Q: When a journalist writes a weekly column for a newspaper, who has rights to the content of the column – the author or the publisher?

A: In general, when a worker creates something for his employer, the copyright and patent rights belong to the employer. He hired the worker to create intellectual property and "owns" his creative capacity utilized at work.

However, a journalist who writes a weekly column is often not a regular employee who committed his creative capacity to the employer. The newspaper contracts him to deliver a written article and he only gives the newspaper publishing rights. Thus, the article remains the intellectual property of the author.

Even if the writer is a regular employee of the newspaper, the accepted practice seems to be that if the author should want to collect his articles into a printed work – he has that right. Halacha places a great emphasis on the common commercial practice as binding in monetary law: "the [common] practice uproots the [default] halacha." (C.M. 232:19)

Regardless, in many cases, the contract will define who has rights to the intellectual property created.

(See Emek Hamishpat, Zechuyos Yotzrim 16:176; 34:167)