LaProfesora
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Ohio
Hello All,
I was hired at a large university to write curriculum for a large science lab course. During my first year, I collected labs from the internet, wrote them out in my own words into labs that would work for my large lecture course, modifying materials and methods, editing the labs, and adding references and directions and case studies. I put the labs up on my university's learning platform.
In the second semester, I took all the labs and, at the urging of my boss and the textbook publisher who published our science textbook (a large national publisher), put all the labs into a custom lab manual. The textbook publisher took my Word files (exactly, but adding page numbers) and put a color cover on the manual, gave it an ISBN, and sold it to the bookstore for $20. I have only signed ONE paper for the large publisher - this:
I noticed that, in the front of my manual, the large publisher put this:
"Copyright 2010,2009 but The Large Publisher. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA. Except as permitted under the US Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database retrieval system, without prior permission of the publisher."
Have they taken my copyright? My publishing rights?
Do I not own my work anymore?
I have not received a dime from them, but they've made TONS from my manual.
And now that I want to go with another company, the large publisher is claiming I can't. I believe they are trying to bully me, and I want to know what my options are.
Thanks for all adviceWhat is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Hello All,
I was hired at a large university to write curriculum for a large science lab course. During my first year, I collected labs from the internet, wrote them out in my own words into labs that would work for my large lecture course, modifying materials and methods, editing the labs, and adding references and directions and case studies. I put the labs up on my university's learning platform.
In the second semester, I took all the labs and, at the urging of my boss and the textbook publisher who published our science textbook (a large national publisher), put all the labs into a custom lab manual. The textbook publisher took my Word files (exactly, but adding page numbers) and put a color cover on the manual, gave it an ISBN, and sold it to the bookstore for $20. I have only signed ONE paper for the large publisher - this:
At this point, I would like to go with another publisher. I am unhappy with my sales rep, and feel taken advantage of.May 5, 2009
This Letter of Agreement will serve as confirmation that xxxxxpublisherxxxxxx
Solutions will produce the following customized student textbook(s) for University of xxxxx for
delivery for the August 24, 2009 course launch:
xxxxxcourseXXXXXXX
•
University of xxxxxwill order approximately 650 units of the custom package within one year
of publication at an initial net unit price of $15.00.
The lab manuals will be:
• 1-color text
• 4-color cover (which will look like the xxxxxxx)
• Spiral bound
I noticed that, in the front of my manual, the large publisher put this:
"Copyright 2010,2009 but The Large Publisher. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA. Except as permitted under the US Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database retrieval system, without prior permission of the publisher."
Have they taken my copyright? My publishing rights?
Do I not own my work anymore?
I have not received a dime from them, but they've made TONS from my manual.
And now that I want to go with another company, the large publisher is claiming I can't. I believe they are trying to bully me, and I want to know what my options are.
Thanks for all adviceWhat is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?