copyright advice

[gameover]

I submitted 2 original essays to be posted on an organization's website. Consequently, I also had said essays displayed on my personal website. Well, I had a falling out with said organization and want to get my essays back. No money was exchanged and I was not an employee. I did sign two copyright release forms with them. I have e-mailed them asking for copys of the copyright releases. After a series of exchanges, it appears that they have "misplaced" the releases that I sent. (either that, or they're jerking me around!)

Several questions:

I am in Indiana, they are in Colorado.

If they did indeed "lose" the releases, does that make the arangement null and void?

If they find the releases, do I have any recourse?

I am in the processing of registering said work with the copyright office, but that may be months out.

Any advice is appreciated!

Steve

 

[counsel]

Whether or not they have lost the releases is not the main issue. The more important question is what did the releases say? For example, were they perpetual, unconditional assignments of the essays? Were they revocable licenses?
What the releases say is more important than whether you can produce the written releases or you have to testify as to what they said.

 

[gameover]

Here's the meat of the agreement:

3. The Author grants, assigns and transfers to Publisher the following designated rights and interests in and to the Work, in whole or in part, alone or in combination with other works, and in all languages:

(a) Non-exclusive worldwide WorldWideWeb/Internet rights to publish, distribute and archive the Work on Website during the term of copyright in the Work;

(b) Non-exclusive worldwide reproduction rights for Publisher, including, but not limited to reprint, photocopy, and provide facsimile transmission of the Work during the term of the copyright in the Work; and

(c) Non-exclusive worldwide rights for Publisher to condense, adapt, revise or republish the Work in any print format anthology, compilation or collection during the term of the copyright in the Work.

The bottom line is it appears they lost the releases...

So, does this make the releases null and void?

Thanks for the speedy response!

 

[counsel]

The release says you "grant[], assign[] and transfer[]" the rights in the essays for the term of the copyright. This is ASSIGNMENT language. You probably intended to LICENSE the essays, not assign them.

If the rest of the release says you can cancel it at your discretion, you may be allright. Otherwise, you may have no right to cancel it, unless the organization promised to do something for you, and it didn't do so.

In the future, you really need to have an attorney help you with preparing agreements or else study up on how to do them yourself.

 

[gameover]

Thanks for your response...

As I feared, I'm SOL!