by operation of law
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“By Operation of Law” Addendum
I recently chided a court for not recognizing that one of the parties was claiming ownership of copyright “by operation of law,” specifically “under the operation of California law … governing partnerships, promoters, agents, fiduciaries and cofounders, not as a question of employment, work for hire … or joint work.” The court never reached the […] Continue reading
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“By Operation of Law”
I’m seeing what I believe is a misunderstanding of the statutory section describing transfer of copyright. Section 204(a) of the Copyright Act, titled “Execution of Transfers of Copyright Ownership,” says 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 […] Continue reading
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Assigned from One’s Self to One’s Self
The patent, copyright and trademark statutes are not paragons of clarity when it comes to assignment. They all require that assignments be in writing, which is fine as far as it goes. What seems to befuddle lawyers is what to do when the transfer is by operation of law. The Copyright Act acknowledges implicitly that […] Continue reading
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Behind Every Movie is a Copyright Infringement Lawsuit
Successful movies always seem to be accompanied by copyright infringement lawsuits, generally an optimistic author who believes his or her story was stolen and made into a movie. But in Gomba Music, Inc. v. Avant we have a very different twist, two different claimants to ownership of the copyright in music written by the subject […] Continue reading
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Copyright Transfer by “Operation of Law”
A copyright can be transferred by written document or by operation of law. The First Circuit recently discussed the latter form of transfer, albeit with a neat sidestep of the question. The plaintiff Society of the Holy Transfiguration Monastery (the Monastery) is a religious order in Massachusetts founded in the 1960’s. The Monastery created translations […] Continue reading
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