What a douchebag, Steph. It always pisses me off when people running scams act like they're entitled to run their scam.

So we hold copyright on this jackass's article, we decide to not publish it since it turns out to be one big shill and we don't want to put ourselves in a situation where it looks like WE are shilling for him.

We release the copyright back to him, and he says he's going to sue.

If you've reverted rights back to him, he's free to sell it elsewhere. You reneged on the promise to publish, yes, but with cause, and you followed through by reverting rights to him. He's got nothing.

Okay, I see you didn't revert rights yet, but you're willing to. Same thing. As far as I know, any standard contract gives a publisher the right to publish something, but it doesn't mandate it.

I don't see it as a copyright issue, Steph. If anything his remedy would lie in Contract, and if you've returned all his rights to him then any injury to him is negligible.

Okay, I see you didn't revert rights yet, but you're willing to. Same thing. As far as I know, any standard contract gives a publisher the right to publish something, but it doesn't mandate it.

I'm not sure copyright really comes into it given that you're not barring him from publication elsewhere. You may not get out of paying him for it, depending on the terms of the contract, but he can't force you to actually print or publish.

You may not get out of paying him for it, depending on the terms of the contract,

We don't pay our authors.

but he can't force you to actually print or publish.

That's what he's trying to do, via threat of a lawsuit. Wankstain.

I thoroughly recommend chasing down a Nat Geo series entitled In The Womb. It has one ep where it compares the embryonic development of a penguin, a kangaroo, a shark and a wasp.

All that AND at last seeing the birth of a mammal? No wonder you're so excited.

Heh. Coincidentally enough, the book focuses on a presidential campaign where the candidates appear to be thinly veiled versions of Obama and McCain even though she wrote the book long before the 2008 campaign.

It's like that season of West Wing... but with zombies.

If you guys paid for articles then he might expect a kill fee. As it is, he's full of shit.

As it is, he's full of shit.

Totally. The problem is, if he decides to sue, he's forcing the company to incur expenses to defend our (legal) policy in a frivolous petty lawsuit.

I don't see it as a copyright issue, Steph. If anything his remedy would lie in Contract, and if you've returned all his rights to him then any injury to him is negligible.

I agree.

eta:

Totally. The problem is, if he decides to sue, he's forcing the company to incur expenses to defend our (legal) policy in a frivolous petty lawsuit.

well, you have the right to edit, you can just edit out the self serving bit and publish the rest.

So, how do I deal with officemate insisting that he's had "unleavened bread" that wasn't crunchy, and therefore, matzo shouldn't be? (I asked him to explain the preparation of this "unleavened bread," and he did, and I explained to him what in that preparation made it not suitable for matzo. He said, "bizarre." That word -- "bizarre" -- was also his reaction to finding out that, when my family goes up to Boston for the seder, we stay at a hotel rather than at a relative's house.)