A question about when we die as authors

[Christopher Bunn]

For reasons unbeknownst to me, I've been wondering lately about an alternative way to leave my residual book income to my heirs. What's to stop an author from de-publishing a book and then re-publishing it under the name of whomever they want to leave the income to? That way, there's no fiddling with probate or the IRS (assuming you have a lot to leave in the first place, as I think the IRS doesn't get involved in anything below 3.5 million, or whatever the amount is these days). Granted, I suppose the gift tax issue might kick in, but who's to say what the tax value of an ebook really is? It might as well be close to zero, given the average return of indie books.

Anyone ever wonder about this stuff?

[Alan Petersen]

Deep thoughts!

I've never thought about it. I figure I'm dead, what do I care. 

[Dawn McCullough White]

I've thought about it a lot actually, though unfortunately I have no answers for you.

Dawn

[VH Folland]

Since copyright already gets life plus 70, I just included it as an asset in my will with other IP. In terms of changing the author name, if you've registered copyright with the British Library or Congress, depublishing and republishing to reassign copyright could be tricky.

[George Berger]

I expect to have all my books out of print in a few years, and I'm not planning to die any time soon, so I've not really worried particularly much about this, yet. I figure I'll probably pick some random organization or institution that I don't particularly like, and burden them with the ongoing ownership of my largely worthless intellectual property.

Or just put it all into the public domain at some point, if I'm not feeling especially antagonistic towards anyone.

The editor in me wants to amend the thread title to "...when we as authors die", though.

[IB]

Put your heart and honesty into your writing and don't worry about what happens when you die because one thing is for sure. If you didn't put your heart and honesty into your writing, your writing will die when you die.

[Borislava Borissova]

What's to stop an author from de-publishing a book and then re-publishing it under the name of whomever they want to leave the income to

If I am an author, I should be the author even 1000 years after my death. The responsibility to for a good or bad story, for every single word in it is mine. I do not want even my hair to change it, to re-edit it as he would have the right if I put his name above the text.
Another point is that he should learn to do everything by himself, to achieve something by himself instead of receiving everything without a single effort thankfully to others, including to me.
About the income - how the inheritors of classic and non-so-classic writers take their incomes? There are legal tools for it  Do not worry 
And to add, in my personal opinion, when I die as an author, it could mean when I have no more stories to tell on the white paper. It does not mean that I would not be alive and need income ))

[CraigInTwinCities]

For reasons unbeknownst to me, I've been wondering lately about an alternative way to leave my residual book income to my heirs. What's to stop an author from de-publishing a book and then re-publishing it under the name of whomever they want to leave the income to? That way, there's no fiddling with probate or the IRS (assuming you have a lot to leave in the first place, as I think the IRS doesn't get involved in anything below 3.5 million, or whatever the amount is these days). Granted, I suppose the gift tax issue might kick in, but who's to say what the tax value of an ebook really is? It might as well be close to zero, given the average return of indie books.

Anyone ever wonder about this stuff?

The bigger tax issue is the inheritance tax, also called the death tax.

But worse, I fear it's illegal because of copyright constraints.

If you as a private citizen could do that, what would stop Walt Disney from passing all Disney copyrights to Michael Eisner, and Eisner to whoever's in control of Disney now? In this way, works would be "in copyright" virtually in perpetuity and never pass into the public domain.

I'm all for lengthening copyright coverage and/or maintaining the current length. But something like what you propose would cloud the issue and, I fear, might invite the government to begin "seizing" copyright controls away from authors and their heirs in "the public interest."

Consult a lawyer. Specifically, an I.P. lawyer with a background in tax law, probate, and wills.

[Sophrosyne]

Seriously. Talk to a lawyer, because we're all just guessing. I mean, my immediate plan is to put my daughter on my bank account and then she can continue to collect the money that Amazon sends. But I'm sure you probably have to arrange things via a living revocable trust as well as a will, to really cover your bases.

[Zelah Meyer]

As I understand it (and I'm not a lawyer so I may be wrong!) - you can publish the book under the name of Englewedge Flugelwhatsit and the copyright and income still legally belong to you unless you license the rights (not the copyright, as far as I know you can't transfer that until you're dead and leave it to someone - but you can sell or gift the license to make use of the copyright financially) to someone else.  As the copyright still belongs to you, there could well be tax implications on death even if you'd signed a license over - you'd need legal advice to know what the deal was there.  Plus, you really ought to get legal advice if you license any rights to anyone as well!

http://www.thepassivevoice.com/ is an attorney who blogs about writing and I think he's made some posts about wills/literary estates in the past, so it might be worth searching his blog.

[David Adams]

Since copyright already gets life plus 70, I just included it as an asset in my will with other IP. In terms of changing the author name, if you've registered copyright with the British Library or Congress, depublishing and republishing to reassign copyright could be tricky.

I am not a lawyer. Even if I said I was, if you are genuinely accepting legal advice from "Some Dude On The Internet", you are very very silly.

That said, copyright is already the ludicrous "life of the author plus 70 years". After that point, your work enters the public domain, unless you voluntarily enter it into the public domain sooner. As responsible authors you should do this and I plan to enter Lacuna into the public domain (or a creative commons attribution only licence) before I die. If I happen to die before I do this, it's in my will that all intellectual property rights immediately  released and all my work becomes public domain.

In answer to your other question... can you reissue a revision to "reclaim" copyright?

My understanding is that changes of the nature described render the result a derivative work. What that means is, while copyright on your derivative is indeed extended, copyright on the original is not. For example if Twilight enters the public domain, but Stephanie Myer's descendants copy-paste the work and rename Bella to Donna, this is indeed a derivative work (technically), but the copyright on the original is still lost. Attempts to sue people, for example, distributing Twilight with Donna, will only be successful if the distributor failed to replace Donna with Bella again. There may very well be precedent, however, that suggests that extremely superficial changes (name changes, chapter order changes, typo correction) are not sufficient to even be considered a derivative work. For example, a photograph is automatically copyright the photographer. But if you take a photograph of a public domain painting, that does not substantively or creatively change the image but is only an attempt to render the original image as faithfully as possible, your picture is not protected by copyright. Likewise, emailing a public domain picture to someone else does not make your computer's transmission of that file a "remix" or change; it is subject to the same copyright as the original.

However, with enough changes, yes you can create a different "version" of a story that is copyrighted. For example, Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet IS eligible to be copyrighted, since this is creatively different from the original. Note that the original Romeo and Juliet is in the public domain, so I can write my own version of Romeo and Juliet (say, setting it IN SPACE, or WITH VAMPIRES for ludicrous coin) and claim copyright over it. I can't, subsequently, sue people for reading the original.

Regarding inheritance, since copyright extends beyond death to further the aims and coffers of the Walt Disney Corporation who heavily sponsors copyright extension bills to prevent a certain mouse from entering the public domain, a move absolutely reeking of hypocrisy given how much of their work (i.e. almost all of it) draws directly from works which were public domain for some entirely unknown reason, your copyright over your novel is inheritable. You can pass it to your spouse/children/charities etc, and they collect the money. Access to your bank accounts and other technicalities are a huge headache so should be sorted out well in advance if at all possible, especially if your inheritance is not completely clear.

[CraigInTwinCities]

...you can publish the book under the name of Englewedge Flugelwhatsit...

No you can't, Zelah!

I'M Englewedge Flugelwhatsit!  Keep your fiction off MY pseudonym!

LOL

[CraigInTwinCities]

I am not a lawyer.

Neither am I. But I've written dialog for some in my novels!

(Erm... not really. At least, not yet. But there are lawyers in EyeCU, coming... whenever I finish it.)

[Consuelo Saah Baehr]

I've made my daughter literary executor with the proceeds divided equally among all the grandchildren.  Probably she would get 10% or so for managing the titles.

[Zelah Meyer]

No you can't, Zelah!

I'M Englewedge Flugelwhatsit!  Keep your fiction off MY pseudonym!

LOL

Englewedgetta then...

[CraigInTwinCities]

Englewedgetta then...

Ohhh, you wascally wabbit!

[jackz4000]

For reasons unbeknownst to me, I've been wondering lately about an alternative way to leave my residual book income to my heirs. What's to stop an author from de-publishing a book and then re-publishing it under the name of whomever they want to leave the income to? That way, there's no fiddling with probate or the IRS (assuming you have a lot to leave in the first place, as I think the IRS doesn't get involved in anything below 3.5 million, or whatever the amount is these days). Granted, I suppose the gift tax issue might kick in, but who's to say what the tax value of an ebook really is? It might as well be close to zero, given the average return of indie books.

Anyone ever wonder about this stuff?

Talk to a business lawyer. Many laws favor corporations which have an infinite lifetime and don't have to worry about probate etc.

[TexasGirl]

I have been helping an elderly friend get all this books prepped and up for sale so that they might continue to earn money for his daughters and grandchildren.

After his death, his executor will create the estate account (which is very common, to put all the assets after a house is sold and insurance money arrives, etc.) The accounts at Amazon, etc. will be changed from depositing to his personal account to his estate account.

As long as you have an executor to set this up, it's not super difficult. The executor has the passwords and changes the accounts on the deposit. The royalities become assets in the account that are divvied up in the same way everything else was.

[MSTHRILLER]

I don't know the answer but I think this would make a great post for the Passive Voice? David?

[dgaughran]

He's way ahead of ya: http://www.thepassivevoice.com/09/2011/what-happens-when-an-author-dies/

[Sean Patrick Fox]

Since copyright already gets life plus 70, I just included it as an asset in my will with other IP. In terms of changing the author name, if you've registered copyright with the British Library or Congress, depublishing and republishing to reassign copyright could be tricky.

This is probably the best and easiest way to will the right, royalties, etc from your written works to your heir(s). That way you don't have to try and finagle any copyright law and possibly get yourself - or worse your heir - into some trouble. And your works continue to live on in your name.

[*DrDln* (dr.s.dhillon)]

Think about living and contribute the best we can. I believe in leaving the name of author who wrote it, dead or alive.

[J Dean]

Since I will be happy in eternity, it's not a dire issue for me.  That being said, if I get residual royalties... (Pause for sarcastic laugh of irony)... I'd like to do half for my children while the other half goes to mission work.

[LisaGraceBooks]

This is not legal advice, just something to think about.
Remember, if you get successful enough, because your copyright holds up seventy years after death, you may want to set up a literary executor, to deal with possible movie/TV options, royalties, and disbursments to future heirs that may not have been born yet, the kids, and grand kids, et al....

[foreverjuly]

When we die as authors, we're reincarnated as a book.

[KateDanley]

Just because the topic of public domain was mentioned here... January 18th, the Supreme Court ruled that Congress may re-copyright Public Domain works http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/01/scotus-re-copyright-decision/.  It was stated that this was to align U.S. copyright laws with international copyright laws, but it will be interesting to see what the fallout is...

[QuantumIguana]

You will want to talk to a lawyer. Your heirs will inherit your copyright, which will last for 70 years after your death. But you really want to avoid probate, and spell things out in your will explicitly.

Republishing under your heirs name wouldn't turn back the clock on the copyright. If you published a new version, for example, one with updated pictures, and that new version would be copyrighted, but the original version would still return to the public domain when its copyright expired.