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

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From: William Murray
Subject: Re: New info about SER1 James Taylor's Book - The Original Series 1
Date: 15:36 on 20 Oct 2005
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

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Re: New info about SER1 James Taylor's Book - The Original Series 1
William Murray 15:36 on 20 Oct 2005

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