Welcome to the Helpdesk of the Authors' Rights Awareness Campaign

Dear author living in Europe, dear colleague,

Texts Don’t Grow On Trees! – therefore we uphold five principles:

1. Authors must never be pressured into waiving their rights to be named as the authors of their work.
2. Authors must never be pressured into allowing their works to be treated in a derogatory manner.
3. Authors need to be free to make a choice on licensing their works for reproduction, communication, distribution, interpretation, and modification in any form and medium of their choice without pressure or interference from others.
4. Authors must be rewarded by a conforming and timely execution of the licenses by their licensees.
5. Authors must be remunerated in fair relation to the profits arising from the licensed exploitation of their work.

Texts Don’t Grow On Trees! – therefore we…

1. …underline the eminence of authorship
by promoting the uniqueness of individual creation,
2. …highlight the integrity of original works
by denouncing misappropriations and derogatory treatment,
3. …promote the authority of creators over their works
by educating them on the powers of licensing agreements,
4. …advance the control of authors over the execution of licenses
by proposing model statements for licensing contracts,
5. …require licensees to fairly remunerate the authors
who create the one crucial ingredient for success..

The EWC represents some 54.000 individual authors and literary translators all over Europe. Imagine they all would stand up for their rights and speak up with one voice.

What do you have to do to join in?

Please show your support by signing the campaign. You can do that here.

Put up the banner on your homepage. It shows your opinion that texts don’t grow on trees. You find it here. - Let us know when you do so. We will link back.

Make your contribution to the ongoing discussion. You can do that here.

Become part of the European family!

Adi Blum
Member of the EWC Board

Peter Troxler
Campaign Management

ewclogo_small.pngThe Authors' Rights Awareness Campaign is an initiative by the European Writers' Congress.