Assignment and licences. Prospective ownership of copyright. Exclusive licences. Copyright to pass under will with unpublished work. Moral rights not assignable. Transmission of moral rights on death.
90.—(1) Copyright is transmissible by assignment, by testamentary disposition or by operation of law, as personal or moveable property.
(2) An assignment or other transmission of copyright may be partial, that is, limited so as to apply—
(a) to one or more, but not all, of the things the copyright owner has the exclusive right to do;
(b) to part, but not the whole, of the period for which the copyright is to subsist.
(3) An assignment of copyright is not effective unless it is in writing signed by or on behalf of the assignor.
(4) A licence granted by a copyright owner is binding on every successor in title to his interest in the copyright, except a purchaser in good faith for valuable consideration and without notice (actual or constructive) of the licence or a person deriving title from such a purchaser; and references in this Part to doing anything with, or without, the licence of the copyright owner shall be construed accordingly.
Prospective ownership of copyright.
91.—(1) Where by an agreement made in relation to future copyright, and signed by or on behalf of the prospective owner of the copyright, the prospective owner purports to assign the future copyright (wholly or partially) to another person, then if, on the copyright coming into existence, the assignee or another person claiming under him would be entitled as against all other persons to require the copyright to be vested in him, the copyright shall vest in the assignee or his successor in title by virtue of this subsection.
(2) In this Part—
"future copyright" means copyright which will or may come into existence in respect of a future work or class of works or on the occurrence of a future event; and
"prospective owner" shall be construed accordingly, and includes a person who is prospectively entitled to copyright by virtue of such an agreement as is mentioned in subsection (1).
(3) A licence granted by a prospective owner of copyright is binding on every successor in title to his interest (or prospective interest) in the right, except a purchaser in good faith for valuable consideration and without notice (actual or constructive) of the licence or a person deriving title from such a purchaser; and references in this Part to doing anything with, or without, the licence of the copyright owner shall be construed accordingly.
Exclusive licences.
92.—(1) In this Part an "exclusive licence" means a licence in writing signed by or on behalf of the copyright owner authorising the licensee to the exclusion of all other persons, including the person granting the licence, to exercise a right which would otherwise be exercisable exclusively by the copyright owner.
(2) The licensee under an exclusive licence has the same rights against a successor in title who is bound by the licence as he has against the person granting the licence.
Copyright to pass under will with unpublished work.
93.Where under a bequest (whether specific or general) a person is entitled, beneficially or otherwise, to—
(a) an original document or other material thing recording or embodying a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work which was not published before the death of the testator, or
(b) an original material thing containing a sound recording or film which was not published before the death of the testator,
the bequest shall, unless a contrary intention is indicated in the testator's will or a codicil to it, be construed as including the copyright in the work in so far as the testator was the owner of the copyright immediately before his death.
Moral rights
Moral rights not assignable.
94.The rights conferred by Chapter IV (moral rights) are not assignable.
Transmission of moral rights on death.
95.—(1) On the death of a person entitled to the right conferred by section 77 (right to identification of author or director), section 80 (right to object to derogatory treatment of work) or section 85 (right to privacy of certain photographs and films)—
(a) the right passes to such person as he may by testamentary disposition specifically direct,
(b) if there is no such direction but the copyright in the work in question forms part of his estate, the right passes to the person to whom the copyright passes, and
(c) if or to the extent that the right does not pass under paragraph (a) or (b) it is exercisable by his personal representatives.
(2) Where copyright forming part of a person's estate passes in part to one person and in part to another, as for example where a bequest is limited so as to apply—
(a) to one or more, but not all, of the things the copyright owner has the exclusive right to do or authorise, or
(b) to part, but not the whole, of the period for which the copyright is to subsist,
any right which passes with the copyright by virtue of subsection (1) is correspondingly divided.
(3) Where by virtue of subsection (1)(a) or (b) a right becomes exercisable by more than one person—
(a) it may, in the case of the right conferred by section 77 (right to identification of author or director), be asserted by any of them;
(b) it is, in the case of the right conferred by section 80 (right to object to derogatory treatment of work) or section 85 (right to privacy of certain photographs and films), a right exercisable by each of them and is satisfied in relation to any of them if he consents to the treatment or act in question; and
(c) any waiver of the right in accordance with section 87 by one of them does not affect the rights of the others.
(4) A consent or waiver previously given or made binds any person to whom a right passes by virtue of subsection (1).
(5) Any infringement after a person's death of the right conferred by section 84 (false attribution) is actionable by his personal representatives.
(6) Any damages recovered by personal representatives by virtue of this section in respect of an infringement after a person's death shall devolve as part of his estate as if the right of action had subsisted and been vested in him immediately before his death.
Publishing Rights: Coddan CPM Core Licence (HMSO) number is C02W0007897 issued on 25 November 2005 by HMSO Licensing Division (Core Licence.pdf Licence to reproduce public sector information).
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