Remittance advice with menaces

Here's the words on the back of a cheque that arrived this morning:

1. In consideration of the payment to me by Haymarket Publishing Services Limited of the sum made out overleaf, I the undersigned hereby assign all the copyrights and any rights of a similar nature which may now or hereafter subsist throughout the world in work created by me and identified on the remittance advice attached to this cheque for the full term (including any renewals or extensions) of copyright.

Then, after another "it is hereby certified" clause, there is a space where I am supposed to sign and date it before paying it into the bank.

To avoid uncertainty, there is a note in bold italic caps on the front of the remittance advice:

Note: the attached cheque must be endorsed on the back before presentation to your bank

The Haymarket group is a major player in what insiders call the trade press. It publishes more than 100 consumer, professional, business and customer publications. Its co-founder and chairman is former defence secretary Lord Hesletine. Very professional outfit.

Which makes it odd that they continue with this silly rights grab on the back of the cheque.

It has no legal force. Either you have agreed to assign all rights, in which case it is irrelevant & pointless. Or you haven't assigned them, in which case sticking a condition like that on the cheque is unfair & therefore meaningless.

I've had hundreds of them over the years. Sometimes I sign them. Sometimes I don't bother. Mostly I regard it as comical. But occasionally it angers me - a reminder of how companies use their power to bully freelances.

Les