{"id":7542,"date":"2017-12-22T03:54:37","date_gmt":"2017-12-22T10:54:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firemark.com\/?p=7542"},"modified":"2017-12-22T03:54:37","modified_gmt":"2017-12-22T10:54:37","slug":"owns-cover-art-novel-entertainment-law-asked-answered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firemark.com\/2017\/12\/22\/owns-cover-art-novel-entertainment-law-asked-answered\/","title":{"rendered":"Who owns the cover art for a novel? – Entertainment Law Asked & Answered"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUDIO:
\n\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/firemark.com\">http:\/\/firemark.com<\/a><\/p>\nTRANSCRIPT:<\/p>\nWho owns the cover art for a novel?<\/p>\nHi, I'm attorney Gordon Firemark, and this is Asked and Answered, where I answer your entertainment law questions, to help you take your career and business to the next level.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\nRalph writes in with this question:<\/p>\nI'm working on my first novel which I plan to self-publish and I wanted to know if' or how I can retain all rights to my book and all royalties from book sales after business with a book cover artist has concluded. I believe I may have read an article a few years back that stated that a percentage of book royalties would be owed to the cover artist. Perhaps I misread the article or it simply depends on the particular agreement(s) between author and artist.<\/p>\nMy intention, with any of my novels, is to negotiate a one time fee for the cover artist's work and only pay that amount with nothing owed to the artist in the future. As it is, I am hiring someone to fulfill the task of creating a book cover design that is specific to the ideas I have given them and the notes I have provided them with. \nBy my logic and understanding, they should have no legal, creative, or monetary rights to the work they were contracted by me to produce after payment has concluded. This makes perfect sense to me and in no way seems unfair or unprofessional. That's what I need clarification on.<\/p>\nAfter all, a contractor does not have any legal or monetary rights regarding the patio they've built you after you've paid them the full agreed upon amount for their services.<\/p>\nAlso, will a personally typed contract and\/or emails be sufficient as “having it in writing”? Or can I expect to pay legal fees to have proper contracts prepared?<\/p>\nA: Well Unlike Ralph's Patio contractor scenario\u2026 Under copyright law, your ownership of the work done for you by a book cover artist or designer does NOT automatically belong to the hiring party, even though that's who's paid for their work. This because they\u2019re independent contractors, rather than bona-fide employees.<\/p>\n(Interestingly, to take your patio-contractor example, It's true that the contractor doesn\u2019t own anything after finishing the work, but if you hire an architect to design it for you, the architect actually retains ownership of the copyright in the design\u2026. And it is He who has the exclusive right to copy it.)<\/p>\nSo, in the book-cover situation, you\u2019d need to have a written agreement which both declares the artist\/designer\u2019s work-product to be a \u201cwork made for hire\u201d, and (as a backup), transfers the copyright in the material to you.<\/p>\nThe reason for the backup, called an assignment, is that the work made for hire doctrine in copyright law is limited to only a few KINDS of work that can be handled that way. So we want a belt to go with our suspenders here.<\/p>\nFortunately, what you're after is a fairly common structure for things, and I\u2019d be surprised to encounter an artist who refuses to do the work on a \u201cbuy-out\u201d basis. BUT, this DOES need to be discussed with the artist BEFORE the work is done, as it could impact the way he or she sets the fee for the project.<\/p>\nIf you need such a contract drawn up, I\u2019d be happy to help you, but if you have the proper language in a personally typed document, you should be fine. I would NOT, however, rely on an exchange of emails. Do a formal contract document.<\/p>\nSo that does it for this question. If you have a one you'd like to see here on Asked and Answered, just visit <a href=\"http:\/\/firemark.com\/questions\">http:\/\/firemark.com\/questions<\/a> and let me know.<\/p>\nSee you next time!<\/p>\n <\/p>\nThis is intended as general information only and does not establish an attorney-client relationship. It is not a substitute for a private, independent consultation with an attorney selected to advise you after a full investigation of the facts and law relevant to your matter. We will not be responsible for viewers'\u2019 detrimental reliance upon the information appearing in this feature.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUDIO: \ufeff http:\/\/firemark.com TRANSCRIPT: Who owns the cover art for a novel? Hi, I’m attorney Gordon Firemark, and this is Asked and Answered, where I answer your entertainment law questions, to help you take your career and business to the next level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,250],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Who owns the cover art for a novel? - Entertainment Law Asked & Answered - Entertainment Law Offices of Gordon P. 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