Copyright Works Made for Hire…

Some Really Stupid Stuff Being Said…

A lot to do with the Anthropic settlement. Seems you get a bunch of writers who know nothing of copyright worrying about getting money from a copyright settlement, things can just get stupid.

Actually, the rule is pretty simple. And frighteningly enough, the courts have been moderately clear.

To have a work made for hire, you have to either have worked in the office under the companies control with payroll and such, or signed a Works Made for Hire Contract and fall into nine very clearly defined categories, 95% of which authors do not fit in for fiction.

Here is the link to the pdf from the copyright office that is very, very clear.

https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ30.pdf

So as some publishers are trying to claim 100% ownership in the Anthropic settlement because it was a works made for hire contract, well, nope.

Authors, you just want proof that traditional publishers were never out to help you in any way, the publisher’s actions in this settlement should give it to you. I got a publisher that did not even buy my first novel in 1987 trying to claim half ownership of it, even though the novel went out of print in 1990 and was reverted in 1992 and in 2012 I licensed it to WMG and it has been in print ever since through WMG.  Yup no scum move there, huh?