Complete Home & Office Legal Guide/Complete Home and Office Legal Guide (Chestnut) (1993).ISO/stat/fed/17ch2.asc

Text File | 1993-08-26 | 13.5 KB | 283 lines

/* Here's the second chapter of the Copyright
Code- read especially Sections 201 and 203*/

CHAPTER 2.  COPYRIGHT OWNERSHIP AND TRANSFER

Section
201. Ownership of copyright
202. Ownership of copyright as distinct from ownership of
material object
203. Termination of transfers and licenses granted by the author
204. Execution of transfers of copyright ownership
205. Recordation of transfers and other documents

                        _________________

S 201.  Ownership of copyright

(a) Initial ownership. Copyright in a work protected under this
title [17  USC SS et seq.] vests initially in the author or
authors of the work. The authors of a joint work are co-owners of
copyright in the work.

(b) Works made for hire. In the case of a work made for hire, the
employer or other person for whom the work was prepared is
considered the author for purposes of this title [17 USC SS 101
et seq.], and, unless the parties have expressly agreed otherwise
in a written instrument signed by them, owns all of the rights
comprised in the copyright.

/* Please see the case of Society for Creative Non-Violence Case,
in which the U.S. Supreme Court holds that independent contractors
works are not "works for hire" unless there is a written contract
to that effect.*/

(c) Contributions to collective works. Copyright in each separate
contribution to a collective work is distinct from copyright in
the collective work as a whole, and vests initially in the author
of the contribution. In the absence of an express transfer of the
copyright or of any rights under it, the owner of copyright in
the collective work is presumed to have acquired only the
privilege of reproducing and distributing the contribution as
part of that particular collective work, any revision of that
collective work, and any later collective work in the same
series.

(d) Transfer of ownership.  (1) The ownership of a copyright may
be transferred in whole or in part by any means of conveyance or
by operation of law, and may be bequeathed by will or pass as
personal property by the applicable laws of interstate
succession.

(2)  Any of the exclusive rights comprised in a copyright,
including any subdivision of any of the rights specified by
section 106 [17 USC S 106], may be transferred as provided by
clause (1) and owned separately.  The owner of any particular
exclusive right is entitled, to the extent of that right, to all
of the protection and remedies accorded to the copyright owner by
this title [17 USC SS 101 et seq.].

(e) Involuntary transfer. When an individual author's ownership
of a copyright, or of any of the exclusive rights under a
copyright,  has not previously been transferred voluntarily by
that individual author, no action by any governmental body or
other official or organization purporting to seize, expropriate,
transfer, or exercise rights of ownership with respect to the
copyright, or any of the exclusive rights under a copyright,
shall be given effect under this title [17 USC SS 101 et seq.]
except as is provided under Title 11.

S 202. Ownership of copyright as distinct from ownership of
material object

Ownership of a copyright, or of any of the exclusive rights under
a copyright, is distinct from ownership of any material object in
which the work is embodied. Transfer of ownership of any material
object, including the copy or phonorecord in which the work is
first fixed, does not of itself convey any rights in the
copyrighted work embodied in the object; nor, in the absence  of
an agreement, does transfer of ownership of a copyright or of any
exclusive rights under a copyright convey property rights in any
material object.

S 203. Termination of transfers and licenses granted by the
author

(a) Conditions for termination. In the case of any work other
than a work made for hire, the exclusive or nonexclusive grant of
a transfer or license of copyright or of any right under a
copyright, executed by the author on or after January 1, 1978,
otherwise than by will, is subject to termination under the
following conditions:

(1) In the case of a grant executed by one author, termination of
the grant may be effected by that author, or if the author is
dead, by the person or persons who, under clause (2) of this
subsection, own and are entitled to exercise a total of more than
one-half of that author's termination interest. In the case of a
grant executed by two or more authors of a joint work,
termination of the grant may be effected by a majority of the
authors who executed it; if any of such authors is dead, the
termination interest of any such author may be exercised as a
unit by the person or persons who, under clause (2) of this
subsection, own and are entitled to exercise a total of more than
one-half of that author's interest.

(2) Where an author is dead, his or her termination interest is
owned, and may be exercised, by his widow or her widower and his
or her children or grandchildren as follows:

(A) the widow or widower owns the author's entire termination
interest unless there are any surviving children or grandchildren
of the author, in which case the widow or widower owns one-half
of the author's interest;

(B) the author's surviving children, and the surviving children
of any dead child of the author, own the author's entire
termination interest unless there is a widow or widower, in which
case the ownership of one-half of the author's interest is
divided among them;

(C) the rights of the author's children and grandchildren are in
all cases divided among them and exercised on a per stirpes basis
according to the number of such author's children represented;
the share of the children of a dead child in a termination
interest  can be exercised only by the action of a  majority of
them.

(3) Termination of the grant may be effected at any time during
a period  of five years beginning at the end of thirty-five
years from the date of execution of the grant; or, if the grant
covers the right of publication of the work, the period begins at
the end of thirty-five years from the date of publication of the
work under the grant or at the end of forty years from the date
of execution of the grant, whichever term ends earlier.

/* Thus, thirty-five years after the assignment, it can be taken
back. This is a limit on assignments that are absolute on their
face. */

(4) The termination shall be effected by serving an advance
notice in writing, signed by number and proportion of owners of
termination interests required under clauses (1) and (2) of this
subsection, or by their duly authorized agents, upon the grantee
or the grantee's successor in title.

(A) The notice shall state the effective date of the termination,
which shall fall within the five-year period specified by clause
(3) of this subsection, and the notice shall be served not less
than two or more than ten years before that date. A copy of the
notice shall be recorded in the Copyright Office before the
effective date of termination, as a condition to its taking
effect.

(B) Termination of the grant may be effected notwithstanding  any
agreement to the contrary, including an agreement to make a will
or to make any future grant.

(b) Effect of termination. Upon the effective date of
termination, all rights under this title [17 USC SS 101 et seq.]
that were covered by the terminated grants revert to the author,
authors, and other persons owning termination interests under
clauses (1) and (2) of subsection (1), including those owners who
did not join in signing the notice of termination under clause
(4) of subsection (a), but with the following limitations:

(1) A derivative work prepared under authority of the grant
before its termination may continue to be utilized under the
terms of the grant after its termination, but this privilege does
not extend to the preparation after the termination of other
derivative works based upon the copyrighted work covered by the
terminated grant.

(2) The future rights that will revert upon termination of the
grant become vested on the date the notice of termination has
been served as provided by clause (4) of subsection (a). The
rights vest in the author, authors, and other persons named in,
and in the proportionate shares provided by, clauses (1) and (2)
of subsection (1).

(3) Subject to the provisions of clause (4) of this subsection, a
further grant, or agreement to make a further grant, of any right
covered by a terminated grant, is valid only if it is signed by
the same number and proportion of the owners, in whom the right
has vested under clause (2) of this subsection, as are required
to terminate the grant under clauses (1) and (2) of subsection
(1). Such further grant or agreement is effective with respect to
all of the persons in whom the right it covers has vested under
clause (2) of this subsection, including those who did not join
in signing it.  If any person dies after rights under a
terminated grant have vested in him or her, that person's legal
representatives, legatees, or heirs at law represent him or her
for purposes of this clause.

(4) A further grant, or agreement to make a further grant, of any
right covered by a terminated grant is valid only if it is made
after the effective date of the termination. As an exception,
however, an agreement for such a further grant may be made
between the persons provided by clause (3) of this subsection and
the original grantee or such grantee's successor in title, after
the notice of termination has been served as provided by clause
(4) of subsection (a).

(5) Termination of a grant under this section affects only those
rights covered by the grants that arise  under  this title [17
USC SS 101 et seq.], and in no way affects rights arising under
any other Federal, State, or foreign laws.

(6) Unless and until termination is effected under this section,
the grant, if it does not provide otherwise, continues in effect
for the term of copyright provided by this title [17 USC SS 101
et seq].

S 204.  Execution of transfers of copyright ownership

(a) A transfer of copyright ownership, other than by operation of
law, is not valid unless an instrument of conveyance, or a note
or memorandum of the transfer, is in writing and signed by the
owner of the rights conveyed or such owner's duly authorized
agent.

(b) A certificate of acknowledgment is not required for the
validity of a transfer, but is prima facie evidence of the
execution of the transfer if --

(1) in the case of a transfer executed in the United States, the
certificate is issued by a person authorized to administer oaths
within the United States; or

(2) in the case of a transfer executed in a foreign country, the
certificate is issued by a diplomatic or consular officer of the
United States, or by a person authorized to administer oaths
whose authority is proved by a certificate of such an officer.

S 205.  Recordation of transfers and other documents

(a) Conditions for recordation. Any transfer of copyright
ownership or other document pertaining to a copyright may be
recorded in the Copyright Office if the document filed for
recordation bears the actual signature of the person who executed
it, or if it is accompanied by a sworn or official certification
that it is a true copy of the original, signed document.

(b) Certificate of recordation. The Register of Copyrights shall,
upon receipt of a document as provided by subsection  (1) and of
the fee provided by section 708 [17 USC S  708], record the
document and return it with a certificate of recordation.

(c) Recordation as constructive notice. Recordation of a document
in the Copyright Office gives all persons constructive notice of
the facts stated in the recorded document, but only if --

(1) the document, or material attached to it, specifically
identifies the work to which it pertains so that, after the
document is indexed by the Register of Copyrights, it would be
revealed by a reasonable search under the title or registration
number of the work; and

(2) registration has been made for the work.

(d) Priority between conflicting transfers. As between two
conflicting transfers, the one executed first prevails if it is
recorded, in the manner required to give constructive notice
under subsection (c), within one month after its execution in the
United States or within two months after its execution outside
the United Sates, or at any time before recordation in such
manner of the later transfer. Otherwise the later transfer
prevails if recorded first in such manner, and if taken in good
faith, for valuable consideration or on the basis of a binding
promises to pay royalties, and without notice of the earlier
transfer.

(e) Priority between conflicting transfer of ownership and
nonexclusive license. A nonexclusive license, whether recorded or
not, prevails over a conflicting transfer of copyright ownership
if the license is evidenced by a written instrument signed by the
owner of the rights licensed or such owner's  duly authorized
agent, and if --
(1) the license was taken before execution of the  transfer;
or

(2)  the license was taken in good faith before  recordation of
the transfer and without notice of it.