This is just a short take because I need to get ready for work, but I just learned that Disney is refusing to pay respected SF writer Alan Dean Foster for royalties due for novels he wrote in the Star Wars and Aliens universes. The books are still in print, still sell briskly, and Foster always got his royalties until the production companies were bought by The Mouse.
The reason Disney gives for not paying Foster? Why they’re violating his very clear and established contracts?
That they purchased the publishing rights to the works but not the obligation to pay Foster’s royalties.
That’s right: The Greediest Company on Earth is attempting to claim that they just purchased the rights but not the liabilities/obligations of the publishing arms of 20th Century Fox and LucasFilm. So even though works like The Splinter of the Mind’s Eye and Aliens are still in print, all the monies earned are theirs, with NONE of Foster’s contractually-due royalties going to him.
Not only is Foster, who has medical bills to pay, furious about the theft of the money his work has earned, this sets an incredibly dangerous precedent for every writer, artist, musician, or actor. If Disney prevails, that means all a publisher/studio/record company needs to do to screw over the creatives who actually make the work that earns the money is to sell themselves to someone else. The implications would upend literally centuries of copyright law, and would reduce an already underpaid population to literal beggars.
Foster’s agent has gotten nowhere, so he has turned to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), possibly the most powerful and militant of the writers’ trade organizations. They held a press conference yesterday and have publicly demanded that Disney pay Foster what he’s owed.
More information here
and
here:
www.facebook.com/…
Let’s make this go viral, guys. Disney cannot be allowed to prevail
Thursday, Nov 19, 2020 · 11:20:56 PM +00:00
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Ellid
First, my apologies for not participating in this diary — I found this out just before I went to work, where I have limited Internet privileges.
Second, THANK YOU for putting this on the Rec List. Evidently this story has gone viral, which is all to the good since normally fighting The Mouse is all but impossible. Thanks, everyone!