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Imagine that Writer A's book includes copyrighted material created by Creator B, and Creator B sues for copyright infringement. Will Writer A be held liable, or will the book publisher?
I think the publisher is officially responsible for this. If yes, is it possible for the publisher to contractually transfer all responsibility to the writer?
It possible for a publisher completely avoid copyright complaints, or will a publisher always be held accountable for copyright violations?
In the scenario of Creator B's work being included in Writer A's work without approval, Creator B will go after both the writer and the publisher. Writer A is obviously liable for using Creator B's work, and the publisher is liable for assisting in the infringing by distributing the book. The publisher also is going to have far deeper pockets than Writer A.
Unfortunately for publishers, it is difficult to root out plagiarism. The very recent case of Jonah Lehrer shows that once they find out about it, they usually act swiftly not to defend the plagiarist, but to distance themselves from him.
The laws surrounding publishing are complex, but the most important thing to remember is that copyright is a negative right, meaning that the creator of the work has the ability to stop others from distributing his or her work. It also means that everyone connected with the infringement is likely to get sued.
Legally, the author owns the copyright, so the ultimate responsibility falls on the author. If the copyrighted material is a real money maker for the publisher, then they would have a vested interest in protecting that copyright and would in all likeliness provide legal assistance or even act on the author's behalf. It would be in their own best interests to protect their investment, so they would definitely be motivated to do so. Some publishers have employees who are responsible for monitoring such things to ensure that their published works are not used without compensation, but ultimately it depends on just how successful the book is in the first place.
No, it really is the author's responsibility and publishers make sure to protect themselves.
All this below is from https://ochsnerjournal.wordpress.com/2015/02/05/copyright-infringement-who-is-responsible-author-or-publisher/
To strengthen their legal position, many publishers include warranty and indemnity clauses in the copyright transfer agreement. Usually, by agreeing to a warranty clause, the author guarantees that his manuscript contains only material that is original or in the public domain and free from any copyright. Often the author also promises to indemnify the publisher if the manuscript becomes a legal liability; an indemnity clause makes the author financially liable if he breaks the warranty clause. Here is an example of an indemnity clause from an academic publisher:
If a publisher is sued for copyright infringement and loses, the publisher can then sue the author for breach of contract and potentially recover damages awarded in the original lawsuit. The existence of warranty and indemnity clauses means that even though publishers are sued for copyright infringement more often than authors, authors are not free from liability. The only way that authors and publishers can avoid copyright litigation is by avoiding copyright infringement in an active, collaborative effort.
I am not a lawyer but here's my "take."
The writer will get sued for doing the actual infringing.
The publisher will also get sued, for aiding and abetting, and because it has the deeper pockets. The publisher may have a defense if it took steps to prevent infringement such as questioning the author about the antecedents of his work, and/or doing a computerized search of works with similar topics.
