The US National Writers' Union accuses Time Warner of 'right-grabbing' because the new contract requires writers to give all copyright for further publication to Time Warner. The author has no further say on how the work is used, and will not profit from its re-use.
"The US Supreme Court has confirmed the legal rights of independent artists and writers: that when we sell our work, we are selling only First North American Serial Rights - first print rights - unless otherwise agreed," said Dian Killian, senior organiser for the National Writers’ Union.
"Time Warner is demanding that writers and artists give up rights - via an unfair and non-negotiable contract.
"What this really comes down to is he bottom line: a billion dollar corporation making greater profit at the expense of independent creators."
The union represents 5,000 writers and journalists in the US. It claims that Time Warner will not employ freelancers without one of the new contracts, and are also campaigning against the firm republishing material on the AOL web site.
"While they're not charging the public for this content, they are getting extra value from it: more ad revenues on their site and more paid subscriptions for their on-line service. They're building their brand.
"Traditionally, freelancers survived by syndicating, reselling, and re-cycling their work in different regional markets and genres," she explained.
"But once your work is posted on the web, especially featured on such a broadly used site as AOL, it looses all resale value."
The union has been campaigning against Time Warner's all-rights contracts since 2001 and last year established the Rights for Creators web site to inform freelance writers about Time Warner's contracts.
In the UK, IPC Media currently offers freelancers a range of contracts including a 'one-use' agreement in which authors retain copyright of their work.
See also:
http://www.rightsforcreators.org
http://www.nwu.org
http://www.ipcmedia.com
http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/story630.shtml
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