Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Georgia
As an intern at a national women's magazine I wrote a feature article. I was given another article that had been published earlier with the same general concept and told I could either refresh it or rework it. I chose to completely rewrite it. I conducted my own, new research, covered new topics and changed the format.
It was published in the September 2009 issue under someone else's name. The Editor-in-Chief claims there was significant editing before publication so the article no longer warranted my byline.
If you compare the article I submitted and what was published, the editing does not fall into the category of "significant". The vast majority of the article is in my exact wording. I feel that changing the byline was both unethical and a case of plagarism.
Do I have any laws behind me to fight them on this?
Thank you.
2 Answers from Attorneys
You omit the most important fact - the terms of your employment or internship, and specifically the rights to, or ownership, of your work. You may want to google "work for hire." The ethics are for another board...
Generally, copyright automatically attaches to your �original works of authorship� including literary works, both published and unpublished. However, ownership of the copyright to your particular magazine articles will ultimately depend on whether the work was created as a Work-For-Hire. Typically, the terms of a national magazine�s employment agreement (or terms of your internship) will state that any Articles written on behalf of the employer (and all rights therein, including, without limitation, copyright) shall be exclusive property of employer.
THE COMMENTS CONTAINED HEREIN ARE FOR GENERAL INFORMATIONAL USE ONLY- NOT AS LEGAL OPINION. NO ATTORNEY/CLIENT RELATIONSHIP HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED.
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