Publishing contract expiration

Vanessak

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Hi, I have a contract with the following clause:

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Upon the expiration of this agreement five (5) years from the date of original publication, the Publisher shall have first option to conclude an agreement with the Author for continued publication rights to the Work on terms to be mutually agreed upon. Thereafter, this Agreement shall[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]renew automatically for additional one-year periods unless either Party provides written notice of termination to the other Party no less than sixty (60) days prior to the end of the then-current contract year.

[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]This term ended in May of this year. Around January of this year I sent the publisher a letter stating that I would not be interested in continuing, however he decided to be clever and refused delivery of the letter. I don't expect a response to any other efforts I might make to contact him.

My question is this - since he never will exercise his option "[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]to conclude an agreement with the Author for continued publication rights" [/FONT]can I simply view the contract as being expired and terminated? I realize that he will also never take the book down from being on sale. And I can't afford to hire a lawyer to try to force the issue.

Thanks for any help and advice!
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cool pop

It's Cool, Miss Pop if You're Nasty
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You're better off asking a lawyer or a watchdog like Victoria Strauss. You can never just assume a contract is terminated so don't make any moves until you know for certain. And is it just me or is this a horrible contract? What's with this one-year renewal stuff? Maybe someone with legal expertise will chime in. I know commonsense stuff when it comes to contracts but wouldn't dare try to advise what you should do legally. Good luck though and is this "publisher" in the Bewares and Backgrounds section because people should definitely be warned about him.