I don't know how many WWers have had things published in UK publications that are distributed in the USA. But I've just had this in from the Society of Authors, and thought it might be relevant for some.

It's also a bit of an ad for the benefits of being a member of the Society! You can join if you've been offered an agency or a publishing contract, and most of the members are ordinary, un-starry writers. The contract-checking service is worth the sub on its own, and there are also very clear leaflets on all sorts of subjects, seminars, a website and a journal. Then there's the moral question of supporting the body that's been so central to winning most of the rights that we authors have

Emma

This is what the Society of Authors said:

Re: Settlement of US Class action
Dear Member
As you may be aware, some writers in America have been taking legal action against newspapers and magazines, which allowed material to be reproduced electronically without their permission. The 'class action' is likely to be settled soon and you may be eligible for payment if you have written for British publications distributed in America.
If the settlement terms are approved by the US court on 28th July, writers will have to submit their claims by 30th September. Anyone wishing to opt out of the settlement has to do so by 15th July.
You will find general information in the news section of our website (www.societyofauthors.org) and more specific details on the main website for potential claimants (www.copyrightclassaction.com).
With good wishes
Mark Le Fanu
General Secretary

However it's worth noting that copyright assignments now routinely require freelancers, such as those on whose behalf the class action was taken, to assign electronic reproduction rights as well as other media so the ruling does only affect those who had material published at a time when such 'all media' assignments were not widely used. The main target of the action was the large scale business and legal databases which replicate newspaper stories as part of their service such as Lexis or Westlaw. But it's worth pursuing if you had material published online in the US without a specific assignment of electronic reproduction.

Jane

A while ago one of our Members raised a point about whether his/her work would be regarded as 'published' when it appeared on this site or the many others where work is 'electronically published'.

I think the point was raised in relation to the requirement of Competitions for new Writers who must not have had previous work 'published'.

I wonder if this Action has relevance to a situation where any writing, made available to the general public, is unequivocally classified as 'published'?

Len

As far as I know, it's only to do with writers who had work published in certain American print magazines, when the print magazines paid a fee for the print rights, but went on to licence the electronic publishing of the work without the original writers' consent, and without a further payment. The verdict in the case was that the magazines had breached such writers' copyrights and the writers were entitled to compensation. UK writers can apply for the standard compensation just as the US writers who brought the action can.

I don't know, but I imagine it goes back to the days when many contracts didn't have anything about electronic rights in them, and everyone was hazy about how important (or not) they were.
Emma