Disney not paying royalties?

[valkyrie013]

https://www.denofgeek.com/books/dis...ies-to-star-wars-legend-alan-dean-foster/?amp

So.. From the story it seems that Disney is trying a new form of copyright. They haven't paid Alan Dean Foster any royalties for any of his past work in the Star Wars or any other genre they own. According to the article they say they paid Lucas and shareholders so they don't need to pay the authors anything. I wholeheartedly do not approve of this as I said in the article it changes copyright to where companies don't have to pay authors or any other creative people what do you think of that?

Put this in sci fi as it deals with the star wars author. Please move if not right.

 

[David cgc]

I'm eagerly looking forward to any company or individual that has a license from Disney to produce Star Wars merchandise selling it to another entity on paper, so they can continue officially making Star Wars things without any longer having to pay Disney because the new owners only bought the rights, and not the liabilities.

 

[tomswift2002]

https://www.denofgeek.com/books/dis...ies-to-star-wars-legend-alan-dean-foster/?amp

So.. From the story it seems that Disney is trying a new form of copyright. They haven't paid Alan Dean Foster any royalties for any of his past work in the Star Wars or any other genre they own. According to the article they say they paid Lucas and shareholders so they don't need to pay the authors anything. I wholeheartedly do not approve of this as I said in the article it changes copyright to where companies don't have to pay authors or any other creative people what do you think of that?

Put this in sci fi as it deals with the star wars author. Please move if not right.

Reminds me of something I read about Della Van Hise and her not receiving royalties for digital editions of “Killing Time”.

 

[Teelie]

Disney has abused copyright law for decades. They need to pay up. Most of their older content came from public works too because they didn't have any of their own IP. And they keep trying to extend copyright law to prevent others from using their content to do the same.

Foster is still very much alive and should be given royalties, not screwed over by Disney who pushed to get copyright law to last 70+ years past the death of the creator.

 

[theenglish]

Not surprising. Disney is famous for manipulating copyright laws.

 

[Captrek]

Foster is still very much alive and should be given royalties, not screwed over by Disney who pushed to get copyright law to last 70+ years past the death of the creator.

When the authors of the Constitution authorized Congress to issue copyrights “for limited times, to authors,” it’s hard to imagine that life+70 is what they had in mind.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Reminds me of something I read about Della Van Hise and her not receiving royalties for digital editions of “Killing Time”.

Yes, book contracts in the 1980s and earlier don't cover digital rights. Here a work-for-hire author gets screwed, because they don't have the copyright, the IP holder does, and an ebook is a matter between the publisher and the IP holder which leaves the author standing outside looking in.

When the authors of the Constitution authorized Congress to issue copyrights “for limited times, to authors,” it’s hard to imagine that life+70 is what they had in mind.

It wasn't. A 14 year copyright term, which the first Congress authorized, might be a little too short. 28 years might be better.

 

[David cgc]

A 14 year copyright term, which the first Congress authorized, might be a little too short. 28 years might be better.

I had a thought for a compromise system where copyright could be renewed indefinitely rather than just once, but the filing fee to register it so it can be defended in court goes up, too. So it’s ten dollars to register a work for the first ten years of ownership, then a hundred to renew for the next ten years, a thousand for the decade after that, and so on. If you’ve got something of enduring commercial popularity (which is the only reason, other than spite, to want a copyright, as well as the entire legal rationale for its existence), then it’s easy to renew it as long as it keeps paying for itself.

It feels fair to me for small creators, if I made something twenty-nine years ago and I can’t get an average of a hundred dollars a year selling it anymore, why should I be encouraged to hoard it and ensure it continues to languish in obscurity rather than having a chance at a second life in the public domain? And if I want to throw away a thousand dollars on my pride of ownership without a chance of getting a return on it, that’s my prerogative. On the other end, if Disney still wants to be the sole steward of the concept of Mickey Mouse after a hundred years, they can pay a hundred billion dollars for the privilege of another decade continuing to own an idea that has never not existed in living memory.

It’s just a casual thought, an actual law would put in some number of exceptions and loopholes, index the fees to cost of living, maybe include some sort of grace period for paying the renewal fee so it was only necessary when you were actually making an infringement claim, stuff didn’t go into the public domain until a full decade without being renewed had passed, for group work or works for hire, the rights devolve so the people who actually made each part can opt to renew the copyright on their specific contribution if the overall owner lets the overall copyright lapse...

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I had a thought for a compromise system where copyright could be renewed indefinitely rather than just once, but the filing fee to register it so it can be defended in court goes up, too. So it’s ten dollars to register a work for the first ten years of ownership, then a hundred to renew for the next ten years, a thousand for the decade after that, and so on. If you’ve got something of enduring commercial popularity (which is the only reason, other than spite, to want a copyright, as well as the entire legal rationale for its existence), then it’s easy to renew it as long as it keeps paying for itself.

A conservative think tank developed a proposal for copyright reform along those lines maybe ten years ago. (Close. It was eight.) Disney could have a perpetual copyright on Mickey Mouse, but at this stage it would cost them millions of dollars every few years to renew it.

Economists have calculated that the ideal copyright term is [/URL]fourteen years.

 

[JD]

https://www.denofgeek.com/books/dis...ies-to-star-wars-legend-alan-dean-foster/?amp

So.. From the story it seems that Disney is trying a new form of copyright. They haven't paid Alan Dean Foster any royalties for any of his past work in the Star Wars or any other genre they own. According to the article they say they paid Lucas and shareholders so they don't need to pay the authors anything.

That's not quite it, what they said was that when the bought IPs that didn't transfer over all of the obligations that came with it.

 

[tomswift2002]

Yes, book contracts in the 1980s and earlier don't cover digital rights. Here a work-for-hire author gets screwed, because they don't have the copyright, the IP holder does, and an ebook is a matter between the publisher and the IP holder which leaves the author standing outside looking in.

Which makes it odd how, in North America, they would be able to digitally publish the book, as S&S wouldn’t have that right. Digital editions are like mass market or trade. If this was Europe, then European law basically says that before a certain date (I think 1997), it is assumed that contracts included all rights, which is how TV shows like “Muppet Family Christmas” and “Quantum Leap” could be released with their music intact on DVD and digital download/streaming, but NA releases got edited versions because US & Canadian laws require every right to be spelled out.

 

[BillJ]

That's not quite it, what they said was that when the bought IPs that didn't transfer over all of the obligations that came with it.

If they're making money off of Foster's work, then they owe him royalties.

 

[publiusr]

Agreed. He has been badly used

 

[Turtletrekker]

The story has gotten the attention of the Wall Street Journal.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/star-w...sing-royalty-payments-from-disney-11608393600

 

[publiusr]

Good on them.

These suits are quick to drop a C&D on what I call fair use, but let them crap on someone...and that’s fine

 

[theenglish]

After reading that article, I regret buying new copies of the original trilogy novelizations after The Force Awakens was released. Disney is so active in its fights against pirating, who would've thought they took their Pirates of the Caribbean eyepatches back to corporate HQ?

Also, this is the company that tried to stop free use of properties that should not be subject to copyright such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Pocahontas. And who tried to sue Deadmau5 for his helmet and Marvel for Howard the Duck.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

Let's also not forget, this is the company which not only denied the similarities between Kimba the White Lion and their own Lion King when they were accused of plagiarism, but went on to issue a C&D to US screenings of the Kimba movie "Jungle Emperor Leo" based on similarities to their own Lion King.

 

[USS Firefly]

After reading that article, I regret buying new copies of the original trilogy novelizations after The Force Awakens was released.

Are they different then the original versions, like I believe An blue Yoda?

 

[jackoverfull]

When the authors of the Constitution authorized Congress to issue copyrights “for limited times, to authors,” it’s hard to imagine that life+70 is what they had in mind.

agreed: current copyright law is crazy. The performers’ rights law (50 years from publishing, not from death of the last author) sounds much more reasonable to me.

 

[theenglish]

Are they different then the original versions, like I believe An blue Yoda?

LOL--was that in the original novelization? I'm sure it would have been changed years ago. But really--why pay money to buy new novels when the original authors are not getting paid?