Do I Lose All Rights When I Blog?
13 11 2015July 29, 2015
The Dear Rich Staff
Dear Rich, I was recently accepted as a writer for a major national syndicate of blogs covering sports teams. This company does not have a physically-signed document per article as is traditional with journals, to clearly state a work/submission is considered “work-for-hire”, (where full copyright is given to the publisher from author). Instead, there is a blanket document called, “Content Standards for Contributors” that all writers must click-sign prior to writing for one of the blogs. In this is the following line: “You hereby irrevocably grant to us the right, but not the obligation, to reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, broadcast, license, perform, post, sell, translate, incorporate, create derivative works from, distribute and otherwise use the submission in any and all media, now known or hereafter devised, throughout the universe, in perpetuity, without according you any compensation[…] All submissions made by you shall be the sole property of ***** and will not be acknowledged or returned. ” My question: Almost all writers, including myself, for these blogs are not paid, are not contracted, nor are they employees, but according to their “content standards” the act of publishing on their site results in the transfer of the copyright of the article. Is this “agreement” legally binding, and considered ethical?
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