Material Intellectual Property Rights-3

“Work for Hire Agreement” is the best approach with difficult publishing conditions

Compiled by Maryam Asadi Jafari
Translated by Ruhollah Golmoradi

2023-11-14

Following our discussion of Material Intellectual Property Rights of oral history works and the note of A Heritage With No Legal System, we discussed with Sooreh Mehr Publications and Fatehan Publications. This time, the reporter of Oral History Website interviewed with the manager editor of Sooreh Sabz Publications about material intellectual rights:

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Dr. Mohsen Sadeghnia, the managing editor of Sooreh Sabz Publications, who has been active in the field of Sacred Defense literature for more than a decade, said about the policy of this publisher in the field of war with respect to the material intellectual rights of authors: “from the beginning, Sooreh Sabz Publications has acted in this way that it has drawn up a work for hire agreement with the authors of the sacred defense field, whether it is in the field of oral history, memories, biographies, poetry, and even documentary works, and no work order is given to any writer without a written contract. Certainly, when a written contract is concluded between the publisher and the author and signed by both, it specifies the details of all possibilities. For example, things like what will happen when the work is reprinted or when the publisher or the author refuses to continue their cooperation and obligations are determined in it. Hence there will never be an objection in this method because if any of the parties object or there is an ambiguity, the other party will refer him/her to the contract. “For various reasons, we close the work for hire agreement and we still consider it as the appropriate method.”

Explaining the positive aspects of the work for hire agreement, he said: “In the work for hire agreement contract, the author receives his full salary in return for receiving a specific amount as copyright after completion and delivery of subject of the contract, and in return, he/she assigns the copyright and publication of the work to the publisher for innumerous times and in any form, including paper, audio, and electronic ones. That is, the author receives, before publishing the book, all his/her rights after handing over the work to the publisher and confirming it by the experts of the cultural department of the publications. The culture and literature community of the country who have cooperated with Sooreh Sabz know very well that Sooreh Sabz is known for its honesty in paying, and it is impossible that the author’s wage to be paid later than the date specified in the contract; however, this payment is done only once. Of course, in the next editions, some copies of the book will be given to the author as a gift. Reprinting the book can create a double motivation for the author because his/her book will be published and advertised in more copies, and as a result, the work will be seen more than before. Of course, if it is chosen as a selected work in various literary festivals, it will definitely be honored and gifts will be given to the author, but there are various reasons for not paying the author in subsequent editions; The inflation in the market of paper and printing materials and the subsequent costs, increasing price of the book, especially in recent years, on the one hand, and the number of narrators and approved works that are in the process of printing, on the other hand, lead us to the conclusion that direct the available finances towards printing new works or reprinting popular works. This method creates no problem in improving motivation of the authors either, because every author would be happy if his/her work to be reprinted and that there would be an opportunity to advertise, promote, and distribute his/her book; even if the copyright is not awarded to him in the subsequent editions of the work.”

The head of NEZAJA’s Holy Defense Science and Education Research Institute said about the payment to the narrator, “Sooreh Sabz has not taken any action regarding payment to the narrator, either in the form of a fixed amount or a percentage of the book price, and has no plan in this regard. However, at the time of the book launch, the narrator will be invited surely and honored with gifts, but if expenses such as traveling have been spent during the work, they will be paid in full. Most of the public and private publishers work in the same method and until this moment, none of the narrators and veterans of the sacred defense have made such a request from us. Narrators, like writers, are happy to reprint and distribute their narratives, and of course, the war narrators usually cooperate with us with spiritual motives, not because of financial incentives, and with the aim of recording and reflecting their memories and bravery in the memory of history, as well as preventing the distortion of war history; For this reason, we have not had such a request so far.”

Dr. Mohsen Sadeghnia emphasized the existing limitations in the field of credits, even for government publishers, and added, “There are significant costs associated with book printing, whether for public or private publishers. Even for government publishers, there are many restrictions in the area of credits. Now, add to it the problems in the field of book distribution and sales, the lack of rapid return of the book publishing profession, the lack of quick return of capital to publish other books, as well as the number of narrators, veterans and warriors interested in narrating and publishing their memories. All these factors together have caused Sooreh Sabz to adopt the mentioned approach, and considering the existing conditions, it is satisfied with it.”