Re: New info about SER1 James Taylor's Book - The Original Series 1

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Excellent information Bill.  That's why I'm working on Motor Books. Now I have more questions I can ask them about the publication rights. Apparently, they bought the rights to this book when they acquired a entire series of automotive books and this was just one of them.

Thanks,

Karen Sindir
---- William Murray <william.murray@xxxxxxxxx.xx.xx> wrote: 
> Been lurking here a while but this discussion has stirred me up enough 
> to start posting :-) Just a pity that it'll be a somewhat pedantic, but 
> just to clarify a few things re this discussion.
> 
> The issues surrounding reprinting this book aren't really to do with 
> copyright at all -- unless something very, very unusual was arranged 
> between James Taylor and his original publisher the copyright owner 
> will remain James Taylor and his estate for 75 years after his death.
> 
> What the publisher gets from a contract with an author is (generally) 
> an exclusive licence to publish the author's work.
> 
> Prior to 1980 the general practice (in Europe anyway) was that the 
> author would grant licence for the entire copyright period of his work 
> (death + 50 years at that time). But this has since changed (in Europe 
> anyway) when in the mid 1980s shorter term licence grants tended to 
> become the norm.
> 
> In addition, it's been standard practice for some time to have a clause 
> in publishing contracts whereby the licencing rights revert back to the 
> author (a) if the publisher does not keep the book in print for a set 
> length of time and (b) under certain other circumstances that are 
> generally defined in the contract.
> 
> So the question that actually needs to be asked is:
> 
> Are there any clauses in the contract James Taylor had with his 
> original publisher that would allow the licencing rights to revert to 
> the author. If yes, then obviously JT can negotiate another deal with 
> any other publisher to get the book re-printed.
> 
> If not, the only way to get the book re-printed will be to negotiate 
> with the publisher to get them to release or transfer the licence. 
> Sometimes they'll want a fee and sometimes they won't depending on just 
> how interested they are in the book itself. It's not uncommon for 
> publishers who have lost interest in a title to be only too keen to 
> divest themselves of the licencing rights!!
> 
> In any case royalties will be due to JT and his estate until 75 after 
> his death.
> 
> Er -- I'll get my anorak... :-)
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Bill Murray
> 
> 
> To change subscription see www.landrover.net/series1/mail
> 


To change subscription see www.landrover.net/series1/mail