It wasn't too long ago (2016 as a matter of fact) that you could not sing the song "Happy Birthday" in public, in a movie, or on television without paying a licensing fee to the Warner Chappell Music company. Although the song is sung to another melody long in the public domain ("Good Morning To You"), the origins of the song that we know here in the US is somewhat muddled.

Welcome to the refreshed Know Your Rights blog, and the all-new Gryphon Publishing Consulting website! 2024 marks the 10th Anniversary of Gryphon Publishing Consulting, LLC, so with that milestone, we’re all about celebrating the independent publishing community and creators like you who have trusted our services for the last decade!

Many publishing professionals like myself would prefer to be meeting our global colleagues in person, but until such time that the world will allow such gatherings, these virtual shows have offered a way to keep in touch as well as to make new connections that we might not otherwise have made.

Even the world of rights faced a shift in business as licensors first paused to consider how their business might change in the face of multiple book industry conferences canceling and going virtual. First the London Book Fair was cancelled only two weeks before it was scheduled to open, then Barcelona, then New York, and on and on up until the Beijing Book Fair went fully virtual.

We first mentioned the CASE Act back in 2016, and have had high hopes for the bill to pass into law after it passed the House by a majority vote on October 22, 2019. It moved to the Senate, and seemed to have similar support there until Senator Wyden of Oregon placed what's called a "hold" on the bill.

We've mentioned before that copyright vests in the content creator as soon as a new work is placed in a fixed format (whether print, online, or recorded; it really doesn't matter). Copyright holders, when they feel that their work has been infringed, can sue for damages (which may be awarded as fines or even jail time), but this is only enforceable in the courts when the copyright holder has registered their work with the Copyright Office.

I was recently asked to contribute a guest post to Artsy Shark and provide some ideas on how artists can work more effectively with publishers. Essentially, what issues should artists think of when they are presented with a publication contract? You can read the result here.

We are pleased to report that our own MJ has been appointed as a member of the Advisory Committee for the Independent Book Publishers Association. This is a working committee for IBPA, tasked with tasked with identifying, prioritizing, and developing strategies to address issues of concern to independent publishers.