- After writing and then sending a short story to a children's magazine, my 14 year old daughter received a contract from a publishing company which allowed them to syndicate her story upon paying her only £100! She was so thrilled that she immediately signed it and sent it back. I read your article a few weeks ago which said that contracts entered into by children can be avoided and I wonder, therefore, whether my daughter is legally bound by this contract?
- Whenever a person creates an original piece of written work the law automatically
classifies them as the author of that work. This type of creative property is known as "Intellectual Property" and the same rules also apply to original works created by artists and songwriters. For example, as I type this answer I am creating an original piece of work which belongs to me and which I am entitled to syndicate or sell (and I'm open to offers).
Artists, authors and composers often start young and the law does not draw any distinction between children and adults in this area of law. Whilst still under age children can, therefore, make contracts to sell the copyright in their works in return for royalties. That is why record companies & book publishers treat their under-age artists and authors the same as their adult contemporaries.
Your daughter therefore owned the rights to her story from the moment she wrote it and she was also entitled to sell or syndicate it. She cannot now avoid that contract merely because she is under 18.
