I already did a search here, but I didn't find what I was looking for. So I am pretty new to purchasing articles for web site content / submission. So far I see little mention about copyright. My understanding is that to properly "own" the content, there must be a clear written conveyance of the copyright. In the casual "cheap" article world I do not see this being done. What is to stop an article author from writing a bunch of articles and getting paid for them, then claiming copyright infringement in order to re-claim them? Just curious.
I really don't think of hearding an author doing this in my whole experience. But speaking realisticlly. That author can do nothing This is not an issue for a court, but for the two parts to resolve it peacefully.
If you have an article written for you and you did not receive a contract stating that the rights to said article are hereby transferred to you, then you do not own the copyright. Same applies for all matters of copyright (websites, logos, etc). If you do so for your employee, then the copyright transfer is implied and your employer owns the rights. Under no circumstances should one ever engage in a transaction between two or more parties without documentation. Edit Add: I am speaking of USA Intellectual Property law. I have no idea what the laws are in other countries.
If you buy article for anyuse, generally u do not buy copyright but clearly mention to the vendor when u wish his articles to put in ur materials say book or journal or website that u are transferring copyright ownership in ur name. Unless express contract is there, there is no copyright transfer generally.
I don't know what an "express" contact is, but if there's no contract, there's only a few rights that are transfered. Copyright is a bundle of rights.
It is not express contact, I am talking about express contract. Express contract means contract clearly stated or written in unequivocal words that all the copyrights have been transferred.
Sorry, I meant contract as well. What I said still stands. Copyright is a bundle of rights. If there isn't a contract (call the wording (express, implied) what you like) covering the deal, you're not buying exclusive ownership and full copyright transfer of that article.
What really stops those "cheap" writers is the cost of possible litigation. Unless a really cool publisher prints your so imaginative stuff, there is no point of suing same pals as you are: you'll go broke on the lawyers with no possible compensation.
Usually a writer will work with a contract so that they give you ownership of the article. I'm a writer, and if you need any articles feel free to contact me.