Licensing your copyrighted works
If you have taken the necessary steps to register your copyrighted works, you will inevitably have the opportunity to obtain royalties from them. To take advantage of the opportunity, you will need to be familiar with copyright license agreements.
Copyright License Agreement
A copyright license agreement sets out the terms under which a third party can use your content. In legal language, you will be the “licensor” and the other party will be the “licensee”. The purpose of the agreement is to set forth the terms under which you, the licensor, will grant a third party, the licensee, the right to use, publish, or reuse your copyrighted work in exchange for a royalty. Let’s take a closer look at the key components of the license agreement.
Specific Rights Granted
This may seem obvious, but the agreement should spell out exactly what copyrighted material can be used. If you have copyrighted items, are you granting the right to use all of the items or just some? It is strongly recommended that the agreement contain a detailed description of the exact materials that are covered.
Once you agree to the exact materials, you must determine any restrictions on how the material may be used. Can the material be used online or will it be restricted to a certain niche, such as manuals or collections of materials?
An extremely important question is whether the agreement grants exclusive or non-exclusive rights. In English, this simply defines whether the licensor can grant similar rights to other parties. Granting exclusive licenses should require a much higher royalty rate, since you are basically betting that the third party will succeed.
license royalties
In exchange for your copyrighted work, the third party will make royalty payments to you. The particular amount of the royalty depends on the nature of your work. Issues to consider include:
1) Will you be paid a fixed amount or a percentage of sales?
2) If it is a percentage, will it be calculated from gross income or something less?
3) How often will you get paid?
4) What rights will you have to audit the third party’s books to determine that you are receiving the full royalty?
In some situations, you may decide to forego a royalty payment. This typically occurs when the third party will use the materials in a way that generates mass advertising for you. For example, many professionals look to fix post columns as a marketing tool. Often, they will not charge the publication for the material because the resulting publicity brings sufficient profit.
In conclusion
If you are considering licensing copyrighted content, please keep the above in mind. Since such agreements are difficult to break, it is worth hiring a lawyer.