Publishing Royalties
I have a rather complicated question and/or case. I am a writer and worked for a company as their Publishing Director for 8 years. During that time, I wrote more than 30 books that were published - without any contract whatsoever. While most employees were asked to sign contracts on most anything, the company neglected to ever ask me. Now that company is treating me very poorly. They have even lied about my job performance - something I can prove (both the lie itself and the fact that it IS a lie). I fear this is going to hurt my career as I am now work as a freelance writer. My questions are twofold. 1: Do I have a case against them for their lying about me? And 2) Can I claim royalties for any of the books that I wrote for them? Most are still on the market and doing fairly well. Also -- what would the cost be on my part to go after the company for something like this? Thank you for your help.
Re: Publishing Royalties
1) Disparagement. If you can prove that they've lied about you and that you have been damaged as a direct result of that lie (e.g., you lost a job opportunity because of that lie), then may have a cause of action for defamation.
2) Royalties. This basically comes down to a copyright issue, specifically whether the work you performed could be classified as a "work-for-hire."
Under U.S. Copyright Law, if one is an employee of a company and creates works as a function of that job, then ownership of those creations automatically goes to the employer, a work-for-hire. There does not have to be a contract in place for this to happen--it's automatic.
If, on the other hand, one is an independent contractor, unless something is in writing between the parties, copyright ownership does not automatically transfer.
So the question becomes whether you were an employee of this company or an independent contractor. If you were a real employee you were most likely paid hourly or were given a salary, had regular working hours, performed work at their facility on their equipment, and had deductions such as taxes and insurance taken from your pay check. If you were an independent contractor you were most likely given a flat per project fee, and maybe even did the work somewhere other than their facility.
You probably only will be able to work out a royalties structure with them if you could be classified as an independent contractor on this copyright ownbership issue.
Please feel fre to contact me to discuss these issues... DS
