出版与作家生涯2020movieweb.com
《星球大战》知名图书作者称迪士尼拖欠其四年版税
Iconic Star Wars Book Author Claims Disney Owes Him 4 Years of Overdue Royalties
导读
这篇报道讲的是《星球大战》小说化作者 Alan Dean Foster 向迪士尼追讨四年未付版税，Hacker News 的讨论则从这条新闻延伸到"雇佣作品"（work-for-hire）合同、版权归属和作者如何维权。对写作者来说值得一读，因为它提醒我们：写作收入真正由合同条款决定，名气不是决定因素，而标题怎么措辞、权利怎么登记，都会影响你日后能不能拿到钱。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
签约前先弄清是"雇佣作品/一次性买断"还是"保留版权、按销量抽版税"，这一条决定你以后还能不能持续分钱。
- 02
影视小说化、IP 衍生类写作大多是固定稿酬，不要把它当成可以长期依靠的收入来规划生活。
- 03
写标题时注意归因：是"某人声称被欠款"还是"某公司欠款"，一字之差就决定报道是否失实。
- 04
一旦发现版税被拖欠，尽快找律师处理，因为诉讼时效可能正在逼近。
HN 评论精选
影视小说化多为雇佣作品，版权和版税归雇主，作者只拿一次性稿酬，查版权登记即可验证。
如前一个帖子所说，电影小说化几乎都是"雇佣作品"：作者拿固定稿酬，可能另有销量奖金，但不享有版税。在雇佣作品安排下，作者受托写作，雇主拥有版权，也就拥有授权、再版等收益。70 年代末、80 年代初的福克斯以对创作者友好的合同著称（比如允许卢卡斯保留《星球大战》），但卢卡斯影业几乎不可能以雇佣作品之外的方式雇用 ADF。事实上，《斯普林特的心灵之眼》的版权登记显示，版权归"Star Wars Corporation"所有，属"雇主雇佣"；《异形》小说化的登记同样显示为雇佣作品。作为对比，原创作品如约翰·斯卡尔齐的《老人的战争》，版权申请人是作者本人。
gamblor956查看英文原文
As noted in the prior thread, movie novelizations are almost always work-for-hire jobs, meaning that the authors are not entitled to royalties but get paid a fixed amount and may receive sales-based bonuses. (In a work-for-hire arrangement, the author is commissioned to write something, and the employer owns the copyright and thus also the royalties for licensing, republication, etc.) While 70s/early 80s era Fox was known for its artist-friendly legal deals (see, e.g., letting Lucas keep Star Wars), it would have been extremely unusual for Lucasfilm to have hired ADF on anything but a WFH basis. And indeed, the copyright record for the novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye shows that the "Star Wars Corporation" owns the copyright, not ADF, and was an "employer for hire." (https://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=4&ti=1,4&Search%5FArg=splinter%20of%20the%20minds%20eye&Search%5FCode=TALL&CNT=25&PID=eUEI6XpLoh-dSbNmN9csfcmClE&SEQ=20201123130607&SID=1) On that note, the copyright registration for Aliens (the novelization) also shows that it was a work-for-hire. https://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=65&ti=51,65&Search%5FArg=aliens&Search%5FCode=TALL&CNT=25&PID=blZQ0xAz5o8w78oItM-KWOs57nF&SEQ=20201123130945&SID=7 (Contrast to an original work, where the author is the copyright claimant: John Scalzi's Old Man's War https://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=2&ti=1,2&Search%5FArg=old%20man%27s%20war&Search%5FCode=TALL&CNT=25&PID=7gUlzJ90NZH2vT18FOhVImCLB_g&SEQ=20201123131312&SID=12) In other words, ADF is not being denied royalties. He wasn't owed any in the first place, unless he somehow negotiated a non-standard WFH agreement that almost nobody in the industry gets. (ADF was a big name for sci-fi novelizations back in the day, so it's possible that he did have such an arrangement, but if that's the case he needs to show that he has that type of contract.) EDIT: grammatical fixes and added links EDIT 2: Note that the SFWA has unilaterally made claims about what they think Disney is trying to do (acquire assets without the corresponding liabilities). This claim would be correct if, as ADF claims, he owned the copyrights to the novelizations or his WFH agreement somehow obligated Fox/Lucasfilm to pay him royalties. But otherwise it's simply wrong, and Disney itself has never actually made statements to that effect. Moreover, such a claim would not comport with how M&A works in the U.S.
版税被拖欠要立刻行动，诉讼时效不等人。
如果被欠钱超过两年，就马上找律师，别等到下个月，今天就去他们的办公室。诉讼时效的期限很可能正在逼近。
sandworm101查看英文原文
I you are owed money for 2+ years, talk to a lawyer asap. Not next month. Go to their office today. There are statute of limitation deadlines that are likely approaching.
标题里谁主张、谁欠钱，这种措辞会直接影响读者对事实的判断。
我不是律师，但在我看来，更准确的标题应该是"迪士尼欠这位《星球大战》标志性图书作者四年的逾期版税"。
hairofadog查看英文原文
I’m no lawyer, but from my perspective a more accurate headline would be “Disney owes iconic Star Wars book author 4 years of overdue royalties”.
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