On Fri, May 18, 2007 at 01:34:33AM -0700, Ray Saintonge wrote:
If there is a documented assignment of rights this should pose no problems. In the long term, however, we need to be more open and less bureaucratic when rights are claimed by inheritance. Books that were written long ago are often forgotten when wills are written, or if there is an intestacy. Things can get worse when we are two of three generations removed, or there are large families.
Ec
That describes this case rather well. Granddad dies, leaving everything to his third wife, my step-grandmother. She dies, leaving everything to her daughter, my half-aunt. She then enters a convent, after assigning all copyrights to me.
Those two previous wills would be a pain to look up. I have my half-aunt's assignment, which is good enough for the publishers to send me the royalties, but will it be enough for the hardcore fetishists?
The $64 question, of course, is how much insulting Hell do we expect someone to go through to earn the privilege of giving us a gift?