Courtesy of ASJA

Ziff Davis Media Inc. recently sent a new master contract to its regular freelance writers who were told to sign by the end of the month or forfeit the chance for future assignments. Among a number of poor terms is the demand that writers forfeit all rights to their previous work for Ziff Davis without a penny of compensation.

Retroactive grabs for a wide range of electronic and print rights are nothing new. Ziff Davis is just the latest in a long line of publishers, including the New York Times, that have and continue to demand that creators hand over rights to past work in order to do business with them in the future.

As always, we strongly recommend against signing over rights to previously published stories without compensation. It's always bad business, but it's particularly bad now.

Why? Because it may diminish your claims in the ongoing class action copyright infringement case against the databases and publishers. ASJA, The Authors Guild, and The National Writers Union have joined forces as plaintiffs in that suit brought on behalf of thousands of freelance writers who did not sell the electronic rights to their stories. The suit seeks compensation for electronic infringement and has been in mediation seeking a settlement for more than a year now.

How much might your claim be diminished if you sign a contract like the Ziff Davis deal relinquishing electronic rights to prior works for the publisher? Even if you have not registered, but have dozens or hundreds of stories that have been infringed over the years, you may lose a significant amount of money if you sign a deal like the one Ziff Davis is trying to force upon freelancers.

We will argue that such recent agreements should not be honored because they constitute an end run intended to decrease publishers' payouts in the case. But it is impossible to say whether we will win the argument, so resistance to these bad contracts is imperative -- and in your financial best interest. We know many editors are sympathetic to the plight of freelancers when it comes to contracts. If you've received a contract with one of these retroactive rights grants, please take a minute to tell your editor, and remember - contracts are negotiable.

If you have a contract in which the language is unclear, and so find yourself unsure whether it contains a retroactive rights clause, ASJA's Contracts Committee will be happy to help burn away the fog.

Write to us at contracts@asja.org (NOT contractswatch@asja.org), or fax us at (415) 532- 1324. The committee will keep your inquiry confidential.

Contracts Committee
ASJA
1501 Broadway, Suite 302
New York, NY 10036
tel 212-997-0947
Fax contracts to: 415-532-1324
Email us at: contracts@asja.org