Medium Is Changing Your Rights To Your Own Work
Here’s what to do about it
UPDATE: Medium changed their new TOS. A little. Here’s the latest on the new TOS fiasco:
And there’s some more bad news. Coincidentally on the same day of the TOS fiasco, this happened:
ADDENDUM 2 20/8/2020: It has been drawn to my attention that the word Sublicense is also very important. Sublicense means an agreement in which a Company grants or otherwise transfers any of the rights licensed to Company hereunder or other rights that are relevant to designing, developing, testing, making, using, or selling of Licensed Products.
So, when you take into account their brand new right to sublicense your work and their statement “on all media formats and distribution methods now known or later developed without compensation to you.” there can no longer any doubt. The new TOS mean what we feared. Medium can use your work without your permission and they do not have to compensate you for it outwith the partner program pennies.
Here’s what to do about it: Leave. Sorry, but unless you want to give Medium permission to do whatever they want with your work, that seems to be our only option.
The good news is that according to their legal disclaimer: “If you decide to delete a post or your entire account, we won’t keep it.” So, that’s today’s plan, delete everything ensuring I have a back up and find another home for it.
Fellow writers, you have the right to do whatever you think is right for you. But just imagine you open a new Medium streaming site in 6 months time, or discover Medium News is now a thing, and click on it to discover your story, bastardised and remixed, making money for Medium ad infinitum, while you were paid $20 bucks and a thousand claps for the work you put your whole self into. I am looking into Patreon at the moment, along with my fellow writer Terri DelCampo-Nelson.
Be well aware that they have radically altered their TOS with this paragraph:
“Unless otherwise agreed in writing, by submitting, posting, or displaying content on or through the Services, you grant Medium a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, fully paid, and sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, publicly perform and display your content and any name, username or likeness provided in connection with your content in all media formats and distribution methods now known or later developed without compensation to you.”
Unless Medium remove this paragraph completely from their terms of service, all the nice emails and polite comments in the world don’t change the fact that they can do whatever they want with your content under the banner of Medium.
I’ve been thinking about the sudden haste to force writers to hand over the rights to their work, and started wondering if they may have a streaming or news service in the offing. I draw your attention in particular to In all media formats and distribution methods now known or later developed.
In reply to my distressed but polite email, Medium sent me a bog-standard template email in response. Charles Roast — you mentioned contacting legal yesterday, don’t suppose you have an email address for them as I am unable to track one down?
Medium keeps repeating that you own your work. However, what I am reading is that they will own the rights to it. And Medium can use it in any way they like within any Medium platform and will pay you nothing into the future. Important words to note are “in all media formats and distribution methods now known or later developed”.
My response to Medium reads:
“I’d like some clarification on your response of this morning to my query re terms and conditions:
1. So what you are saying then is that if you later develop a Medium platform of some kind, say Medium streaming or Medium news, you can take chunks of my work, amend my work in any way you like and not pay me for it. In all media formats and distribution methods now known or later developed means you can hack up my content up and distribute it, edit it, otherwise use it, without paying me a cent. Correct or incorrect?
2. I might own my own work, but you have copyright and licensing rights to do whatever you want to my content.
3. Not sure why you bothered to mention the disclaimer at all as it makes no difference. Please clarify.
4. Can I get a refund on my subscription for the rest of the year since you have radically altered the terms and conditions I agreed to when I paid for it?
Just to be very clear, before I pull my content, please do answer those three questions as they stand, without skirting around them, thanks. Enquiring minds want to know.”
I mean, at this point I know the answer, I just want them to state it in clear terms without trying to wriggle out of it.
Let’s be clear, it is a radical alteration of your rights to your own work to allow them to do whatever they want with your content without paying you another single cent.
Do not allow them to convince you otherwise.
There’s a reason they have profoundly altered their terms and conditions. And make no mistake, they have. I think we will find out what that reason is in due course.
“Unless otherwise agreed in writing, by submitting, posting, or displaying content on or through the Services, you grant Medium a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, fully paid, and sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, publicly perform and display your content and any name, username or likeness provided in connection with your content in all media formats and distribution methods now known or later developed without compensation to you.”
New terms of service Old terms of service
You have to do what’s right for you.
As always, fellow travellers, fair winds and a following sea.
Copyright Alison Tennent 2020, all rights reserved. Scottish by birth, upbringing and bloodline, Australian by citizenship. If you’re reading this anywhere but Medium, this work may have been plagiarized, please drop me a line at [email protected].