Re: OT- Disgruntled ex employee request legal?

Jim wrote in uk.rec.motorcycles:

In article <1isb8mi.n308zcekqd3oN%totallydeadmailbox@xxxxxxxxxxx>,
The Older Gentleman <totallydeadmailbox@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
You are missing the point between "contract" and "assignation".
Copyright is yours: it can be bought, sold, left in a will, or just
given away, if you want.

To give it away, you'd need an assignation document, properly
attested, and so forth, but no money has to change hands.

Like I said, post a link saying that copyright has to be sold (even
if for a nominal sum), because that would clear it up.

In the free software arena, copyright assignment is done all the time.
The "copyleft" licensing which means that things like the Linux kernel
remain free is more easy to manage and enforce if one organisation
holds all the copyright to a particular project. I've read the
contracts for this, they are actually very simple and include no
mention of a fee for the transfer of copyright. They're written by
the lawyers of the FSF - I can't honestly think of a set of people
who are more careful about IP law than them.

I am not saying that Veggie Dave is mistaken, though. Contract law is
a much more complex beast than copyright, and I can well imagine that
standard media contracts do include a fee, as he describes, due to
quirks in whatever case law exists. It's just not part of copyright.

OK, IANAL and IANAE but AIUI for something to change hands under
contract there has to be a "consideration". I have signed contracts
between companies where the nominal sum was one pound and the pound was
actually handed over at signing. However, this doesn't cover
Agreements and Assignments, which are not the same thing. You can have
an agreement where both (all) parties document what is agreed between
them (like, you can use this image for these purposes), or you can
assign rights to use something (often for a fixed period of time or a
fixed purpose), but in both of these cases ownership doesn't transfer.

I think Veggie is probably right here in that you cannot just give your
copyright away. You can, though, offer a royalty-free perpetual
licence to use something covered by copyright, which is what the
companies I have worked for used to do with their bespoke software.

--
Jimac
1985 Kawasaki GT750
2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee 3.0 CRD LTD
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: OT- Disgruntled ex employee request legal?
    ... it can be bought, sold, left in a will, or just ... law than them. ... standard media contracts do include a fee, as he describes, due to ...
    (uk.rec.motorcycles)
  • Re: HR 2550 may make it illegal to wash your deck
    ... contracts is "force majeure" and the term is always followed by a ... lawyers do is more than a little myopic. ... attempts to act as his own lawyer in traffic court. ... using state law itself and legal definitions ...
    (rec.boats.cruising)
  • Re: Electronic Publication
    ... >>California doesn't have rent control, ... >>contracts be offered on terms attractive to the buyer. ... Doesn't the law recognize that a contract ...
    (rec.arts.sf.composition)
  • Re: OT: Hand on heart.
    ... standard league contracts (as well as contracts to play in ... press charges without the consent of the alleged victim. ... That's a standard principle of criminal law. ... If charges are withdrawn because the victim does not give consent, ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: The great floating copyright flamewar (was Re: OT question on fair use)
    ... Possession is all points of the law? ... Contracts would be a way to attempt to get legal rights above-and-beyond ... but not recognizing the downsides (such as government ... flaws also and the system favors those who have law firms at their ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)
Loading