Terms for submission of freelance contributions
For contributors supplying material to The Independent, the Independent on Sunday and associated magazines and websites
Published: 08 October 2007
The Independent and the Independent on Sunday (and other paper and online publications published by Independent News and Media Limited and its associated companies, jointly called INM here) are happy to publish material which is supplied by freelance contributors. This material is showcased in our titles daily and appreciated worldwide by our readers and users of the websites on which it appears.
It is very important for both parties that there is a clear understanding early on over who can exercise which rights in the material. As is the case with other publishers, we need to have certain rights to allow us to do things with the contents of the paper titles and the websites.
One example is that since the early days of the internet we have put the contents of the paper online, on our own group's websites and those of other third party hosts. This gives our material much greater exposure and ensures that the quality writing we publish in The Independent and the Independent on Sunday is widely available to interested readers on a variety of websites.
We also supply our contents to a range of newspapers and other outlets and license photocopying rights.
Contributors will note that apart from the right of first publication, which has to be ours exclusively, all INM's other rights are non-exclusive which means that contributors can also freely exploit the material themselves.
Accordingly, freelance contributors should be aware that the Terms set out below are the terms of business that will apply to all material you may provide to us, however supplied: commissioned, sent on spec or whatever.
These Terms will not be varied. The only exception would be in the event that a Director of INM has expressly agreed in writing to a variation of the Terms. If any contributor is not happy with the Terms then they should not offer us any material, or accept any commission from us. Any material supplied to us for publication is deemed to have been supplied in full knowledge and acceptance of these Terms.
TERMS
1. The important point for you is that you retain copyright in the material. (In these Terms, "material" means any copyright work as set out in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 as amended, so includes all forms of content such as written, photography, graphic, and - online - audio visual or sound)
2. For its part, INM has the following rights over the material:-
2.1 the exclusive, worldwide right to first publication;
2.2 the non-exclusive right to publish, syndicate, distribute and exploit the material in all present and future media and formats, including print, electronic, telephony, online and others. If your material is syndicated by us to an end user customer as an individual piece of work in print ("spot sale") you will receive 50% of the net revenue attributable to that sale;
2.3 the non-exclusive right to include the material on any website and in any database, archive or library on- or off-line or in any other present or future media; and
2.4 non-exclusive reprographic rights
3. All the rights detailed above may be exercised by INM or by others to whom we have licensed these rights. You will note that the rights we get under points 2.2 - 2.4 are non-exclusive so you are also free to exercise these rights yourself. However the INM syndication department is set up to handle all enquiries for spot sales in print so we ask you to pass on to them any such enquiries that may be directed to you.
