Textbroker.com

It's kind of annoying but I'm afraid it's true. Unless the author expressly allows you to add your name to the content then you cannot claim it as your own, although you can do what you want with it. You can read the specific terms and conditions here:

I use textbroker a lot and have 1 regular author who does all of my site work and some of my article work, I have an agreement with him that all work he does will be re-published by me, possibly under my own name. I would advise lasing with an author before ordering the work and ensuring they will allow you to re-publish across article sites.

I'm sorry this isn't what you were hoping for but I hope it helps a little to answer your question.

Ben

Sold the rights to the text and waived his rights to claim authorship, so what exactly is he complaining about now?

This doesn't even mean anything

The e-mailer is correct, you bought the text but TextBroker doesn't transfer the right to claim authorship. You must clear that first by including it in your requirements.

If you don't appreciate the way you were approached, I'd let the writer know that you will be taking down the articles and ask him kindly not to bid on any future writing requests from you.

Make sure to tell him you are banning him from ever writing for you again, because he is being really stupid over a cheap article. It's not like this article would have ended up published in Time or something. How much did he get paid for it? $3? $5? Surely he has better stuff to do with his time than bitch over a 5 buck article. You should tell him that.

Now I know not to use textbroker.com for article writing. I wouldn't pay for anything actually what wasn't "work for hire" agreement. That means that you own the work completely to do with as you please after payment.

It's pretty ridiculous to have an article written for you and to think that "their" name would go in the resource box. Sort of defeats the whole purpose of article marketing.

I have bought articles through Text Broker. I think we should all express our outrage to them ASAP. This is ridiculous.

I agree with sbucciarel. It does defeat the purpose of article marketing, and I know Text Broker must know that this is what lots of people are doing with the articles they buy.

Hi folks,
Christina Zila, manager at Textbroker, here. We take copyright transfer very seriously. We have always transferred the copyright to our clients (in the author TOS, clients are referred to as Textbroker's licensees, see more on this below).

Our original Terms of Service addressed the copyright aspect of things: the buyer could publish the article in every form anonymously. Originally, most of our work was SEO-optimized articles that are published on the buyer's webpage without authorship, much like a marketing brochure is printed without a byline. Authors have previously asked if it was ok for clients to put their own name on articles. At the time, there was nothing in our TOS expressly prohibiting doing so. When clients inquired about the situation, we recommended they mention it to the author to avoid this type of situation.
As our service, search engine optimization techniques and online marketing have evolved, even over the course of a year, usage of the items ordered has changed.
After consulting with our lawyer in this specific case, the copyright issue is still the same: the buyer has all rights to publish the article anonymously. The issue of authorship is separate from a copyright. For example, artists who do covers of songs still have to acknowledge that the song was written by someone else in their liner notes. If the buyer wants to use their own name, then they have to get the permission of the author, either in advance, by making it part of their order ("by accepting this order, you agree that the buyer can use their own name on this article"), or contacting the writer afterwards. As I mentioned, at the beginning, most orders were being published anonymously. Since the problem has arisen, we have taken the necessary steps to ensure compliance with the law as well as protect both authors and clients. The TOS for both clients and authors has been updated. Authors are alerted that they give up all legal, moral and ethical right to have their name published on the piece submitted.
Our Terms of Service state:
VI. Grant of Rights to the customer
1. This Site grants and licenses to the customer the sole and exclusive right to publish, perform, display, reproduce, distribute, create derivative works and sell the delivered and approved text / article in any type of media, including, but not limited to, print and/or online media, in whole or in part, via all electronic, online, or any other media, now known and hereafter developed, throughout the world.

NEW: 2. The customer does not have the right to call himself/herself the author of the text/article. The customer can only place his name on the article with the express written consent of the original author.

(As mentioned above, the consent can be embedded in the order)

The Author's TOS includes:
V. Rights concerning texts and articles
The owner of this Site shall have the exclusive right to register copyright of said texts and articles in the name of the owner of this Site or any licensee of the owner of this Site upon first publication. You, our clients, are the licensees. We do not keep the copyrights, but transfer them directly upon payment to you the client.

2. The right to create derivative works includes, without limitation, changes to the author's texts and/or articles in any way or form. You agree that we or our licensees are allowed to create said derivative works and publish, perform, display, reproduce, distribute, and sell them without restriction.

NEW 3. The author waives any moral or personal right to be named as the author of his/her texts or articles.
Please note that these Terms of Service apply to the author, not the client. In these items, the client is the licensee and has full legal copyright to the orders filled.

I appreciate your opinions on this subject and am happy to answer any further questions you have in this regard by private message or direct e-mail.
Best regards,
Christina Zila

your terms are stupid, most people purchase article for publishing with their name only. there are thousands of writers giving all rights to buyers cheaper than you.

i will post in all forums your stupid terms and telling people to avoid you.

I think the author of this article is being really petty - they have sold the article and copyright. To pursue this is ridiculous imo

I have to thank Christina Zila for taking the time to stop by, create an account and address this issue.

While for some, the claiming of authorship may be expected it is as has been specified here, the copyright is transferred but unless specifically at time of requesting an article.

It is clearly spelled out in the terms of service and since day one I request that all articles I have written must allow the claim of full authorship and release all rights to the work upon completion and acceptance.

I have had literally hundreds of articles written by these good folks and have an excellent working relationship with many authors all around the world using this service and the timeliness and cost effectiveness has been nothing but amazing.

You will find that if you request this up front then you will have no problems.

It may seem petty for an author to complain like this but the rights are legally his for the original authorship. In this case I would either request that he relinquish his rights as "Implied" and move on or remove his articles and ask that he does not bid on future article projects unless he will allow you to claim authorship.

The problem really lays in a perception that Textbroker offers a PLR writing service, which it is not. However, like I say, if you request that up front you will have no problems what so ever.

Just 2c from an article marketer who purchases about 100 articles a month from these guys.

All the best

Sean Donahoe
The Manic Marketer

I am so glad I read this thread before I used their service.

I guess I'm pretty dense but don't these two statements run against each other? To me what so many are saying is cut and dry is about as clear as mud.

This applies to us as the customer:

And this applies to the authors:

Sooo....the customer (us) can't use their name as the author without permission from the original author...but the original author "waives any moral or personal right to be named as the author of his/her texts or articles"

The original author can't claim to be the author and the client can't claim to be the author?

Bwuh?