At 04:03 PM 2001-10-02 -0600, Nathan Torkington wrote: >_brian_d_foy writes: >>[...] >> a single source that can grant permission can also deny it. an >> author should not have to ask permission to use his own work. >The author should if the author gives it away. >[...]
How about: copyright belongs to the YAS, or the Nat Torkington Experience, or Immobiliari Offshore di Robot Maffia di Perl, or whatever -- BUT in accepting copyright, the YAS (or whoever) grants the author the perpetual and unlimited rights to republish how he sees fit. For example, I just wrote an article for The Perl Journal (owned by CMP), and they sent me a contract with this quite relevent section, which I'll quote verbatim (with paragraph breaks for legibility): [It's contractese, but still quite readable:] << RIGHTS GRANTED: You hereby grant and assign to CMP non-exclusive publication rights to the Article for any and all purposes, in any and all languages and any and all media, whether now existing or later devised, throughout the world. This includes, without limitation, online services, computer bulletin boards, Internet and World Wide Web servers, publications, products utilizing CD-ROM, magnetic or other storage media, microform or microfiche, databases, portable document formats, facsimile transmission, and electronic mail or transmission. CMP's rights to the Article shall extend to all or any part of the Article. CMP may publish the Article in any version or translation, separately or with other works, and may authorize others to do so. You also grant to CMP the right to use your name, photograph, likeness and biographical information in connection with the exercise of any right you have granted under this Agreement, including for promotional purposes. CMP may (but is not obligated to) take any actions and file any documents necessary to register copyright (and otherwise protect its rights) in the Article in any and all countries, and you agree to sign and deliver any documents we reasonably ask you to for this purpose. Notwithstanding the preceding, CMP grants to you the right to republish the submitted material in any form, now or in the future. >> I.e., if/when they later reprint back issues (containing my article), they don't need to get me to sign off AGAIN, because our contract grants them perpetual unlimited publication rights to the article (whole or part). But if /I/ want to reprint my article (or any part thereof), I don't need to get /their/ permission, because our contract grants ME rights to republish. They're happy, I'm happy, we're all happy. It's like me selling you my land, but on the condition that 1) you grant me a perpetual unlimited easement, and 2) you can't sell it without making sure that future owners grant me an easement on the same terms (or else I can sue you for five times the selling OR appraised price of the land, plus a billion in damages, or something eye-catching like that), and maybe complicated stuff like 3) the easement is inherited by heirs the same way that ownership would inherit -- so that, back in Perl copyright-land, if I write a perlfaq entry, and use it in a book I write, but then I die in a tragic salad-spinner accident, my army of killer clone-cyborgs who I name as my heirs /still/ have rights to allow printing the book, even tho a bit of it is something that I didn't own copyright on, but wrote, and was granted unlimited republication rights to. Then you're happy, I'm happy, and the killer clone-cyborg army is happy. -- Sean M. Burke [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.spinn.net/~sburke/
