WRITTEN FOR THEM. STILL YOURS?
A writer owns copyright in a manuscript from the moment it is written, and a commission does not change that by itself, because rights move only through an express written assignment or licence. The two clauses that decide everything are therefore the grant, which says whether the client receives a limited licence or takes the copyright outright and in which media and territories, and the reversion, which says whether unused, unpublished or unexploited rights return to the writer after a defined period. Without a reversion clause, an assignment is permanent, and work that was commissioned, paid for and then shelved can stay locked away from its author indefinitely.
Manuscripts dated, assignments narrowed and reversion written in, so work you wrote for someone else can come back to you.
LAST REVIEWED
THE SITUATION
The commission is straightforward: write the manuscript, the report, the script, the ghostwritten book. The agreement is three pages and contains the phrase all right, title and interest, including all rights in all media now known or hereafter devised, throughout the universe, in perpetuity. It is signed because the fee is good and the wording looks like boilerplate everywhere.
The project is then cancelled, restructured or simply never used. The writer wants to take the material elsewhere and finds they cannot, because there is no reversion, no reserved rights, and no time limit. The manuscript exists, is paid for, and is unusable by the only person who wants to use it.
WHAT BREAKS.
TOTAL ASSIGNMENT WHERE A LICENCE WOULD DO
All right, title and interest transferred in perpetuity when the client only ever needed a single named use, taking with it adaptation, translation and every future medium.
NO REVERSION ON NON USE
No clause returning rights to the writer if the work is not published or exploited within a defined period, so a shelved manuscript stays owned by the party that shelved it.
MORAL RIGHTS WAIVED WHOLESALE
A blanket waiver of the right to be identified as author and the right to object to derogatory treatment, meaning the text can be cut, rewritten and published under another name with no recourse.
GHOSTWRITING WITH NO CREDIT PROVISION
A ghostwriting agreement that assigns everything and then omits any confidentiality, portfolio or acknowledgement term, leaving the writer unable even to say they did the work.
WRITERS ROOM WORK FOR HIRE
Pitches, outlines and drafts assigned entirely to a production, including material the writer brought into the room, with no separated rights and no carve out for unused ideas.
AI TRAINING SWEPT IN BY BREADTH
A grant broad enough to cover machine learning use of the manuscript, not because it was negotiated, but because hereafter devised media reaches it by default.
DELIVERY WITHOUT A DATED RECORD
A full manuscript emailed with no fixed, dated record of the delivered text, leaving authorship and version history to reconstruct from an inbox during a dispute.
WHAT YOU CAN OWN.
COPYRIGHT
The core right. It exists on writing and moves only by express written assignment or licence, never by implication from a payment.
TRADEMARK
Rarely relevant to a manuscript, though a series title or pen name used commercially can be registered separately.
DESIGN RIGHT
Not applicable to text, though typographic layout and cover design belong to their designers.
PATENT
Not applicable.
TRADE SECRET
Unpublished manuscripts, outlines and client material are commonly held under confidentiality, and for ghostwriting that obligation runs both ways.
LIKENESS
Not usually the writer's issue, except where a pen name or personal brand is used to promote the work.
FOUR STEPS.
DROP
Drop the commissioning agreement, the ghostwriting contract or the writers room deal, along with the delivered manuscript.
EXAMINE
Deed isolates the grant and the reversion, states in plain words what is being transferred and for how long, and flags moral rights waivers and hereafter devised breadth.
EXECUTE
A narrowed grant, a reversion on non use, reserved rights you actually want, and a dated authorship record for the delivered text.
DEFEND
A timestamped record of every version delivered, and a clear statement of which rights returned to you and when.
KEY FACTS
- 01Copyright arises on writing and transfers only by express written assignment; paying for a commission does not transfer it by itself.
- 02A licence can be limited by medium, territory, language and time; an assignment usually is not limited by anything.
- 03Reversion on non use is the clause that brings shelved work back to its author, and it exists only if it is written in.
- 04Moral rights, attribution and integrity, are separate from copyright and are commonly waived in a single unremarkable subclause.
- 05Writers room agreements typically assign all pitches and drafts, including material brought into the room, unless carve outs are negotiated.
QUESTIONS
+I was paid to write it. Do they own it?
Only to the extent the contract says so in writing. Payment alone does not transfer copyright. If there is no express assignment, you may still hold it.
+What is reversion and why does it matter?
It is a clause returning rights to you if the work is not published or exploited within a set period. Without it, an assignment is permanent, including for work nobody ever uses.
+Should I sign an assignment or a licence?
A licence wherever possible, limited to the media, territory, language and term the client actually needs. Assign only when the fee genuinely reflects giving up everything.
+Can my manuscript be used to train an AI model?
If the grant is broad enough, yes, without anyone negotiating it specifically. Ask for an express exclusion rather than relying on the absence of a mention.
+As a ghostwriter, can I say I wrote it?
Only if the agreement permits it. Ghostwriting contracts usually assign the work and impose confidentiality, so any portfolio or acknowledgement right has to be negotiated in.
+Do I own what I pitched in a writers room?
Usually not, if the contract assigned it, which is standard. Material you brought in with you can sometimes be carved out, but only if you raise it before signing.