From: Pippa Smart <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 29 Aug 2013 09:11:44 +0100

Hi - I am only really familiar with the UK CLA who have a very useful
guide to "where the money goes"
(http://www.cla.co.uk/protect_creativity/wherethemoneygoes)

If I am right, there is really no point in this clause being in the
contract. I can only think that this clause has been included
following some wrangle about an element receiving royalty (e.g. the
cover image) where the non-copyright owner felt entitled to some cut.

Pippa

*****
Pippa Smart
Research Communication and Publishing Consultant
PSP Consulting
email: [log in to unmask]
Web: www.pspconsulting.org
****
Editor of the ALPSP-Alert, Reviews editor of Learned Publishing
****


On 29 August 2013 02:56, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> From: Kevin Smith <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2013 19:07:00 +0000
>
> I have been busy recently helping various faculty authors review
> publication contracts, and I ran across a clause recently that prompts
> this question.
>
> In a book publishing agreement from a major publishing house, the last
> paragraph of the section on royalties said this:
>
> “Any publisher’s proceeds from rights managed by national copyright
> organizations… are the sole property of [name of publisher].  Any such
> author’s proceeds are the sole property of Author.”  The clause went
> on to say that the author is responsible for taxes on this income and
> that this provision had precedence over any other royalty arrangement.
>
> On its face this seems like a very reasonable provision.  I am not
> sure why I have not noticed similar clauses before in other contracts;
> it may just be my own inattention.  But it raised the question for me
> (and the author!) of how the publisher’s proceeds and the author’s
> proceeds are determined.  I presume, but do not know, that this
> division is specified in the contract between a publisher and an
> organization like the Copyright Clearance Center (who are specifically
> mentioned as an example of a national rights organization).  If that
> is the case, the author clearly has no say in the division of
> royalties, but I wonder if s/he has any way to even know what that
> division is.
>
> Can anyone clarify for me how or where the publisher and author
> proportions of licensing income are decided, and if authors have any
> way to inquire into that determination?
>
> Thanks for your help,
>
> Kevin
>
> By the way, this contract is very clear and direct about the division
> of licensing income if the publisher licenses directly, which is one
> reason that the cryptic phrasing of this provision about licensing
> through a collective rights organization caught my eye.
>
> Kevin L. Smith, M.L.S., J.D.
>
> Director, Copyright and Scholarly Communication
> Duke University Libraries
> Durham, NC  27708
> [log in to unmask]