During the 1980s I did a lot of artwork for "TSR," the publisher of "Dungeons & Dragons". The editor I dealt with was Peggy Cooper. She and her husband came to my home one day, stopping over on their way to a convention in New York. From the beginning, Peggy sent me lucrative assignments paying thousands of dollars each, which of course made my life so much easier to manage.
But then, TSR hired an efficiency expert who promptly re-organized the company, letting go several employees, including Peggy, and notified me, as well as all the other TSR artists, that from now on all artwork contracted by TSR would be considered "Work for Hire".
Before this change in policy, TSR had purchased only the First North American Printing Rights to artwork, to be used for a specific one-time use, the original artwork was returned to the artist with no restrictions. And any furthur use of the artwork by TSR, for reprint editions, posters, T-Shirts, whatever, would require a new contract with the artist for both permission and royalty payments.
But now, the new "work for hire" contract meant that TSR would own all the rights to my artwork, could use it in any way they chose and not have to pay me any royalties. And, in the future, I could not have my artwork published elsewhere, or even sell the original art, without their permission.
When I received a phone call from a TSR lawyer, explaining the new "rules" to me, I got so mad I told him what he could do with his new TSR contract and went ahead and retired.
