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Message: <blockquote data-quote="barsoomcore" data-source="post: 1471439" data-attributes="member: 812">Maybe somebody can go into a little more detail on "work-for-hire" agreements. My understanding is that if David Noonan wrote the article under such an agreement, then Paizo does not in fact have any legal obligation to do anything with regards to how they treat the material after he submits it. He never possessed the copyright, so he can't have sold it. He never was the owner of the material or the intellectual property it represents. Putting his name on it is a courtesy of Paizo's that they don't necessarily have to do (except as the contract in question may stipulate).As FR points out, this is not at all a similar case to a novel publication or a short story in most magazines -- where the writer is NOT selling the copyright, even, they are selling the RIGHT to publish the material (usually under very specific terms such as "first serial rights" or whatever). Copyright remains with the writer in all cases, and indeed is usually printed as such in the text.Now my understanding is probably flawed but I don't believe that most of the issues people have been bringing up are applicable to this situation. Work-for-hire agreements are designed to remove the many barriers that copyright laws present publishers.It may be polite to contact the writer ahead of time, or good business practice, but I don't think it's law.</blockquote>