RE: Supremes rule for freelancers

["Gilger.John" <JGilger -at- acresgaming -dot- com>]

Just to add a little to Mary Deaton's explanation of rights.

I have been following this issue for a while, since I occasionally sell
and article or two on a freelance basis. As Mary noted, this is an
outgrowth of determining the ownership of new rights as the Internet
came of age. Publishers claimed that if the contract didn't specifically
address a right, they owned it. Obviously, writers felt that if they
hadn't specifically sold a right, they still owned it.

Today, the law is reasonably clear that electronic rights are part of
the rights package that must be negotiated between the writer and the
publisher.

The moral of the story - if you are selling your work to a publisher,
make sure that you understand exactly what rights to your work you are
selling. A good literary agent on your side is a GOOD thing :)

John Gilger
Senior Technical Writer
Acres Gaming, Inc.

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