never occurred to me that it could have been a problem.

I agree with FlyingRon that it could be copyright infringement if you did not get permission in advance of publication (depending on all sorts of facts and factors), but it would be an infringement unlikely to be enforced by any holder of the rights in the diary writings. Many people violate copyright laws in this way without any legal consequences because there are no demonstrable damages.

For something like a diary, unless the diary was registered with the US Copyright Office or the writer of the diary was someone famous, the copyright holder would be limited to collecting actual damages (the dollars lost) and/or profits. Statutory damages come only with registration and actual damages can be more easily demonstrated when a person is famous.

With your publication, there are neither demonstrable profits nor losses - just a bunch of grateful relatives. I think what you did was really nice.

 

[watsonj80]

Her works were originally published through publishamerica.com but the contract ran out. She did have two boys but she severed her rights in court three years ago. I am in contact with her sister, who is the only next of kin I am able to contact. I only wish to publish the books to honor her memory. There was no will.

 

[LdiJ]

Her works were originally published through publishamerica.com but the contract ran out. She did have two boys but she severed her rights in court three years ago. I am in contact with her sister, who is the only next of kin I am able to contact. I only wish to publish the books to honor her memory. There was no will.

What do you plan to do with them after you publish them?

 

[quincy]

Her works were originally published through publishamerica.com but the contract ran out. She did have two boys but she severed her rights in court three years ago. I am in contact with her sister, who is the only next of kin I am able to contact. I only wish to publish the books to honor her memory. There was no will.

Publish America is now America Star Books, but America Star has inherited the questionable reputation of Publish America, with many unhappy writers, and some lawsuits already filed over its practices. I am curious how the contract your fiancée had with Publish America "ran out." Many writers were forced to pay significant amounts of money in order to terminate their contracts.

At any rate, LdiJ asks a good question. What do you intend to do with the works created by your fiancée?

If you plan to do as LdiJ did, and distribute copies of your fiancée's works to relatives only, you might not have any legal issues to worry about even if the copying technically violates copyright laws (and, depending on when the works were created and ownership as indicated by registration and on other factors, there may be no copyright violation at all with reproducing the works).

I think you are smart to work with your fiancée's sister but it is probably also smart to sit down with an IP attorney in your area to determine for sure who the holder of any existing rights in the works created by your fiancée might be. I would do the latter prior to publishing the artwork or re-publishing the book of poetry for public consumption.

 

[watsonj80]

What do you plan to do with them after you publish them?

I would like to take the money from any books sold and put it into an account for her two boys, what ever books are sold they will receive after they reach a certain age. I will also give copies to her family. As far as the publisher is concerned, from what I was told, she received no royalties from what books did sell. She received an e-mail from them stating that her contract expired about a year ago. I have access to her e-mail so I should be able to dig a bit deeper into that.

 

[quincy]

I would like to take the money from any books sold and put it into an account for her two boys, what ever books are sold they will receive after they reach a certain age. I will also give copies to her family. As far as the publisher is concerned, from what I was told, she received no royalties from what books did sell. She received an e-mail from them stating that her contract expired about a year ago. I have access to her e-mail so I should be able to dig a bit deeper into that.

You will want verification of the contract expiration. I would not trust an email.

I am not surprised that your fiancée did not receive any royalties - that has been a common complaint of writers who involved themselves with Publish America. Most books, however, do not sell to anyone but the author so there are no royalties.

I think what you intend to do is admirable but you really need to get the ownership of rights determined first before you try to reproduce, distribute and market her works to the public. Her sons may have inherited rights along with her sister, depending on how your fiancée "severed" her rights to the boys.

I recommend, once again, that you consult with an IP attorney. The situation you bring to FreeAdvice requires research and a personal review, neither of which we can do in depth on this forum.

Good luck.

 

[LdiJ]

I agree with FlyingRon that it could be copyright infringement if you did not get permission in advance of publication (depending on all sorts of facts and factors), but it would be an infringement unlikely to be enforced by any holder of the rights in the diary writings. Many people violate copyright laws in this way without any legal consequences because there are no demonstrable damages.

For something like a diary, unless the diary was registered with the US Copyright Office or the writer of the diary was someone famous, the copyright holder would be limited to collecting actual damages (the dollars lost) and/or profits. Statutory damages come only with registration and actual damages can be more easily demonstrated when a person is famous.

With your publication, there are neither demonstrable profits nor losses - just a bunch of grateful relatives. I think what you did was really nice.

Thank you. I did not get permission because I wanted it to be a surprise.

 

[quincy]

Thank you. I did not get permission because I wanted it to be a surprise.

I am sure it was a nice gift for all. I often worry about this internet age in that diaries are no longer written and handwritten history is disappearing rapidly. Emails and blogs do not compare to letters and diaries. They are not likely to be saved, held onto, passed down from one generation to the next, and treasured.

The difference in what you did and what watsonj80 apparently wants to do, however, is that you did not make the diary copies available for sale to the public as he intends. While setting up accounts for the boys is nice, the sale of the books to fund these accounts requires more work to ensure the legality. Whenever money is involved, there can be disputes over ownership rights that might not otherwise surface.