Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California
Can Co-author publish derivative works without other authors permission?
Two people wrote a book. One author has gone on to write other books that can be considered derivative of that first work. The other author is a professional ghost writer who has assisted other celebrities with works that have nothing to do with this book. Does one co-author need the other authors permission to publish derivative works? Absent this permission is the co-author entitled to 50% of the proceeds of these derivative works? Is this governed by copyright law or some state law?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Can Co-author publish derivative works without other authors permission?
This is a problem that could have been forestalled in the first instance with a well drafted contract between the ghostwriter and the well-known person. It's difficult to give an opinion on whether and to what extent the new work is derivative, or to predict the probable outcome of a court case, without more information to include reading and comparing the two works. Probably the well-known person should negotiate this matter with the ghostwriter with the assistance of an attorney. The ghostwriter may have every reason to negotiate if there is a possibility of future work.
Re: Can Co-author publish derivative works without other authors permission?
One co-author does NOT need consent from the other co-author to create a derivative work from the underlying joint work. Also, as co-owners to the underlying work, each co-author can use or license the whole work as he wishes, and each co-owner must split the profits.
However, the derivative work from a joint work is owned only by the person that is now author of the derivative work and is not obligated to split the profits of the derivative work. Keep in mind that the derivative work must be original enough to constitute a separate derivative work.
There are a lot of factors in this scenario that would easily change my answer above.
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