Alan Dean Foster vs Disney

[maquiscat]

‘Star Wars’ author says Disney is stiffing him on royalties

Sci-fi writer Alan Dean Foster says Disney has been behaving like the evil empire from his “Star Wars” novels by stiffing him on royalties for some of his popular books. The prolific au…

nypost.com

This is just one of the articles, but I am not finding much variety among them.

What I want to know is what are the various rules and laws governing copyrights, licensing, and royalties? I would like to know both sides of this issue, but Disney seem to be trying to keep those details in the dark. Does anyone have further insight?

On the surface, pending other information, I would say that if someone else acquires the rights to use another's intellectual property, they acquire the obligations that go along with it. Now if Del Ray is still the ones publishing the books, and receiving the profits from those sales, then they are the ones who owe ADF. If Disney is the one getting the profits from the sales, then Disney owes ADF. Given that there is IP that is owned by two separate entities (the SW franchise itself, and the novels), I can see if two separate royalties are paid out. Obviously the details are in the contracts. Did ADF give publishing rights, or did he transfer ownership?

 

[PoS]

I sympathize a lot with ADF. Writers are always getting screwed over by the big corporations and their armies of lawyers. There was a big brouhaha recently with ACX (which is Amazon's audiobook subsidiary) screwing authors because they were encouraging customers to return the audiobooks they purchased and would promptly deduct it from author earnings- so lots of lost income there.

 

[Bodi]

‘Star Wars’ author says Disney is stiffing him on royalties

Sci-fi writer Alan Dean Foster says Disney has been behaving like the evil empire from his “Star Wars” novels by stiffing him on royalties for some of his popular books. The prolific au…

nypost.com

This is just one of the articles, but I am not finding much variety among them.

What I want to know is what are the various rules and laws governing copyrights, licensing, and royalties? I would like to know both sides of this issue, but Disney seem to be trying to keep those details in the dark. Does anyone have further insight?

On the surface, pending other information, I would say that if someone else acquires the rights to use another's intellectual property, they acquire the obligations that go along with it. Now if Del Ray is still the ones publishing the books, and receiving the profits from those sales, then they are the ones who owe ADF. If Disney is the one getting the profits from the sales, then Disney owes ADF. Given that there is IP that is owned by two separate entities (the SW franchise itself, and the novels), I can see if two separate royalties are paid out. Obviously the details are in the contracts. Did ADF give publishing rights, or did he transfer ownership?

If he has a contract then this should not be that big of an issue...

 

[ASHES]

This is a good breakdown of the issue by a copyright attorney.

 

[maquiscat]

This is a good breakdown of the issue by a copyright attorney.

I still want to know where DelRay falls into all of this. Aren't they the ones who initially get the money from book sales?

 

[joko104]

I sympathize a lot with ADF. Writers are always getting screwed over by the big corporations and their armies of lawyers. There was a big brouhaha recently with ACX (which is Amazon's audiobook subsidiary) screwing authors because they were encouraging customers to return the audiobooks they purchased and would promptly deduct it from author earnings- so lots of lost income there.

Amazon will give away any merchant's products for free - except when Amazon is itself is the seller.
he customer does not have to return it. But if the customer does return it, the merchant is out there product and money. Amazon then sells the merchants' returned product as used and pockets the money.

There is nothing you can do about it. Federal courts have upheld that per Amazon's contract no merchant or customer may ever sue Amazon.

In addition, Amazon can seize any merchants money and just keep it, though tends to say they MIGHT give the merchant their money in 90 days. Maybe not. However, Amazon will keep selling the merchant's products at Amazon Prime - with Amazon keeping the money. Eventually Amazon will likely give the money back to the merchants after 3 to 6 months, with Amazon keeping the interest.

Customers love Amazon. Merchants hate Amazon. However, over half of all items sold on Amazon are by Amazon as the merchant.

Amazon truly is above the law. Millions of their products violate USDA and FDA regulations (as well as other agency violations). If you buy anything you put on or in your body from Amazon you're a fool. The odds the brand name product isn't a cheap knock-off is maybe 2% and, again, Amazon does not follow any FDA or USDA regulations - nor can you sue Amazon. Amazon is China's (and there American billionaire partners) #1 outlet of fake trademark products.

 

[PoS]

I still want to know where DelRay falls into all of this. Aren't they the ones who initially get the money from book sales?

Completely depends on the terms of the contract. A standard trad book contract is when an author first gets an advance then gets a percentage after a certain number of copies are moved that pays off the initial outlay.

Ghostwriters are usually paid up front, so Im a little surprised surprised that ADF still gets residuals from it. Or perhaps he is talking about the books directly in his name.

Disney doesnt seem to deny there are royalties to be paid, so thats in ADF's favor.

 

[maquiscat]

Completely depends on the terms of the contract. A standard trad book contract is when an author first gets an advance then gets a percentage after a certain number of copies are moved that pays off the initial outlay.

Ghostwriters are usually paid up front, so Im a little surprised surprised that ADF still gets residuals from it. Or perhaps he is talking about the books directly in his name.

Disney doesnt seem to deny there are royalties to be paid, so thats in ADF's favor.

I knew about the set up for the initial advance, and then subsequent payments after the advance is earned back. But if DelRay is the publishing company, aren't they the ones getting the proceeds from sales?

 

[PoS]

I knew about the set up for the initial advance, and then subsequent payments after the advance is earned back. But if DelRay is the publishing company, aren't they the ones getting the proceeds from sales?

Del Rey are the publishers, but the IP is owned by the studios (like WB for the Alien franchise, and now Disney for Star Wars), so the writer in question would be getting their royalties from them.

 

[Dayton3]

Don't know if it applies here, but historically Disney is known for being absolutely ruthless and scorched earth when it comes to lawsuits against them.

I think Alan Dean Foster is kind of in a bit a difficult position due to his career reputation. Foster is known (well known in fact) for doing adaptations of other writers work rather than being a creative force in his on right.

 

[maquiscat]

Del Rey are the publishers, but the IP is owned by the studios (like WB for the Alien franchise, and now Disney for Star Wars), so the writer in question would be getting their royalties from them.

So how does that work? I have to assume the bulk of a book sale goes to the publisher. Do they then send the royalty to the IP holder, and they in turn send to the author his/her share? I guess that for series like Pip and Flinx all goes straight to the author since there is no other IP holding. What if P&F were to be made into a Netflix series? Do they become the IP holder, or do they pay ADF royalties that are different than the ones paid by DelRay?

 

[PoS]

So how does that work? I have to assume the bulk of a book sale goes to the publisher. Do they then send the royalty to the IP holder, and they in turn send to the author his/her share? I guess that for series like Pip and Flinx all goes straight to the author since there is no other IP holding. What if P&F were to be made into a Netflix series? Do they become the IP holder, or do they pay ADF royalties that are different than the ones paid by DelRay?

Well like I said, it depends on the contract. Royalties from print sales, ebooks, movie and TV adaptations are all separate issues that are usually negotiated in advance or separately- the ebook thing is a recent variable, but sales are mushrooming in that market.

Ghostwriting is usually just a one done deal, but he might have negotiated a royalty earnings too, though I dont really know because the contract isnt public.

I cant comment specifically on ADF's case because I dont know what the details are, but he seems to be arguing about royalties from his previous agreements before all the licensed stuff he wrote was absorbed into Disney. At the same time, Disney isnt denying it, but they seem to be playing hardball with negotiations- I believe he will get his royalties in the end, but as to what the percentages will be, that will depend on how this comes out. The SFWA is on his side, and it looks like the public is too, so I hope it works out for him.

I wouldnt be surprised if Disney is putting the squeeze on all the authors who were under contract by the studios they absorbed, but I do hope that ADF gets a fair share of royalties, because otherwise this doesnt bode well for future writers if Disney stiffs him hard on it.