Copyright done right

Did you know that the rights to Peter Pan are owned by the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London? J. M. Barrie, the author of the works, gave the copyright to the children’s hospital in 1929, on the condition that the resulting income not be disclosed.

This arrangement gave the hospital control of the rights to all Peter Pan works, and entitled it to royalties from any publication or performance of the original play or any derivative works. When you take into account decades of performances, numerous editions of the novel, and a host of films, it’s safe to say that the undisclosed amount in question has been a pretty substantial one so far.

What’s more, when the original copyright expired in 1987, fifty years after Barrie’s death, the government granted the hospital the perpetual right to collect royalties on the works. Although the hospital no longer has creative control, and the legal merits of the arrangement have been debated in the United States and other regions, the copyright remains a vital source of income for the hospital to this day.

Isn’t that pretty cool? If you’re inspired by this story, and you feel like helping out your local children’s hospital, why not write a classic work of literature that will outlive us all for decades to come? You’ll be glad you did!

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