What to Do With a Decedent’s Twitter Account

Previously, I wrote about the popularity of social networking sites and the importance of planning ahead for a person’s incapacity and death with these accounts (link). Recently (link), Twitter’s Help Center added a new page about how to handle a deceased user’s Twitter account: http://support.twitter.com/articles/87894-how-to-contact-twitter-about-a-deceased-user.

According to Twitter’s Help Center, they will not reveal or reset a deceased Twitter account owner’s password, and they will not reveal any private information about the account. However, Twitter will permit family members to close the decedent’s Twitter account and assist in saving the decedent’s public Tweets.

Posted in Social Networking Accounts | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on What to Do With a Decedent’s Twitter Account

Deceased Author Stieg Larsson Sells 1 Million E-Books

As I’ve mentioned before, when dealing with a person’s incapacity or death, the family members and fiduciaries should consider the value of the person’s digital intellectual property, including digital publishing rights for authors.

Last week, Amazon.com reported that deceased author Stieg Larsson has become the first author to sell over 1 million e–books through its Kindle Store (link). Amazon’s Kindle books can be read on home computers or portable devices like the Kindle, iPad, and iPhone.

Amazon now sells significantly more e–books than hardcover books (link). Their July 22, 2010, press release states that “Over the past three months, for every 100 hardcover books Amazon.com has sold, the Company has sold 143 Kindle books. Over the past month, for every 100 hardcover books Amazon.com has sold, the Company has sold 180 Kindle books. This is across Amazon.com’s entire U.S. book business and includes sales of hardcover books where there is no Kindle edition.” (link).

On August 3, 2010, Newsweek.com posted an interesting infographic comparing hardcover books sales, production costs, and author royalties to e–books: http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/03/back-story-books-vs-e-books.html. As I’ve mentioned before, if you are working with an author or an author’s estate, you should consider the value of their e–book publishing rights. The rapidly changing market for books may make publishing rights, including digital publishing rights, difficult to value.

Posted in Intellectual Property Rights | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Deceased Author Stieg Larsson Sells 1 Million E-Books

Estate Planning for Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and Other Social Networking Accounts

Social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and similar sites enable individuals to communicate and interact easily. In a recent survey of U.S. adults who use social networking accounts, 28% use social networking site to promote themselves or their work, 28% use social networking site to make new business or professional contacts, and 89% use social networking site to stay in touch with friends (link). For family members and fiduciaries, a person’s social networking account can be a powerful tool for communicating about the individual’s illness, incapacity, or death.

According to recent surveys in the United States by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, since 2005, individuals age seventy and older have increased their Internet use more than any other age group in these surveys (link). Ivy Bean, a 104-year-old woman in England, passed away on July 28, 2010. News services reported that she was the “world’s oldest Twitter user” (CNN article; Guardian article). She had over 56,000 Twitter followers. She also was a Facebook user, starting when she was 102. She had 25,000 Facebook friend requests. Her family used Twitter to inform others of her passing (link), and her Facebook page has been left up as a memorial page (link).

If an incapacitated or deceased person has not left the social networking account password but you have access to the person’s primary e mail account, the appropriate family member or fiduciary may be able to recover the account’s password by using that social networking site’s system for recovering a lost password. If that does not work, MySpace and Facebook, the two most popular social networking sites, will not provide the password of a deceased user to anyone under their current policies.

Both MySpace and Facebook allow family members to close a decedent’s account or to leave it open as a memorial where friends and family can leave messages (Facebook link; MySpace link). Twitter is also popular for leaving memorials and thoughts about a person’s passing. When actress Brittany Murphy died on December 20, 2009, at age 32, celebrities and friends expressed their condolences and shared their thoughts on Twitter (link). Other Web sites have been created for the primary purpose of posting online obituaries and memorials, such as Legacy.com and Gates of Remembrance. Some of these Web sites even have online obituaries and memorials for pets.

Posted in Social Networking Accounts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Estate Planning for Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and Other Social Networking Accounts

Estate Planning and Digital Music

When dealing with a person’s incapacity or death, the family members and fiduciaries should consider the value of the person’s digital intellectual property. If the person was a musician, family members and fiduciaries should review music publishing contracts regarding digital publishing provisions, especially with increasing digital music sales. In the U.S., digital music sales are expected to exceed retail sales of CDs in 2010 (cite).

On March 11, 2010, the music group Pink Floyd won a lawsuit against its publisher, EMI, regarding digital sales of individual songs as opposed to sales of the entire album (cite). Their publishing contract pre–dated digital music distribution, and one contract clause prohibited EMI from selling Pink Floyd’s music recordings in any configuration other than the original. While record publishers typically say the same contract terms apply to physical sales of CDs as to digital sales, here EMI argued the opposite—that this contract restriction applied only to physical sales but not to digital sales. EMI had been selling digital versions of Pink Floyd’s individual songs on Apple’s iTunes store. The U.K. High Court ruled that EMI violated the contract restriction.

So, if you are working with a musician or a musician’s estate with one of these older music publishing contracts, you should consider the options available for digital publishing rights.

Posted in Intellectual Property Rights | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Estate Planning and Digital Music

Estate Planning and Digital Publishing Rights for Authors

When dealing with a person’s incapacity or death, the family members and fiduciaries should consider the value of the person’s digital intellectual property. If the person was an author, family members and fiduciaries should review book publishing contracts regarding digital publishing provisions, especially with the increasing popularity of e–book readers like the Kindle, Nook, and iPad. Traditional paper books have to be printed, stored, shipped, and displayed in a store—older books are pushed off the shelves to make room for newer books. With e–books, there are essentially none of the traditional economic barriers to offering older publications for sale.

The right to publish a digital version of a book was not explicitly mentioned in publishing contracts until about 1995 (link). Most publishing companies insist that they have the right to publish digital versions of books, but some authors or their families are beginning to challenging this position. Recently, the family of William Styron, author of Sophie’s Choice, The Confessions of Nat Turner, and Darkness Visible successfully moved away from Random House to a separate e–book publisher, Open Road, despite Random House’s insistence that it owned the right to publish digital versions of his books (link). On April 25, 2010, The New York Times reported that Random House dropped their claim to the e–book publishing rights for the Styron books, allowing the family to sign an e–book publishing deal with Open Road (link)

It’s possible that Random House settled with the Styron family to avoid having a court battle set a precedent. In 2001, Random House sued Rosetta Books for copyright infringement when Rosetta tried to release e–books of authors who already had exclusive publishing contracts with Random House. One of those authors was William Styron, while he was still alive. The contracts included the exclusive rights for Random House to “print, publish and sell the work in book form.” In considering a request for a preliminary injunction, the federal district court and court of appeals held that “in book form” did not automatically include e–books, and the full record needs to be developed in the course of litigation to decide this mixed question of law and fact. Random House, Inc. v. Rosetta Books LLC, 150 F.Supp.2d 613 (S.D.N.Y. 2001); Random House, Inc. v. Rosetta Books LLC, 283 F.3d 490 (2nd Cir. 2002). The federal district court opinion quoted from Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary definition of a “book” as “a written or printed work of fiction or nonfiction, usually on sheets of paper fastened or bound together within covers” and definition of “form” as “external appearance of a clearly defined area, as distinguished from color or material; the shape of a thing or person.” Ultimately, this case was settled before it went to trial.

So, if you are working with an author or an author’s estate with one of these older publishing contracts, you should consider the options available for e–book publishing rights.

Posted in Intellectual Property Rights | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Estate Planning and Digital Publishing Rights for Authors

Estate Planning for Digital Intellectual Property Rights

There can be significant value in the intellectual property rights attached to pictures, music, movies, literary works, Web pages, computer code, and other creative works existing as digital property. According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, intellectual property in the United States is worth more than $5 trillion (link).

When dealing with a person’s incapacity or death, the family members and fiduciaries should consider the value of the person’s digital intellectual property, especially if the person worked as a writer, photographer, artist, musician, inventor, or in a similar profession. Look for Internet accounts on Flickr, SmugMug, and other digital picture sharing sites. Look for Internet accounts on YouTube and other video sharing sites. Also look through financial records for revenues from Internet sites that license photos and artwork, sell songs to download, and offer e–books and other written works for sale.

When an author or artist dies, there may be renewed interest in the person’s works because of his or her death. A great example of this is Michael Jackson. As of March 2010, an estimated 31 million Michael Jackson albums were sold following his death on June 25, 2009 (link). As a result, his estate negotiated a new publishing deal with Sony worth a guaranteed $200 million—reported to be the most lucrative recording contract ever (link).

Posted in Intellectual Property Rights | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Estate Planning for Digital Intellectual Property Rights

New IRS Reporting for Certain Online Sellers Starts in 2011

Income tax issues related to a person’s online sales accounts are important to consider, especially for fiduciaries and family members dealing with the person’s incapacity or death. The IRS has had trouble tracking income received from online sales, but new tax code provisions and proposed regulations will help the IRS identify high–volume online sellers in the future.

Starting in calendar year 2011, banks and other online payment organizations may need to report the total amount of sales proceeds that an online seller receives by credit card payments. The IRS and the online seller will receive this information on an IRS Form 1099–K.

The reporting under Internal Revenue Code § 6050W and Proposed Regulation § 1.6050W–1 would apply to taxpayers using eBay, Craigslist, and other online sales Web pages, but only if the online seller’s total sales proceeds exceed $20,000 and the total number of transactions exceeds 200. In other words, the reporting requirements are focused on high–volume sellers.

A May 30, 2010, Washington Post article has more information about these new IRS reporting requirements for online sellers: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/29/AR2010052900341.html.

Posted in Online Sales Accounts | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on New IRS Reporting for Certain Online Sellers Starts in 2011

Estate Planning for eBay and Other Online Sales Accounts

Whether a person runs an online sales business or just sells an occasional personal item, online sales may be in process when the person becomes incapacitated or dies. A good place to start is to monitor the person’s e–mail accounts and text messages for announcements about sales transactions.

If the person has an online business selling goods or services, the business may have a dedicated Web page or a virtual storefront on Ebay, Amazon, or other Internet services. The business may have employees, suppliers, customers, income, and expenses that need urgent attention to avoid breaches of contracts. Timely access to the Internet accounts may be critical to keep the business operating smoothly. If a business entity owns the online accounts, the appropriate business representative could contact the Internet services to gain access to accounts or to reset passwords. If it is a sole proprietorship or the person owns the online accounts outside of the business, the appropriate fiduciary can contact the Internet services to try and gain access or reset passwords. Like any other business, the appropriate representatives should consider whether the business should be continued, sold, or shut down. Even if the business is run solely by the person and only has an Internet storefront, it may need to be listed as a guardianship, conservatorship, probate, or revocable trust asset and listed on an estate tax return if a return is necessary.

Many people buy and sell occasional personal items at an online auction site like Ebay or an online classified ad site like Craigslist. These transactions also may require time–sensitive actions and responses to avoid a breach of contract, which makes planning for access to these online sales accounts critical. Existing offers to sell items may need to be cancelled in light of a person’s incapacity or death, especially if necessary to comply with guardianship, conservatorship, or probate laws and procedures. With online sales, the purchase price for the sale may be transmitted from the buyer to the seller using another Internet service like PayPal. Even if there are no items currently listed for sale, it’s important to check whether the individual has a balance in his PayPal account or accounts at similar online payment services that may need to be listed as a guardianship, conservatorship, probate, or revocable trust asset and listed on an estate tax return if a return is necessary.

Posted in Online Sales Accounts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Estate Planning for eBay and Other Online Sales Accounts

Accessing a Decedent’s Yahoo! Mail Account

If a family member or fiduciary would like to access a deceased person’s Yahoo! Mail account (Yahoo!’s free Web–based e–mail service), hopefully, the person planned ahead and left the account username and password. If not, it may be possible to access the e–account from the deceased person’s home computer or smartphone—the password may be saved to automatically log into the account.

If you don’t have the password, Yahoo! has a forgotten password page to try. Otherwise, Yahoo! does not have a clear procedure on their Web page for a personal representative (executor) of the person’s estate to follow for access to the decedent’s e–mail. Section 27 of the Yahoo! Terms of Service states that the Yahoo! account is not transferable and your rights to the contents of your Yahoo! account terminate upon death. However, Yahoo! did honor a Michigan probate court’s order to turn over the e–mails from the account of a decedent in In Re Ellsworth, No. 2005 296, 651–DE (Mich. Prob. Ct. 2005).

Posted in E-mail | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Accessing a Decedent’s Yahoo! Mail Account

Accessing a Decedent’s Hotmail Account

If a family member or fiduciary would like to access a deceased person’s Hotmail account (Microsoft’s free Web–based e–mail service, also known as Microsoft Windows Live Hotmail), hopefully, the person planned ahead and left the account username and password. If not, it may be possible to access the e–account from the deceased person’s home computer or smartphone—the password may be saved to automatically log into the account.

If you don’t have the password, Microsoft has a password reset page to try. Otherwise, with the appropriate documentation, Microsoft will allow the personal representative (executor) of the person’s estate to access the decedent’s e-mail. Details of what information they require and where to mail or fax the information is available here: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windowslive/forum/hotmail-profile/my-family-member-died-recently-is-in-coma-what-do/308cedce-5444-4185-82e8-0623ecc1d3d6. Microsoft’s policy is not to provide or reset the password for the account of deceased user.

Posted in E-mail | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Accessing a Decedent’s Hotmail Account