Forum Moderators: not2easy
I then have that content translated into another language, which is done by a translation service.
That costs me money, obviously.
That gives me unique content in two languages, so it is (or I hope it will be!) worth the cost.
However, I will also be using other people's content. With their content, it will cost me nothing and I will have a non-exclusive right to use it. So, they can post it on their own site, continue submitting it to e-newsletters, etc. Basically, this is the type of content freely given away in exchange for a link back to the author's site (or some other advertising blurb for the author).
I also have other authors who will do commentary for me, and they have nothing to sell, so no advertising blurb. But, again, it will be non-exclusive, so they can publish elsewhere as well. Their motivation is to spread their ideas, which they feel are under publicised.
Now, in both cases, they don't have a version available in the other language, and I'm sure they're not going to want to spend the money to do it.
My feeling is that, if I pay to have the article translated, I should have exclusive rights for use of that translation, which I don't think is an unreasonable request. They would still maintain their rights to their original English version, but if they wanted to use the translated version, they would need to reimburse me.
Or, do I try to negotiate some kind of exclusive rights to both versions, in exchange for letting them have the other language version? Either after a set period of time, or an exclusive in that they can use both versions for their own materials (newsletter, web site, etc.) but agree not to publish them in other publications?
Or, are there other ideas, comments, feedback?
Thanks!
If you are paying for the translation and want to be sure you hold the copyrights, you should have a "work for hire" contract with the translator that clarifies these issues.
On the author side, you should review your rights under whatever agreement you have. If it doesn't clearly give you the right to translate the work into other languages, you'll probably have to negotiate this for your existing content; for new content, build that permission into your agreements.
This is an interesting topic. If I were faced with this, I'd probably find some sample agreements, reword them for my specific needs, and then have an attorney fine tune them.
That way it wouldn't be such a burden to translate these other works.
On the author side, you should review your rights under whatever agreement you have.
My work for hire agreement says, in part: "Assignor does hereby sell, assign and transfer to Assignee, its successors and assigns, the entire right, title, and interest in and to the copyright in the Work... and in and to all works based on, derived from, or incorporating the Work...."
So, I think I'm covered in that regard. ;-)
But, my concern is for other people's work, where they retain their copyright (i.e. not a work for hire). For example, if you were to write an article on Using Widgets in Your Home Office, and grant me non-exclusive rights to publish your article on my web site in exchange for a link back to your site, that's the situation I'm looking for.
Naturally, I would get your permission before translating it. But, under what terms?
I mean, basically, I'm having your work translated for you, and opening it up to a wider audience. Of course, you may not think that's a worthwhile effort, especially if you're maybe selling an Information Product that's English only.
In that case, I imagine that you wouldn't mind letting me have exclusive rights to use the other language version. And, if one day you decide you want it, you could reimburse me for the translation.
On the other hand, if you think the translation is valuable to you, maybe we could work out some other arrangement whereby I get exclusive use of some of your articles, or you agree to write a certain number of articles exclusively for me, etc. in exchange for having the translation done and you having the rights to that translation.
Or, maybe some kind of agreement whereby we each pay a portion of the translation fee?
With regard to these works, i.e. the non-work for hire ones, I don't have any content from the authors yet and have not drawn up an agreement, so basically I'm looking for ideas on how to handle this.
To save costs on the translation, have you thought of using an automated program and then paying a translation service to "clean up" the text?
I have one main guy I'm using right now, and I've also used another translation service.
The service used an automated program and then had human translators review and edit it.
The guy I use I think may do that as well.
The service is generally less expensive, but I feel more comfortable with the guy I use. He seems more hands-on, and actually comes back with suggestions, asks for clarification and makes sure we use the right form of the language. We're translating into Spanish, and he seems pretty good about making sure it's for American-hemisphere Spanish and not European Spanish.
And, even with that, he's less expensive than a lot of other services. And, on some jobs, he's actually less expensive than the translation service!
I do want to make sure I have as accurate a translation as possible. I don't want Spanish readers to feel like they're an afterthought.
Your translation is what the lawyers call a "derived work", and you (or the translator, depending on the terms you negotiate with them) will own the copyright on that. The original author is not allowed to use it without your permission, so you have exclusive rights to it by default.
And yes, you need to make sure that you have the right to actually translate the original.
using an automated program
For a competent translator it will usually be less work to do it from scratch, than to clean up an automatically generated parody.
I get more work translating french to english and vice versa as a result of "automated translation" use by webmasters than any other way.....and I charge more as already mentioned for compensating for "auto trans" or "auto trad" than I do for beginning from "scratch"..( auto trans for "scratch" is "egratinure" or "griffe" or "rayure" etc ..all of which mean "scratch" as in "scratch your face" )...wheras the correct "trans" or "trad" would be more like "rien" ( nothing or zero ) or "dalle" ( which is more like "zilch" ) ....etc...see what I mean ..tu vois?
And thats for "metro" french which isn't the same as "quebecois" or "creole" etc etc etc or regional dialects ...
Same thing with "english" ...whose english?
I've always considered "babelfish" and it's ilk as just as good at crypting anthing as "blowfish"......
And you just have to see the results of washing machine instructions that begin in chinese or malayan and get to french via english ...and all on the cheap via "auto trans" ..... :))))
The creator of a derivative work does not own the copyright to that work. The creator of the original work owns the copyright to all derivative works.
If you want the copyright to the translation, you will have to have it specifically assigned and transfered to you.
From my side, as a writer, I would not agree to giving my copyright to you. I would consider it fair to be able to use the translated version myself as payment for me licensing you to create a derivative work.
If the authors themselves aren't willing to pony up the money to get their own work translated, then maybe that audience isn't worth it to them.
So, I could either put up a message saying (in Spanish) "Spanish version unavailable from this author, who did not see the value in doing a Spanish translation", or just tell those authors "Hasta la vista, baby!"
If my audience isn't important to them, then maybe I shouldn't consider their self-promotional articles important to me or my site.
At this point, I am ponying up the money to make my site bilingual, and this without regard to whether or not it will be profitable to do so, because I think it is an important thing to do. Maybe I shouldn't waste my time with authors that don't share that vision?
I would consider it fair to be able to use the translated version myself as payment for me licensing you to create a derivative work.
And, how is that fair for me?
Let's say you let me use your English article entitled "Making the Most of Your Widget" in exchange for a link back to your site in the byline and you also let me translate it into Spanish.
But, you will not grant me an exclusive right to use the Spanish version?
So, let's say it costs me $40 to have your article translated.
Now, since I don't have an exclusive right to use the Spanish version, you're free to start sending the Spanish version of "Making the Most of Your Widget" to other sites.
So, now my competitors could be getting the right to use your Spanish version article, in exchange for only a link back to your site in the byline.
And, me, I'm out forty bucks for an article that other people are now using at no cost to them.
They both own the copyright of a derivative work together. The translator is not allowed to distribute the translated version without the consent of the copyright holder of the original. But the original author also must not use (copy, distribute) the translation without the consent of the translator.
The point is that a derivative work consists of a mixture of original and derived intellectual property, so the two owners need to come to some kind of mutual agreement. The question is not simple at all, and we're probably only scratching the surface of all possible combinations here.
Not for free.
You can invent something that builds upon an existing patented invention. You can patent your invention, but exploiting your invention would infringe the previous invention. Equally, the owner of the previous invention is blocked from using your specific improvement to their invention.
Some agreement is required (you license, they license, you cross-license, etc).
