Archival Rights

The writers' world of copyrights and selling rights became considerably complicated with the advent of the commercial Internet. Marg Gilks' Rights: What They Mean and Why They're Important makes a good effort to clear the confusion. It even contains a section on Electronic Rights, which explains:

Archival Rights
Here's one that's becoming more and more prevalent on the Internet: "the right to archive" or "the right to make [works] available" on the Web. This means that the publication will keep your piece on file and accessible by visitors to that site, long after its first appearance. As long as your piece is archived or being made available, it's considered "in print." It can be very difficult -- and tricky -- to sell rights to a piece being archived. If a webzine wants the right to archive your piece, make sure it's only for a limited length of time.

If you want to know Google's take on all this, see Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

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