Flaw in Associated Content

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I just signed up for Associated Content - I like the 20 per article - or up to - although its not great, since I tend to procrastinate about sending my work anywhere this is a good alternative for now. Did anyone read the legal agreement they signed though - they own absolutely all rights and if they resell they owe no royalty. If they own it I suppose we couldn't sell elsewhere if offered more money. INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR/LICENSE AGREEMENT This Agreement specifies the terms and conditions governing the relationship between Company and the approved Content Producer, whereby Content Producer, as an independent contractor of Company, has provided or will provide certain Works (as defined in Section 1, below) for which Company shall have an option to acquire a worldwide, perpetual, fully-paid up, royalty-free, transferable right and license to edit, publish and use the Work (as further described in Section 2(d), below). ROYALTY FREE - YOU GET NOTHING IF THEY GET A LOT FROM YOUR ARTICLE - LICENSE TO EDIT - THEY CAN CHANGE YOUR ARTICLE! NOW THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual promises and covenants herein, and other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which is hereby acknowledged, the parties agree as follows: 1. Definitions. In addition to the terms defined elsewhere in this Agreement, the following terms shall have the meanings set forth below: "IP Rights" means all forms of intellectual property rights and protections throughout the world, whether currently existing - CURRENTLY EXISTING - THEY OWN EVEN IF YOU'VE PUBLISHED IT ELSEWHERE - or hereafter developed or acquired and whether now known or hereafter recognized, including all right, title and interest arising under United States or foreign common or statutory law in and to all: (a) patents and all filed, pending or potential applications for patents, including any patent disclosure, reissue, reexamination, division, continuation or continuation-in-part applications throughout the world now or hereafter filed; (b) trade secret rights, know-how, technical information, rights in databases, rights to confidential or other proprietary information and equivalent rights; (c) copyrights, copyright registrations, design registrations and applications therefor, moral rights, other literary property or authors' rights, whether or not protected by copyright or as a mask work; and (d) proprietary indicia, trademarks, service marks, trade names, trade dress, logos, symbols, domain names, logos and/or brand names and all goodwill associated therewith. "Moral Rights" means any rights to claim authorship of any Work, to object to or prevent any modification of any Work, to withdraw from circulation or control the publication or distribution of any Work, and any similar right, existing under judicial or statutory law of any country in the world, or under any treaty, regardless of whether or not such right is called or generally referred to as a "moral right." "Related Parties" means any owner, parent, partner, affiliate, subsidiary, supplier, subcontractor, shareholder, director, officer, hired or leased employee or worker, agent, representative or permitted assignee or successor of Company or Content Producer, as the case may be and as context requires. "Taxes" means any sales, value added, use and/or other applicable taxes, as well as any duties or other charges imposed on or related to the provision of the Services or the payments provided under this Agreement. "Work" means any deliverables, technology, designs, articles, written expressions, materials, content, graphics, data, information, images, photographs, art, illustrations, animations, video, audio, or audio/visual work, music, text, and/or any works of authorship that Content Producer (or Content Producer's authorized employees, subcontractors or agents) may conceive of, create or develop prior to or in the course of performing the Services for Company, whether or not eligible for patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, or other legal protection. 2. Services; Option to License Works. (a) Services. During the term of this Agreement, Content Producer shall create and submit to Company from time to time, for Company's consideration, original, thought provoking, multi-format Works ("Services"). Content Producer's Services may also consist of submitting to Company, during the term of this Agreement and for Company's consideration, Works that were conceived of, created or developed by Content Producer prior to the effective date of this Agreement. (b) Submission Procedure. The Works shall be submitted for Company's consideration via this interactive computer service and web site using Company's proprietary computer program and software application known as the "Associated Content Publishing Technologies," pursuant to the terms and conditions set forth in the End User License Agreement, which is incorporated herein by reference. The frequency of the submissions by Content Producer shall be determined at Content Producer's sole discretion. (c) Option. Content Producer hereby grants Company an option to acquire a worldwide, perpetual, fully-paid up, royalty-free, transferable right and license to edit, publish and use any Works (as further described in Section 2(d), below) submitted by or on behalf of Content Producer to Company hereunder ("Option"). In connection with such Option, Content Producer hereby grants Company a fully-paid up, royalty-free right and license to reproduce, display, distribute, perform, transmit, disclose and use such Works for learning about, evaluating, and considering such Works. Upon receipt of any Work submitted by or on behalf of Content Producer hereunder, Company shall have five (5) business days (or such other time period as the parties may mutually agree) within which to notify Content Producer (which notice may be in e-mail form) of its intention to exercise or decline its Option ("Option Period"), provided that if Company is unable to notify Content Producer due to an error in the contact information provided by Content Producer, the Option Period shall be extended until Company, using good faith efforts, is actually able to contact Content Producer. Upon receipt of Company's notice to exercise its Option, Content Producer shall offer Company the opportunity to acquire a worldwide, perpetual, fully-paid up, royalty-free, transferable right and license to edit, publish, disclose and use the submitted Work (as further described in Section 2(d), below) ("Rights Grant"), at either (i) a one-time price to be mutually agreed upon between Company and Content Producer, or (ii) no cost to Company but with proper attribution to Content Producer, Content Producer acknowledging that such Rights Grant represents a unique and valuable online publishing opportunity for Content Producer (in either such case, the "Rights Grant Consideration"). The type of Rights Grant Consideration shall be designated and identified in the Application submitted by Content Producer in connection with each submitted Work. If within five (5) business days thereafter (or such longer period of time as the parties may mutually agree), the parties are unable in good faith to mutually agree upon the Rights Grant Consideration, no Rights Grant shall be deemed to have occurred and Content Producer shall be free to dispose of the submitted Work elsewhere without restriction hereunder. This Agreement and any writing (which may be in e-mail form) regarding the Rights Grant Consideration shall be construed as consistent with one another whenever possible; provided, however, that notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, in the event of any conflict between any of the terms and conditions of this Agreement, on the one hand, and any such writing, on the other hand, this Agreement shall prevail, unless the conflicting or additional term of such writing expressly states otherwise and is executed by Content Producer and a duly authorized officer of Company. (d) License Grant. Upon any Rights Grant, Content Producer hereby irrevocably (i) grants to Company a worldwide, perpetual, fully-paid up, royalty-free, transferable right and license, with right to sublicense, to reproduce, publicly display, distribute, and perform, transmit, edit, modify, create derivatives works of, publish, sell, exploit, use, and dispose of such Work for any purpose and in all forms and all media whether now known or to become known in the future, the right to retain all revenue and income derived therefrom, and any and all other related rights of whatever kind or nature; and (ii) waives and agrees never to assert any and all Moral Rights Content Producer may have in or with respect to any such Work in connection with Company's use thereof, even after termination of this Agreement (hereinafter, the grants described in subsections (i) and (ii) above are referred to as the "License"). The License shall be either (A) exclusive, or (B) non-exclusive, as designated and identified in the Application submitted by Content Producer in connection with such Work. (e) Further Cooperation. Upon any Rights Grant, Content Producer, at the request of Company or its counsel, and at no additional charge, shall execute, acknowledge and deliver any and all documents or instruments that Company may determine necessary, in its reasonable discretion, to carry out the intent of this Agreement and the License; provided, however, this Agreement and the License shall be effective regardless of whether any such additional documents are executed. In the event Company is unable for any reason, after reasonable effort, to secure Content Producer's signature on any document needed in connection with the actions or grants specified herein, Grantor hereby irrevocably designates and appoints Company and its duly authorized officers and agents as his agent and attorney in fact, which appointmen