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
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