Alasdair Taylor's Answer

The best way to answer this question would be to look at the contract between you and the magazines in question – although I suspect that, as you are asking this question, there is no written contract.

In the absence of a written contract, there is lots of uncertainty here. A few points to bear in mind when considering the question are:

• assuming there was no written contract, there would most likely have been a licence to the magazine publishers, rather than an assignment/transfer of copyright;
• the terms of such a licence would be “made up” by a court looking a the issue, taking into account any previous dealings between you and the publishers, and also standard industry practice;
• one issue would be whether the original licence was exclusive (vs non-exclusive;
• another issue would be whether the original licence is terminated, which may depend upon the legal status of magazine publisher, and what the legal consequences of a termination would be.

With so much uncertainty here, I can’t sensibly give you any specific guidance.