Legal Question in Entertainment Law in New York
I have rescinded my contract for three books with a publisher. The copyrights are in my name on the edited version of the books released. Now the publisher claims she owns the edited version of my books and I can only have back the rights to the original manuscript I sent as a submission. She says this is in copyright law, state of New York. Is she right or are the edited copies mine.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Generally speaking, unless there is an agreement otherwise, editing is considered 'derivative work' and derivative work of copyrighted materials belongs to the original copyright owner (i.e. the author as an example). The editor may have certain claims to the edited work therefore the contract and the reason it was rescinded need to be reviewed.
I highly recommend that you retain an attorney to address this matter ASAP as the editor's claims may hamper your ability to publish the book in the future.
Feel free to contact my office at your earliest convenience.
Roman R. Fichman, Esq.
www.TheLegalist.com │ @TheLegalist
email: Info (@) TheLegalist (dot) com
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