INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, LEGALITY, COPYRIGHT, ETC
Authorial Rights, Sovereignty, and Legal Protection
Copyright
Anyone interested in the legal terms of publishing on Confic Magazine should familiarize themselves with general internet copyright, and copyright + freelance journalism. These are good starts:
https://www.spj.org/pdf/freelanceguide/copyright-for-freelance-journalists.pdf
and
The tl;dr is that you have nominal copyright protection over anything you write down on the internet, Confic Magazine included. So, there’s that in a nutshell.
While there are nebulous legal copyright laws that guarantee ownership and copyright at the moment of writing anything down on paper or electronically ("automatic copyright"), it still behooves the writer to personally copyright their own works as a backup and legal fail-safe ("registered copyright"), especially in the case of online blog platforms (e.g. Medium, which can’t absolutely guarantee user copyright), and with collective publications like Confic Magazine. Personal copyright is fairly straightforward, easy, and affordable thanks to it being digital these days.
An author can submit their works via copyright.gov if in the US.
We will indicate that your work is copyrighted at the bottom of your submission. Confic Magazine will not be responsible for ensuring or enforcing the copyright status of your submitted works beyond automatic, nominal copyright. This is because in order for Confic Magazine to copyright your works for you via copyright.gov, we’d have to know your personal details like your legal name and address. As such, individual writers will be responsible for ensuring their works are copyrighted by any more robust and legally advantageous means.
This means that, in contrast to something like the SCP Wiki and its CC license, the submitted content remains your intellectual property; no one is simply free to do with it whatever they want simply because you submitted it. Payment accepted for a submission made will constitute legal consent for publishing the article in Confic Magazine, and agreement to our contract, which is below.
There is also some legal wiggle room when it comes to copyright status here; for example, the ability to repeatedly print the same article for the same company, just in different places and times, clauses that make the article exclusive to one publication, etc.
Confic Magazine will be flexible with its contributors and likely come to any agreement desired for additional copyright terms and intellectual property. As such, there will not be an overarching policy for intellectual property or copyright, but there will be a default; which is the author has nominal copyright, and takes responsibility for ensuring further that their works are copyrighted.
Confic Magazine will not operate as “work-for-hire”, in which case the submitted publication becomes the intellectual property of the publication.
The submitting author should specify how they would like to be attributed; whether by a pen-name or their real name is up to them. Don't use someone else's name.
There will be a “Copyright Confic Magazine” along with “Copyright [YOUR PREFERRED NAME]” at the bottom of published articles, because such a notice informs the public of the magazine publisher’s reservation of the exclusive rights to benefit financially from the magazine via donations. It also prevents infringers from claiming to be unaware of the copyrighted status of the material, while technically the intellectual property is still the author’s.
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This agreement (the "Agreement") is entered into by Confic Magazine LLC ("Magazine") and the potential and/or actual recipient of payments from Confic Magazine LLC ("Writer") regarding submissions of any kind ("Articles").* In consideration of the mutual covenants made herein, the parties agree as follows:
Parties
Writer is engaged in the business of writing articles and other materials on a freelance basis. Magazine is engaged in the business of Magazine publication.
Relationship
The parties expressly agree and acknowledge that the relationship created by this Agreement is one of Independent Contractor. Magazine is not the employer of Writer, and Writer is not, and will not be treated as, an employee of Magazine for federal tax purposes, or any other purposes.
Contract Period
This agreement will begin on the date and time an Article is transferred from the Writer to the Magazine by electronic means, and shall renew upon each submission thereafter. Contract extends through time in the quantum necessary to conduct business and enact this Agreement. If either party violates a term of this Agreement, then the other party (the "Non-breaching Party") may terminate this Agreement, effective immediately upon delivery of written notice of termination by the Non-breaching Party. Prior to electronic delivery of an article to the Magazine by the Writer, either party may terminate this Agreement at any time for any or no reason, effective immediately.
Services to be Provided by Writer
Writer agrees to submit, on his or her sole initiative, written articles to the Magazine on the following subjects; containment fiction, news coverage, opinion, analysis, artistic works, interviews, graphic illustrations, or any other creative product not listed here that the Magazine deems worthy of publication ("Article"). The manner and method of producing these Articles is at the discretion of Writer; the Magazine has no right of control over Writer's manner or method of performance under this Agreement. The Writer accepts the editorial right of the Magazine to fix grammatical errors, typos, clarify statements written by the Writer in text, make compositional or philosophical suggestions, and add links and/or images where relevant, in order to enrich the product Article.
Writer will submit Articles in accordance with the schedule of deadlines (Publication Date) being used by the Magazine, if any, set out in initial electronic correspondence.
Writer understands and agrees that Magazine may publish, at its sole discretion, any number of photographs to the submitted Article by Writer.
Representations and Warranties of Writer
By submitting an Article to Magazine, Writer represents and warrants that the Article is Writer's original work, that the Article is not owned by any third party, that the Article is as factually accurate as possible, that the Article has not been obtained by unlawful means, that the Article has not been previously published in any manner or medium, specifically including, but not limited to, print or electronic means, and that publication of the article by Magazine will not violate any copyright or other intellectual property right of any third party.
By submitting an Article to Magazine, Writer represents and warrants that the name or pseudonym supplied by the Writer is an honest representation of the individual, and not misrepresentation of another individual, or any misappropriation of name or likeness.
Assignment and Ownership of Intellectual Property
Writer hereby understands and agrees that all Articles submitted to, and published by, Magazine under this Agreement shall not be considered works for hire, and further, will remain the nominal copyright of the Writer thereafter. The act of payment by Magazine to Writer purchases the right on the part of Magazine to publish the Writer's Article to the Magazine as copyrighted intellectual property of the Writer. The Writer grants Magazine the right to reproduce paid-for Articles in the form of audio readings, whether digitally or acoustic, for the purposes of Magazine's promotion of its content.
The Writer may ask to add stipulations or remove clauses to the right of this distribution, such as the limitation of the distribution solely to the Magazine's online form, the denial of spoken performances, or a maximum quantity of publications. A Writer must clearly state in electronic correspondence prior to payment and publication any and all additionally desired distribution stipulations on the part of Magazine, as part of this Agreement. Unless stipulated by the parties of this Agreement, the Magazine does not have the right to reproduce the payed-for Writer-copyrighted Article on merchandise or in any form, tangible or digital, outside of the text itself.
If no additional stipulations are made, the Writer hereby assigns to Magazine all rights to publish the Article, in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which it can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device, including without limitation the rights to archive, republish, edit, repackage or revise any Article in any manner as Magazine sees fit. The rights conferred upon Magazine by this agreement shall be exclusive to Magazine for an indefinite period of time after the first date Magazine initially publishes the Article.
Magazine cannot guarantee copyright outside of automatic copyright laws and observances common to the modern internet. Writer is responsible for additional registration of copyright protection measures & legal advantages, such as submission to copyright.gov, as Magazine's doing so would necessitate the sharing of PI, which the Magazine discourages. As such, Magazine will not be responsible for ensuring or enforcing the copyright status of Writer submitted works outside of its own interests and legal pursuits.
Magazine will indicate its copyright status upon the Article to indicate its status as publisher, and that it is given the rights to distribute the content according to the Agreement.
Refunds & Retractions
Upon the publication of an Article, the Magazine is are unable to subsequently guarantee that a submitted Article will be taken down ex post facto due to changes in belief, or reputational differences, between the Writer and Magazine. The Writer is able to recant a submitted article prior to the scheduled date of publication (including the same day) with full rights retained.
Privacy & Security
Writers are given full rights to their personal information. Any violation of this by the Magazine can result in legal pursuit by the Writer and compensation for subsequent damages. A Writer must clearly state in electronic correspondence prior to publication any and all additionally desired privacy measures on the part of Magazine.
Consent
By submitting an Article or potential Article to Magazine, the Writer consents to the terms within this Agreement.
*Articles and submissions made to the Containment Fiction Wiki ("Confic Wiki") are released as Creative Commons By-Attribution, Share-Alike 4.0.
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Send any further questions to: admin@conficmagazine.com