Community Chat

[golding76]

Q4u, I might ask about this.  It is worth a try, but I believe I have forfeited all rights to everything I've ever written for them.  

[PickyPicky3]

@golding76   I had never received any kind of good vibes from this teacher and had no desire to deal with him again. In fact, he owned an ad agency and had an opening for an entry-level writer. Everyone at the school told him to give me an interview. He did, but it was a joke. Yet his transgressions confirmed that I had the right stuff.  

[Q4u]

@PickyPicky3 -  I wonder how much money that teacher made from the assignments turned in by his students!!?  That's my first thought.... sure could be wrong.  

[Q4u]

@golding76 -  I think it's worth it, especially to know the law as well as the statue of limitations regarding it.  Who knows how the Government handles it or for how long.  But your time is worth a heck of a lot too.  

[PickyPicky3]

@Q4u  No way I was the only one. 

[pjoy]

I'm a journalist for the federal government. If it's written for the government, they own it. Can't tell you how many times a publicatioin has picked up one of my stories and ran it almost word for word without my byline. 

[golding76]

pjoy, I am fortunate that my byline has been included whenever I've spotted my work. 

Then again, if the work wasn't attributed to me, it would not pop up when I key my name and agency into the search engine. 

Hmm.  Perhaps I should google only a sentence or two from my pieces of work, with no name included, and see what presents itself.  

[PickyPicky3]

@pjoy   Do you know of any cases where the government wanted to keep control of an article and limit its publication? Or since the government represents the American people, everybody has equal rights to it?

[Drythe]

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@golding76 wrote:

Q4u, I might ask about this.  It is worth a try, but I believe I have forfeited all rights to everything I've ever written for them.  

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@golding76 

I also believe it is required to relinquish intellectual property.

And, it does feel bit of a violation, but it is part of many hiring agreements.  😒

[golding76]

I wonder if part of the argument against any remuneration would be that I "would be getting paid twice for my work" -- once by the U.S. government and another time by the user of that work done for the government.

If a user agreed to paying me for my work, couldn't the government then argue that it is owed a portion of my gain, too?

Thinking out loud here.