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The
All Rights/Electronic
Rights Issue This is a report on a problem I encountered in February, 2000 that I think many professional designers and writers—particularly those in the crafts industry—are going to encounter soon, if they haven't already run into it. Beware of the "All Rights" Contract Clause I accidentally lost a column I've been writing for Crafts Magazine for more than twenty years because of the All Rights clause in my contract that included electronic rights. It all started in January when I signed an exclusive writing contract with IdeaForest, one of the new craft consumer e-commerce sites on the World Wide Web. I agreed that, for a specified length of time, my craft writing services on the Internet would be exclusive to this particular Web site. I would retain the copyrights to my work, and license its use to IdeaForest for as long as they wanted it (similar to the publishing agreement all writers sign with trade book publishers). When I signed this exclusive contract, IdeaForest did not know I was selling All Rights to my Crafts column, nor did it occur to me to even mention this fact. So far as I knew then, I was merely contributing content to a print magazine that could not, in any way, be considered competitive to IdeaForest's e-commerce craft site. What I did not know at that time, however, was that Crafts Magazine had agreed to participate in a competitive e-commerce Web site, and their plan was to publish similar material they had purchased on an All Rights basis. In discussing this situation with both of my craft editors, I discovered just how tricky an All Rights contract clause can be in this new age of electronic publishing. My editor at Crafts said she had no intention of republishing my columns on the Web site because its business content was not in keeping with other material on the site. But my editor at IdeaForest warned me that if Crafts Magazine should ever change its mind and republish any of my columns on its Web site, I would automatically (though indirectly) be in violation of my contract with IdeaForest. The very fact that this possibility existed meant that I had to ask Crafts Magazine to modify my contract so I could retain the electronic rights. Because I had often been told that my column was the most-read column in the magazine, I figured I had some "wiggle room" here. Surely, I reasoned, an exception would be made in my case since I did not fit the standard "designer mold," and my articles had no value to the competitive Web site. But I was wrong. So Long, Good Luck A couple of days after discussing this problem on the phone with my editor at Crafts, I received an impersonal e-mail saying, "Sorry you can no longer write the column; good luck." That message was like getting a bucket of cold water in the face! No further discussion, no "let's see if we can't work around this problem;" just, "so long, it's been good to know you." (A few days later, however, I did receive a bouquet and a card from the magazine's staff saying "Thanks for more than 20 great years.") I don't know who was the most upset here: my editor at or me. In the end, neither she nor I had a thing to say about this problem because it was the lawyers who made the decision to let me go without a moment's thought. And that's when it really hit me: It's the lawyers who are running the crafts industry today; or perhaps it would be more appropriate to say ruining it. Who Would Have Dreamed . . Professional writers in the nonfiction field first encountered the electronic rights issue several years ago when both the consumer and trade magazines they were writing for began to put the whole content of back issues on the Internet. This was done in spite of the fact that most of the articles in those issues had been originally sold to them on a First Rights (one-time use only) basis. Many writers were shocked to discover their copyrighted articles floating on the Internet when they had sold only First Rights to the magazines in question. I don't know how most professional writers are handling this problem today, but I'm sure the amazing growth of the Internet and the flagrant disregard of copyright laws by both publishers and individuals has greatly complicated writers' lives and made it more difficult to earn a living from their work. Although craft designers have been signing All Rights contracts with Crafts and other magazines for years, who among us ever really understood until now just what the control of electronic rights actually meant in terms of dollars? Who would have dreamed even a year ago that so many craft consumer e-commerce sites would suddenly spring up on the Web this year? Like designers, I have been selling All Rights to my column for years, but I never perceived this to be a problem because I knew I could always reuse the kind of information imparted in my columns simply by writing about a topic in a different way. And I have to say that I was delighted when Crafts Magazine gave me permission to reprint some of my "Selling What You Make" columns on my first web site in 1998. I wasn't making any money from this and the magazine wasn't making any money from this, but readers who missed my columns when they first published in the magazine were benefiting. Now, all of those articles have been removed from my Web site because the magazine column they once promoted is no longer running under my name. Lost Publicity Let me emphasize here that I have no hard feelings for my editor at Crafts. In truth, my ire is directed to the lawyers whose primary consideration is bottom line profits and not the continued growth and development of the crafts industry or the individual writers and designers who fuel it. I know I'm not the only individual in the crafts industry who has recently been caught up in the electronic rights problem and had to make an uncomfortable decision about whether or not to continue to sell on an All Rights basis. Other personalities on the IdeaForest site, as well as designers who now have their own Web sites, are no longer able to work with Crafts and other magazines as well who insist on retaining both the print and electronic rights to projects or articles. I'm sure the lawyers who control contract policies for Crafts have no idea of the national following I and other writers and designers have, and how our disappearance from that magazine's masthead may eventually impact subscription or newsstand sales. Can't they see the direct connection between bottom-line profits and the caliber of writers and designers on a magazine's masthead? As more and more professional writers and designers are forced to leave a magazine because of the electronic rights contract issue, they are going to take their reader following with them to their new home, be it a competitive magazine or a site on the Web. For me, the strangest irony of all is that IdeaForest would have been happy to reprint my Crafts' columns on their e-commerce site because I am one of their featured "personalities," and this kind of mention for a print magazine could in no way be construed as promotion for a competitive e-commerce site. In short, this was a LOT of lost publicity for lawyers' refusal to simply give me electronic rights to material they didn't even have a commercial use for. What a perfect example of that old adage about "cutting off your nose to spite your face!" Telling It Like It Is Had the lawyers at Crafts granted my simple request for ownership of electronic rights, I never would have disclosed that fact publicly. The fact that they did not, however, coupled with the fact that it's my job as a leader in my industry to help educate others, prompts me to share the details of this experience with my readers. It's a perfect example of how something that once seemed simple has suddenly become complex in light of what's happening with the crafts industry on the World Wide Web. Impact on the Crafts Industry Without designers (who have been getting the short end of the stick for years), the crafts industry is nowhere. Now, with the incredible growth of the World Wide Web and the way craft consumers are flocking to e-commerce sites, it's time for designers to take a stand. The best designers today—particularly those with a growing presence on the Web—can no longer justify selling both print and electronic rights to any crafts consumer magazine for the same money they've been receiving in the past. It's fine to sell on an All Rights basis, but you should be paid extra any time you include electronic rights in the package. This whole electronic rights issue is really beginning to heat up now, and unless it is soon resolved I see serious problems ahead for print magazines. As more and more professional designers pass on selling to magazines on an All Rights basis, the only craft projects editors will be able to get will be from beginning designers who have to sell on an All Rights basis because they lack negotiating power. I'm no lawyer, but it seems to me that magazines ought to be able to purchase material in one of two ways:
Either way, the magazine would remain on safe legal ground in that readers could make published projects without fear of violating a designer's copyright, while the designer would have the option of publishing projects on her own Web site for promotional purposes, or selling them to an e-commerce site for additional income. A Few Words About Exclusivity Clauses In signing a contract, be careful about what you agree to, remembering always the growing role the Internet is now playing in your life as a writer or designer. Don't sign any clause that will prevent you from earning as much income as possible from other sources. For example, the exclusivity clause in my contract with IdeaForest prevents me from writing for any of their direct competitors (which is only fair); yet I am free to contribute material to print magazines that do not have a competitive presence on the Web, noncompetitive Web sites, or my own personal domain. Curiously, even the clause that specified I could write for my own Web site turned out to be problematic. At the time I signed the contract with IdeaForest, my only Web site was on an area of crafter.com, owned and managed by Renee Chase. But in March, when Renee decided to sell crafter.com to an e-commerce site that was in direct competition with IdeaForest, I suddenly found myself on shaky ground again. Because of my exclusive contract arrangement, it was necessary to move all my content off the crafter.com site. See what I mean about the of the electronic rights problem? If I hadn't already been making plans for my own domain when all this happened, I would have lost not only my Crafts column but all the momentum I had built on the Web over the past two years. I'd like to hear from professional writers and designers who have run into the electronic rights problem. Has any of your work been published online without your permission? If so, what did you do about it? Have you lost any money or work opportunities because you refused to sign an All Rights contract? Do you get paid extra when you do grant All Rights, or are you just settling for what's being offered? Please e-mail your comments to me any time. Author's Update: August 2000 The "competitive" e-commerce Web site mentioned above— one that might have published my column, thus forcing me to violate my exclusive rights contract with Idea Forest— is now out of business. According to the June 2000 issue of CNA (a crafts trade magazine), CraftShop.com lost its venture capitalists and filed for Chapter 7 (liquidation) only four months after it opened. It was one thing to have to give up my column in the first place, but to give it up for nothing was another thing entirely. Frankly, it took quite a bit of positive self-talk for me to keep from feeling bitter about this. I finally remembered what it says in the Bible about everything having its own time and season, and decided to be content in the knowledge that my column was very successful while in print and was, in fact, the longest-running column in the industry at the time it ended. Author's Update: May 2001IdeaForest later partnered with the JoAnn Fabric stores and changed the website name to joann.com. But in February, after failing to get a new round of funding, all the content providers and craft designers for this site were let go (along with 40 staff members). I stayed on the site as adviser to the StreetFair advertising area until May, when joann.com announced it was closing this advertising area. Reader Response to this Article
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