Press and Literary Works Commissioning Contract Colombia

A Press and Literary Works Commissioning Contract Colombia (Contrato de Obra Literaria y Periodística por Encargo) is a formal commercial agreement by which a commissioning party (comitente) — which may be a publishing house (editorial), newspaper or magazine group (grupo editorial periodístico), digital media company, advertising agency, or corporate client — engages an author (autor), journalist (periodista), ghostwriter (escritor fantasma), or editorial content creator (creador de contenido editorial) to produce a specific original literary, journalistic, or editorial work in exchange for agreed compensation. The contract is governed by Ley 23 de 1982 (Ley sobre Derecho de Autor), Decisión Andina 351 de 1993 (Régimen Común sobre Derecho de Autor y Derechos Conexos of the Comunidad Andina de Naciones — CAN), and general commercial contract law under Código de Comercio Articles 822–831.

Under Ley 23 de 1982 Article 3, the author's rights (derechos de autor) arise automatically upon creation of the work — they are not contingent on registration, publication, or any other formality. The Dirección Nacional de Derecho de Autor (DNDA), operating under the Ministerio del Interior, administers Colombia's copyright registry (Registro Nacional del Derecho de Autor) under Decree 1066 de 2015 Article 2.7.5. While registration is not mandatory for copyright protection, it creates a rebuttable presumption (presunción legal) of authorship and priority that is valuable in enforcement proceedings.

Colombian copyright law distinguishes two categories of rights held by the author: (1) Derechos morales (moral rights) — personal, inalienable, non-transferable, and perpetual rights including the right of paternidad (to be identified as the author), integridad (to object to modifications of the work that harm the author's honor or reputation), divulgación (to decide whether and how to publish the work), retiro (to withdraw the work from circulation), and acceso (to access the sole copy). Under Ley 23/1982 Article 30 and Decisión Andina 351/1993 Article 11, moral rights are non-waivable (irrenunciables) — any contractual clause purporting to waive or transfer moral rights is null and void. (2) Derechos patrimoniales (economic rights) — transferable economic rights including reproduction (reproducción), distribution (distribución), public communication (comunicación pública), transformation (transformación), and translation (traducción). Under Ley 23/1982 Article 12, economic rights may be transferred by written contract for specific uses, territories, and durations.

For journalistic works (obras periodísticas) created by employed journalists (periodistas en relación laboral), Ley 23/1982 Article 91 establishes a presumption that economic rights for articles, reports, interviews, and other journalistic content created within the scope of employment are assigned to the employer (medio de comunicación) by operation of the employment contract — unless otherwise agreed in writing. However, the journalist retains moral rights, including the right of paternidad (byline credit). For freelance journalists and independent authors — who are not in an employment relationship — no such presumption applies: the commissioning party acquires only the specific rights expressly granted in the written contract.

The contract must comply with Ley 51 de 1975 (Estatuto del Periodista Profesional), which regulates the professional practice of journalism in Colombia. Under Ley 51/1975, a professional journalist (periodista profesional) must hold a Tarjeta Profesional de Periodista issued by the Ministerio de Educación Nacional — the commissioning contract should document the journalist's professional credentials for compliance purposes and to establish the professional nature of the engagement.

A Press and Literary Works Commissioning Contract Colombia is required whenever a publishing, media, or corporate entity engages an independent author or journalist to create original content, to properly allocate copyright ownership and usage rights and to comply with Colombian intellectual property law.

The contract is needed when a publishing house (editorial) in Colombia commissions an author to write a book, novel, academic text, or educational material. Major Colombian publishers — including Penguin Random House Colombia, Planeta Colombia, Norma, and independent editorial houses — routinely use commissioning contracts when engaging authors for specific book projects. The contract defines the manuscript's scope, delivery deadlines (entregas parciales and entrega final), the editorial review and revision process, the author's advance payment (anticipo sobre regalías), the royalty rate (regalías) as a percentage of the cover price (precio de portada) or publisher's net revenue, and the assignment of specific economic rights for specific territories and languages.

The document is required when a newspaper, magazine, or digital media platform (medio digital) engages a freelance journalist to investigate and write a specific article, investigative report (reportaje de investigación), feature story (crónica), or interview. Under Ley 51 de 1975 and the Código de Ética Periodística adopted by the Federación Colombiana de Periodistas (FECOLPER), the commissioning agreement should document the journalist's editorial independence (independencia editorial) and the media company's editorial responsibilities. Without a written contract, disputes about content ownership, exclusivity, and payment are common.

A commissioning contract is needed when a corporation or advertising agency engages a professional writer or content creator to produce brand journalism (periodismo de marca), corporate blog content, white papers (libros blancos), technical articles, or ghostwritten executive communications. In these corporate content arrangements, the commissioning party typically requires a full assignment (cesión total) of economic rights to use the content freely across all media — a provision that must be expressly stated in the written contract, as it cannot be implied under Colombian copyright law.

The contract is required when a screenwriter or playwright is commissioned to adapt a literary work for television, film, or theatre — these adaptations (obras derivadas) involve both the original author's rights and the new author's rights in the adaptation, requiring careful contractual allocation of which rights are licensed from the original author and which new rights the commissioned adaptor creates.

A valid Press and Literary Works Commissioning Contract Colombia must contain the following essential elements to comply with Ley 23 de 1982, Decisión Andina 351 de 1993, and Código de Comercio Articles 822–831.

Identification of the Parties: Full legal name, NIT or cédula de ciudadanía, address, and contact information for both the comitente (commissioning party) and the autor/periodista (author/journalist). For journalists, the Tarjeta Profesional de Periodista number (issued by the Ministerio de Educación Nacional under Ley 51 de 1975) should be included to document professional standing. The contract should specify whether the author is engaged as an independent contractor (contratista independiente) or, for longer engagements, whether there is any subordination (subordinación) that might reclassify the relationship as a labor contract (contrato de trabajo) under Código Sustantivo del Trabajo Article 23.

Description of the Commissioned Work: A precise description of the work to be created — the title or working title (título provisional), genre (género literario/periodístico: novela, crónica, reportaje de investigación, artículo de opinión, etc.), approximate length (extensión aproximada in words or pages), format (impreso, digital, audio, video), the target audience (público objetivo), and any specific editorial, stylistic, or technical requirements established by the commissioning party. The description must be specific enough to distinguish the commissioned work from other works — vague descriptions lead to disputes about whether the author has fulfilled their obligation.

Delivery Schedule: The specific dates by which the author must deliver draft chapters or sections (borradores parciales), the completed first draft (primer borrador completo), and the final revised manuscript (texto definitivo). The contract should specify the format of delivery (electronic file format: .docx, .indd, Google Docs link), the recipient for delivery (editorial contact name and email), and the consequences of delayed delivery — whether a delay voids the contract, triggers a penalty (pena convencional), or entitles the commissioning party to a proportional reduction in payment.

Editorial Review and Revision Process: The number of revision rounds (rondas de corrección) included in the fee — for example, the commissioning party may request up to two rounds of revisions within a specified period; additional revisions beyond those included are subject to additional fees. The specific editorial standards (normas editoriales) the work must meet: style guide (Manual de Estilo — APA, Chicago, the media company's internal style guide), citation format, fact-checking standards, and any specific compliance requirements (e.g., Colombian press law compliance for investigative journalism under Ley 1581 de 2012 on data protection and Ley 74 de 1966 on press freedom).

Compensation Terms: The agreed fee (honorarios) expressed in Colombian pesos (COP) — for one-time commissioning fees or advances, the total amount, payment milestones (hito de pago), and payment dates. For royalty-based agreements: the royalty rate (tasa de regalías) expressed as a percentage of the cover price (precio de tapa) or publisher's net revenue (ingreso neto editorial) per copy sold; the royalty advance (anticipo sobre regalías) paid upon signing; the royalty accounting period (período de liquidación — typically semi-annual) and the statement format; and any minimum guaranteed royalties (regalías mínimas garantizadas) regardless of sales performance. The contract must specify whether the fee includes or excludes IVA (18% on services) and the withholding tax (retención en la fuente) applicable under E.T. Articles 392–395 for independent professional services (7% for retención on honorarios for non-simplified-regime taxpayers).

Copyright Assignment: The specific economic rights (derechos patrimoniales) being transferred (cedidos) or licensed (licenciados) to the commissioning party — expressed with the four elements required by Ley 23/1982 Article 30: (1) modality (the specific right: reproduction, distribution, public communication, transformation, translation — each must be individually specified); (2) territory (the geographical scope: Colombia only, Latin America, worldwide); (3) duration (the time period — which cannot exceed the term of copyright protection under Ley 23/1982 Article 21: the author's life plus 80 years); and (4) exclusivity (whether the assignment is exclusive or non-exclusive within the stated territory). Any rights not expressly mentioned in the contract are presumed to remain with the author under Ley 23/1982 Article 12.

Moral Rights Acknowledgment: An express acknowledgment that the author retains all moral rights (derechos morales) under Ley 23/1982 Articles 30–32 and Decisión Andina 351/1993 Article 11, which are inalienable and non-waivable. The agreement should specify how moral rights will be exercised: the byline format (crédito de autor), the right to be consulted before any modification or abridgement of the work, and the process for addressing the author's objection to modifications that harm their honor or reputation.

Confidentiality and Exclusivity: Whether the author agrees to maintain confidentiality about the commissioning arrangement (particularly relevant for ghostwriting) and any non-compete or exclusivity clause preventing the author from writing similar works for competing media or publishers during the contract period.

Originality and Plagiarism Warranty: The author's warranty (garantía del autor) that the work is original, does not plagiarise any existing work, does not infringe third-party intellectual property rights, and does not contain defamatory content (contenido difamatorio) or content violating any person's right to privacy under Ley 1581 de 2012. The indemnification obligation (obligación de indemnización) of the author for any claims arising from breach of this warranty.

Forms-legal.com provides this Press and Literary Works Commissioning Contract Colombia template as a practical starting framework. Authors and commissioning parties should consult with an abogado especializado en propiedad intelectual registered with the Consejo Superior de la Judicatura before signing agreements involving significant intellectual property rights.