Query: Copyrights for translations

Subject: Query: Copyrights for translations
From: Geoff Hart <geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 1995 13:04:39 LCL

Someone asked me what happens to copyright if you perform a
translation of someone else's work. My conditional answer was that
copyright remains in the hands of the first-language author, but that
the translator usually gets a coauthorship. However, on reflection, it
occurs to me that ethically, translating someone else's work is as
much work as writing it in the first place, and is arguably as
original an act of creation as consulting a reference source (e.g., an
encyclopedia). I speak from personal experience (I translate French
into English as part of my daily work). The problem is, most authors
who pay any attention at all to their rights can collect considerable
royalties for sales of translations of their works.
These two extremes leaves me somewhere in legal limbo (isn't _that_
a phrase that sends a cold draft through your bowels!). The issue
doesn't concern me at work, because the translation (as well as the
originals) are all legally "works for hire" and copyright resides in
our employer. But if I were to find a neat book in French (I have a
few in mind), what sort of "creator's rights" should I aim for? This
question could be posted to the translators' mailing list, but I don't
participate there (only so many hours in a day). Any suggestions from
real-life experience? (Please... no hypothetical cases.)

--Geoff Hart #8^{)}


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