I occasionally write articles for a couple of religious publications,
one is published monthly and distributed within my own diocese and the
other is a national weekly religious newspaper sold in newsagents.
Both publications are available online; the diocesan one is free to
access, the newspaper one is a subscription site.
Sometimes the articles are suggested by the periodicals, sometimes
they are instigated by myself. I am not employed by any oranisation
and this is entirely voluntary, I do not receive any remuneration for
it and I do not have any form of written contract or agreement with
either periodical.
Can I assume that I have copyright in these articles and can use them
for my own purposes or offer them to other organisations (likely to be websites who have similar interests to myself)? I haven't discussed
this with the editors of the periodicals, and I can't see them having
any objections to what I want to do but I'd be interested to know the
legal position.
I occasionally write articles for a couple of religious publications,
one is published monthly and distributed within my own diocese and the
other is a national weekly religious newspaper sold in newsagents.
Both publications are available online; the diocesan one is free to
access, the newspaper one is a subscription site.
Sometimes the articles are suggested by the periodicals, sometimes
they are instigated by myself. I am not employed by any oranisation
and this is entirely voluntary, I do not receive any remuneration for
it and I do not have any form of written contract or agreement with
either periodical.
Can I assume that I have copyright in these articles and can use them
for my own purposes or offer them to other organisations (likely to be websites who have similar interests to myself)? I haven't discussed
this with the editors of the periodicals, and I can't see them having
any objections to what I want to do but I'd be interested to know the
legal position.
I occasionally write articles for a couple of religious publications,
one is published monthly and distributed within my own diocese and the
other is a national weekly religious newspaper sold in newsagents.
Both publications are available online; the diocesan one is free to
access, the newspaper one is a subscription site.
Sometimes the articles are suggested by the periodicals, sometimes
they are instigated by myself. I am not employed by any oranisation
and this is entirely voluntary, I do not receive any remuneration for
it and I do not have any form of written contract or agreement with
either periodical.
Can I assume that I have copyright in these articles and can use them
for my own purposes or offer them to other organisations (likely to be >websites who have similar interests to myself)? I haven't discussed
this with the editors of the periodicals, and I can't see them having
any objections to what I want to do but I'd be interested to know the
legal position.
On Tue, 22 Apr 2025 14:08:35 +0100, Martin Harran <martinharran@gmail.com> wrote:
I occasionally write articles for a couple of religious publications,
one is published monthly and distributed within my own diocese and the
other is a national weekly religious newspaper sold in newsagents.
Both publications are available online; the diocesan one is free to
access, the newspaper one is a subscription site.
Sometimes the articles are suggested by the periodicals, sometimes
they are instigated by myself. I am not employed by any oranisation
and this is entirely voluntary, I do not receive any remuneration for
it and I do not have any form of written contract or agreement with
either periodical.
Can I assume that I have copyright in these articles and can use them
for my own purposes or offer them to other organisations (likely to be
websites who have similar interests to myself)? I haven't discussed
this with the editors of the periodicals, and I can't see them having
any objections to what I want to do but I'd be interested to know the
legal position.
You own the copyright unless you have a contract which explicitly states otherwise.
More generally, a sole author of a work owns the copyright unless one of three specific exemptions applies:
1. The work is created under a contract which explicitly assigns copyright
to the client rather than the author.
2. The work is created in the normal course of the author's employment.
3. The work is created for the purposes of the Crown, Parliament, or
International Organisations specified by Order in Council.
None of those, presumably, apply to you. You have said that you don't have a contract. You are not an employee of the publishers. And you are not writing for the Crown, Parliament or a relevant International Organisation. So you own the copyright.
Mark
On 2025-04-22, Martin Harran <martinharran@gmail.com> wrote:
I occasionally write articles for a couple of religious publications,
one is published monthly and distributed within my own diocese and the
other is a national weekly religious newspaper sold in newsagents.
Both publications are available online; the diocesan one is free to
access, the newspaper one is a subscription site.
Sometimes the articles are suggested by the periodicals, sometimes
they are instigated by myself. I am not employed by any oranisation
and this is entirely voluntary, I do not receive any remuneration for
it and I do not have any form of written contract or agreement with
either periodical.
Can I assume that I have copyright in these articles and can use them
for my own purposes or offer them to other organisations (likely to be
websites who have similar interests to myself)? I haven't discussed
this with the editors of the periodicals, and I can't see them having
any objections to what I want to do but I'd be interested to know the
legal position.
In the absence of an employment or a contract (and in the absence of any consideration even if there was a contract!) I don't see how it would be possible for the copyright to be owned by anyone other than yourself.
There's clearly an implied licence for the periodicals to reproduce the articles since that's the reason you sent them to them, but there's presumably no reason that licence would be exclusive.
I occasionally write articles for a couple of religious publications,
one is published monthly and distributed within my own diocese and the
other is a national weekly religious newspaper sold in newsagents.
Both publications are available online; the diocesan one is free to
access, the newspaper one is a subscription site.
Sometimes the articles are suggested by the periodicals, sometimes
they are instigated by myself. I am not employed by any oranisation
and this is entirely voluntary, I do not receive any remuneration for
it and I do not have any form of written contract or agreement with
either periodical.
Can I assume that I have copyright in these articles and can use them
for my own purposes or offer them to other organisations (likely to be >websites who have similar interests to myself)? I haven't discussed
this with the editors of the periodicals, and I can't see them having
any objections to what I want to do but I'd be interested to know the
legal position.
On 22 Apr 2025 at 15:06:19 BST, "Jon Ribbens" <jon+usenet@unequivocal.eu> wrote:
On 2025-04-22, Martin Harran <martinharran@gmail.com> wrote:
I occasionally write articles for a couple of religious publications,
one is published monthly and distributed within my own diocese and the
other is a national weekly religious newspaper sold in newsagents.
Both publications are available online; the diocesan one is free to
access, the newspaper one is a subscription site.
Sometimes the articles are suggested by the periodicals, sometimes
they are instigated by myself. I am not employed by any oranisation
and this is entirely voluntary, I do not receive any remuneration for
it and I do not have any form of written contract or agreement with
either periodical.
Can I assume that I have copyright in these articles and can use them
for my own purposes or offer them to other organisations (likely to be
websites who have similar interests to myself)? I haven't discussed
this with the editors of the periodicals, and I can't see them having
any objections to what I want to do but I'd be interested to know the
legal position.
In the absence of an employment or a contract (and in the absence of any
consideration even if there was a contract!) I don't see how it would be
possible for the copyright to be owned by anyone other than yourself.
There's clearly an implied licence for the periodicals to reproduce the
articles since that's the reason you sent them to them, but there's
presumably no reason that licence would be exclusive.
Surely supplying an article can be a consideration and publishing the
article can be a consideration (seeing that many authors pay to be published)? I don't have any useful opinion on the terms of the
contract in this situation, though.
On 2025-04-22, Roger Hayter <roger@hayter.org> wrote:
Surely supplying an article can be a consideration and publishing the
article can be a consideration (seeing that many authors pay to be
published)? I don't have any useful opinion on the terms of the
contract in this situation, though.
Yes, I was talking about consideration from the periodical. Publishing
the article is mainly a benefit to the periodical rather than the author >though, given that being "paid in exposure" isn't a real thing.
(I suppose it could be different if it was an academic journal of
some sort. But it would still need the copyright transfer to be an
express term of the contract.)
On 22 Apr 2025 at 15:10:10 BST, "Mark Goodge" ><usenet@listmail.good-stuff.co.uk> wrote:
None of those, presumably, apply to you. You have said that you don't have a >> contract. You are not an employee of the publishers. And you are not writing >> for the Crown, Parliament or a relevant International Organisation. So you >> own the copyright.
Wouldn't it be desirable to see the text of any written communication between >the OP and the editors? I note you say any transfer of copyright has to be in >writing rather than verbal, which is reassuring.
On Tue, 22 Apr 2025 15:10:10 +0100, Mark Goodge ><usenet@listmail.good-stuff.co.uk> wrote:
None of those, presumably, apply to you. You have said that you don't have a >>contract. You are not an employee of the publishers. And you are not writing >>for the Crown, Parliament or a relevant International Organisation. So you >>own the copyright.
That's waht I thouight, Mark, thanks for confirming it.
I occasionally write articles for a couple of religious publications,
one is published monthly and distributed within my own diocese and the
other is a national weekly religious newspaper sold in newsagents.
Both publications are available online; the diocesan one is free to
access, the newspaper one is a subscription site.
Sometimes the articles are suggested by the periodicals, sometimes
they are instigated by myself. I am not employed by any oranisation
and this is entirely voluntary, I do not receive any remuneration for
it and I do not have any form of written contract or agreement with
either periodical.
Can I assume that I have copyright in these articles and can use them
for my own purposes or offer them to other organisations (likely to be websites who have similar interests to myself)? I haven't discussed
this with the editors of the periodicals, and I can't see them having
any objections to what I want to do but I'd be interested to know the
legal position.
Can I assume that I have copyright in these articles and can use them
for my own purposes or offer them to other organisations (likely to be websites who have similar interests to myself)? I haven't discussed
this with the editors of the periodicals, and I can't see them having
any objections to what I want to do but I'd be interested to know the
legal position.
I occasionally write articles for a couple of religious publications,
one is published monthly and distributed within my own diocese and the
other is a national weekly religious newspaper sold in newsagents.
Both publications are available online; the diocesan one is free to
access, the newspaper one is a subscription site.
Sometimes the articles are suggested by the periodicals, sometimes
they are instigated by myself. I am not employed by any oranisation
and this is entirely voluntary, I do not receive any remuneration for
it and I do not have any form of written contract or agreement with
either periodical.
Can I assume that I have copyright in these articles and can use them
for my own purposes or offer them to other organisations (likely to be websites who have similar interests to myself)? I haven't discussed
this with the editors of the periodicals, and I can't see them having
any objections to what I want to do but I'd be interested to know the
legal position.
On Tue, 22 Apr 2025 14:51:47 -0500, JNugent <jnugent73@mail.com>
wrote:
On 22/04/2025 08:08, Martin Harran wrote:
I occasionally write articles for a couple of religious publications,
one is published monthly and distributed within my own diocese and the
other is a national weekly religious newspaper sold in newsagents.
Both publications are available online; the diocesan one is free to
access, the newspaper one is a subscription site.
Sometimes the articles are suggested by the periodicals, sometimes
they are instigated by myself. I am not employed by any oranisation
and this is entirely voluntary, I do not receive any remuneration for
it and I do not have any form of written contract or agreement with
either periodical.
Can I assume that I have copyright in these articles and can use them
for my own purposes or offer them to other organisations (likely to be
websites who have similar interests to myself)? I haven't discussed
this with the editors of the periodicals, and I can't see them having
any objections to what I want to do but I'd be interested to know the
legal position.
Do you have any sort of signed agreement with the publishers?
Err ... I said above I do not have any form of written contract or
agreement with either periodical.
I occasionally write articles for a couple of religious publications,
one is published monthly and distributed within my own diocese and the
other is a national weekly religious newspaper sold in newsagents.
Both publications are available online; the diocesan one is free to
access, the newspaper one is a subscription site.
Sometimes the articles are suggested by the periodicals, sometimes
they are instigated by myself. I am not employed by any oranisation
and this is entirely voluntary, I do not receive any remuneration for
it and I do not have any form of written contract or agreement with
either periodical.
Can I assume that I have copyright in these articles and can use them
for my own purposes or offer them to other organisations (likely to be websites who have similar interests to myself)? I haven't discussed
this with the editors of the periodicals, and I can't see them having
any objections to what I want to do but I'd be interested to know the
legal position.
On Wed, 23 Apr 2025 09:23:50 +0100, "billy bookcase" <billy@anon.com>
wrote:
"Martin Harran" <martinharran@gmail.com> wrote in message >>news:fr4f0k1fhqag6nkhg2rvucquesmp2rblcq@4ax.com...
I occasionally write articles for a couple of religious publications,
one is published monthly and distributed within my own diocese and the
other is a national weekly religious newspaper sold in newsagents.
Both publications are available online; the diocesan one is free to
access, the newspaper one is a subscription site.
Sometimes the articles are suggested by the periodicals, sometimes
they are instigated by myself. I am not employed by any oranisation
and this is entirely voluntary, I do not receive any remuneration for
it and I do not have any form of written contract or agreement with
either periodical.
Can I assume that I have copyright in these articles and can use them
for my own purposes or offer them to other organisations (likely to be
websites who have similar interests to myself)? I haven't discussed
this with the editors of the periodicals, and I can't see them having
any objections to what I want to do but I'd be interested to know the
legal position.
If you wish the relationship to continue, on the assumption that both >>parties consider it mutually beneficial, then it might be thought
useful to inform them of your intention, simply out of courtesy.
Without any actual need to raise any legal aspects.
The assumpltion being that you are perfectly within you rights to
do so; while choosing to keep them informed, nevertheless.
I would be doing that as a matter of course; I didn't think there was
any need to spell it out.
On Tue, 22 Apr 2025 14:51:47 -0500, JNugent <jnugent73@mail.com>
wrote:
On 22/04/2025 08:08, Martin Harran wrote:
I occasionally write articles for a couple of religious publications,
one is published monthly and distributed within my own diocese and the
other is a national weekly religious newspaper sold in newsagents.
Both publications are available online; the diocesan one is free to
access, the newspaper one is a subscription site.
Sometimes the articles are suggested by the periodicals, sometimes
they are instigated by myself. I am not employed by any oranisation
and this is entirely voluntary, I do not receive any remuneration for
it and I do not have any form of written contract or agreement with
either periodical.
Can I assume that I have copyright in these articles and can use them
for my own purposes or offer them to other organisations (likely to be
websites who have similar interests to myself)? I haven't discussed
this with the editors of the periodicals, and I can't see them having
any objections to what I want to do but I'd be interested to know the
legal position.
Do you have any sort of signed agreement with the publishers?
Err ... I said above I do not have any form of written contract or
agreement with either periodical.
On Wed, 23 Apr 2025 14:01:33 +0100, "billy bookcase" <billy@anon.com>
wrote:
"Martin Harran" <martinharran@gmail.com> wrote in message >>news:2rmh0kp8d5ejjcr6vebqfpi340v4nair7j@4ax.com...
On Wed, 23 Apr 2025 09:23:50 +0100, "billy bookcase" <billy@anon.com>
wrote:
"Martin Harran" <martinharran@gmail.com> wrote in message >>>>news:fr4f0k1fhqag6nkhg2rvucquesmp2rblcq@4ax.com...
I occasionally write articles for a couple of religious publications, >>>>> one is published monthly and distributed within my own diocese and the >>>>> other is a national weekly religious newspaper sold in newsagents.
Both publications are available online; the diocesan one is free to
access, the newspaper one is a subscription site.
Sometimes the articles are suggested by the periodicals, sometimes
they are instigated by myself. I am not employed by any oranisation
and this is entirely voluntary, I do not receive any remuneration for >>>>> it and I do not have any form of written contract or agreement with >>>>> either periodical.
Can I assume that I have copyright in these articles and can use them >>>>> for my own purposes or offer them to other organisations (likely to be >>>>> websites who have similar interests to myself)? I haven't discussed
this with the editors of the periodicals, and I can't see them having >>>>> any objections to what I want to do but I'd be interested to know the >>>>> legal position.
If you wish the relationship to continue, on the assumption that both >>>>parties consider it mutually beneficial, then it might be thought >>>>useful to inform them of your intention, simply out of courtesy. >>>>Without any actual need to raise any legal aspects.
The assumpltion being that you are perfectly within you rights to
do so; while choosing to keep them informed, nevertheless.
I would be doing that as a matter of course; I didn't think there was
any need to spell it out.
But if you've already informed them,
The need to so discuss it has not yet arisen.
On Wed, 23 Apr 2025 13:46:31 -0500, JNugent <jnugent73@mail.com>
wrote:
On 23/04/2025 01:04, Martin Harran wrote:
On Tue, 22 Apr 2025 14:51:47 -0500, JNugent <jnugent73@mail.com>
wrote:
On 22/04/2025 08:08, Martin Harran wrote:
I occasionally write articles for a couple of religious publications, >>>>> one is published monthly and distributed within my own diocese and the >>>>> other is a national weekly religious newspaper sold in newsagents.
Both publications are available online; the diocesan one is free to
access, the newspaper one is a subscription site.
Sometimes the articles are suggested by the periodicals, sometimes
they are instigated by myself. I am not employed by any oranisation
and this is entirely voluntary, I do not receive any remuneration for >>>>> it and I do not have any form of written contract or agreement with >>>>> either periodical.
Can I assume that I have copyright in these articles and can use them >>>>> for my own purposes or offer them to other organisations (likely to be >>>>> websites who have similar interests to myself)? I haven't discussed
this with the editors of the periodicals, and I can't see them having >>>>> any objections to what I want to do but I'd be interested to know the >>>>> legal position.
Do you have any sort of signed agreement with the publishers?
Err ... I said above I do not have any form of written contract or
agreement with either periodical.
Not even a receipt for the copy?
An email saying "Okay great. It’s a good piece and fair. Thanks for contributing" hardly constitutes any sort of contract or agreement.
You own the copyright unless you have a contract which explicitly states otherwise.
More generally, a sole author of a work owns the copyright unless one of three specific exemptions applies:
1. The work is created under a contract which explicitly assigns copyright
to the client rather than the author.
2. The work is created in the normal course of the author's employment.
3. The work is created for the purposes of the Crown, Parliament, or
International Organisations specified by Order in Council.
On Tue, 22 Apr 2025 15:10:10 +0100, Mark Goodge wrote...
You own the copyright unless you have a contract which explicitly states
otherwise.
More generally, a sole author of a work owns the copyright unless one of
three specific exemptions applies:
1. The work is created under a contract which explicitly assigns copyright >> to the client rather than the author.
2. The work is created in the normal course of the author's employment.
3. The work is created for the purposes of the Crown, Parliament, or
International Organisations specified by Order in Council.
That is the position as regards the legal ownership. Copyright etc Act
1988, sections 11 and 91. As regards your item 1, note that assignment
of the future copyright in work which has not yet been created requires
a signature (section 91).
However, in equity, there can be /rare/ situations where the position is
a bit more fluid. This relates to the beneficial ownership, rather than >legal ownership. I'm not suggesting this applies to the OP.
See the Doc Martens case
https://tinyurl.com/fnmk62fk
On Wed, 23 Apr 2025 19:50:43 +0100, "billy bookcase" <billy@anon.com>
wrote:
"Martin Harran" <martinharran@gmail.com> wrote in message >>news:bssh0k5vdqksu1r8ui5rdet1hg817kucck@4ax.com...
On Wed, 23 Apr 2025 14:01:33 +0100, "billy bookcase" <billy@anon.com>
wrote:
"Martin Harran" <martinharran@gmail.com> wrote in message >>>>news:2rmh0kp8d5ejjcr6vebqfpi340v4nair7j@4ax.com...
On Wed, 23 Apr 2025 09:23:50 +0100, "billy bookcase" <billy@anon.com> >>>>> wrote:
"Martin Harran" <martinharran@gmail.com> wrote in message >>>>>>news:fr4f0k1fhqag6nkhg2rvucquesmp2rblcq@4ax.com...
I occasionally write articles for a couple of religious publications, >>>>>>> one is published monthly and distributed within my own diocese and the >>>>>>> other is a national weekly religious newspaper sold in newsagents. >>>>>>> Both publications are available online; the diocesan one is free to >>>>>>> access, the newspaper one is a subscription site.
Sometimes the articles are suggested by the periodicals, sometimes >>>>>>> they are instigated by myself. I am not employed by any oranisation >>>>>>> and this is entirely voluntary, I do not receive any remuneration for >>>>>>> it and I do not have any form of written contract or agreement with >>>>>>> either periodical.
Can I assume that I have copyright in these articles and can use them >>>>>>> for my own purposes or offer them to other organisations (likely to be >>>>>>> websites who have similar interests to myself)? I haven't discussed >>>>>>> this with the editors of the periodicals, and I can't see them having >>>>>>> any objections to what I want to do but I'd be interested to know the >>>>>>> legal position.
If you wish the relationship to continue, on the assumption that both >>>>>>parties consider it mutually beneficial, then it might be thought >>>>>>useful to inform them of your intention, simply out of courtesy. >>>>>>Without any actual need to raise any legal aspects.
The assumpltion being that you are perfectly within you rights to >>>>>>do so; while choosing to keep them informed, nevertheless.
I would be doing that as a matter of course; I didn't think there was >>>>> any need to spell it out.
But if you've already informed them,
The need to so discuss it has not yet arisen.
But the point I'm making is this. Whatever anyone says on here, or
whatever a solicitor might say*, if they're going to raise objections,
then all goodwill between the parties is lost, in any case.
Whereas if you simply state your intention beforehand, regardless
of the actual copyright position, then unless they raise any objections >>then there is nothing to "discuss", and thus no possibility for any >>disagreement.
All of which has nothing to do with my original question about the
*legal* position.
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