Comments on: Million Dollar Kitty http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2007/04/million_dollar.html The Law, the Universe, and Everything Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:17:18 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.3 hourly 1 By: Bruce Boyden http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2007/04/million_dollar.html/comment-page-1#comment-54457 Bruce Boyden Mon, 09 Apr 2007 21:15:48 +0000 http://www.solove.org/archives/2007/04/million-dollar-kitty.html#comment-54457 Buying the rights to a person's life story poses some interesting issues, but I'm not sure they're present here. It could just be that the publisher is paying the authors a chunk of the expected proceeds so that they don't go give all that profit to some other publisher. I.e., the publisher may be the winning bidder of an informal auction. If the publisher has a knack for this sort of thing, they will have paid (a) just barely enough to get the authors to sign with them, while (b) not so much that they won't make any money off of it. Buying the rights to a person’s life story poses some interesting issues, but I’m not sure they’re present here. It could just be that the publisher is paying the authors a chunk of the expected proceeds so that they don’t go give all that profit to some other publisher. I.e., the publisher may be the winning bidder of an informal auction. If the publisher has a knack for this sort of thing, they will have paid (a) just barely enough to get the authors to sign with them, while (b) not so much that they won’t make any money off of it.

]]> By: Frank http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2007/04/million_dollar.html/comment-page-1#comment-54456 Frank Mon, 09 Apr 2007 05:36:50 +0000 http://www.solove.org/archives/2007/04/million-dollar-kitty.html#comment-54456 Thanks, Al. Yes, you're right, it's just a standard advance, but I'm just wondering why one would need to pay so much to these authors. I suppose I'm taking a bit of license with the story, and just speculating on how the right of publicity issues might spin out had the publisher clearly negotiated for them. Another bizarre trusts & estates of pets question comes up for me--does Dewey have a right of publicity? if the library "owned" him, would it descend to the library upon his death? or perhaps they owned it all along? Thanks, Al. Yes, you’re right, it’s just a standard advance, but I’m just wondering why one would need to pay so much to these authors. I suppose I’m taking a bit of license with the story, and just speculating on how the right of publicity issues might spin out had the publisher clearly negotiated for them.

Another bizarre trusts & estates of pets question comes up for me–does Dewey have a right of publicity? if the library “owned” him, would it descend to the library upon his death? or perhaps they owned it all along?

]]> By: Al http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2007/04/million_dollar.html/comment-page-1#comment-54455 Al Mon, 09 Apr 2007 04:17:42 +0000 http://www.solove.org/archives/2007/04/million-dollar-kitty.html#comment-54455 Frank, Thanks for this; I love the story. Isn't the publisher paying an advance for the book by Ms. Myron and Mr. Witter? It sounds like a pretty standard advance contract (except in size of the advance). Someone else could tell the story of Dewey, but I doubt they could do it as well as the librarian and the accomplished author. Frank,

Thanks for this; I love the story. Isn’t the publisher paying an advance for the book by Ms. Myron and Mr. Witter? It sounds like a pretty standard advance contract (except in size of the advance). Someone else could tell the story of Dewey, but I doubt they could do it as well as the librarian and the accomplished author.

]]>