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]