The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is pleased to present this
introductory guide for publishers who wish to increase their understanding of how
to manage intellectual property rights in a business context. The book offers
practical information to help publishers both to exploit intellectual property rights
as economic assets, and to avoid infringing the rights of others. While focusing
primarily on publishers of trade books, the concepts covered are equally relevant
to publishers of other printed literature, such as textbooks, newspapers,
magazines and corporate literature.
The authors begin by introducing basic notions of intellectual property, drawing on
examples from the publishing world, before focusing more closely on the bundle
of rights covered by copyright. The legal relationships inherent in these rights are
considered in relation to each of the different stages of the economic value chain
of book publishing, from creation to consumption.
The second part of the book covers the negotiation of copyright-based contracts
and licenses. This starts with the primary or “head” contract between an author
and publisher; followed by the authorizations required to incorporate other copyright
material, such as images or excerpts, into a publication; through to the licensing of
subsidiary rights for the purposes of creating, for example, a film or merchandizing
based on the original publication. In the final chapters, the authors present a series
of concrete business models. They offer practical guidance on the nitty-gritty of how to
calculate royalty and other payments, including a number of illustrative payment scales.