Overview:

Not all companies are intent on separating artists from their copyrights. Many companies are finding ways of working with their contributors to work out equitable solutions to the copyright issue. A trail blazer in their creative solutions in this area is San Francisco based PC World Magazine. Art director Robert Kanes saw a problem with web rights access as well as hard to control international use of art used in their magazine. To solve the problem, Kanes and his publishers called together several regular illustrators and photographers to discuss the issue.

Contract Highlights:

What the round table came up with is a reasonable contract that not only pays artists for additional copyright transfers, but specifically limits their use of the artwork. 15% was added to all assignment price for one time use in their international editions, even though less than 15% of the art typically found in the US version finds its way into international editions. PC World also added an additional 20% for nonexclusive use on their internet magazine and only in it's original context. PC World also will pay an additional 50% should any reprints occur.

While not a perfect solution (they still reserve the right to crop artwork), PC World's contract is one of the best Contract Watch has seen. We applaud their dedication to their contributors by working with them to craft a reasonable contract and what we hope will be the start of an industry standard.