Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

cc-ca - Re: [Cc-ca] Concerns: Copyright Act s. 57 and s. 14

cc-ca AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Creative Commons Canada

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Howard Knopf" <Howard.Knopf AT macerajarzyna.com>
  • To: <cc-ca AT lists.ibiblio.org>, <akaplanmyrth AT ogilvyrenault.com>, <CCraig AT osgoode.yorku.ca>
  • Cc:
  • Subject: Re: [Cc-ca] Concerns: Copyright Act s. 57 and s. 14
  • Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 17:03:36 -0400

Carys:
 
In my chapter, I discuss a point raised by Richard Gold that deals with s. 57 and issues involving the rights of licensees against subsequent third party purchasers of copyright.  This is admittedly in the context of security interests and bankruptcy but it may be that Andy has raised a valid issue here....
 
In the chapter, I said the following and I've attached a PDF of  a couple of pages for everyone's convenience  - which cites Richard's article:
 
He seems to suggest in a footnote that if s.  57 of the Copyright Act protected licensees against assignees of copyright title there would be a “clear conflict” between federal and provincial legislation.   Clearly , this is a potentially important point that merits further discussion.  Gold notes that the 1988 U.K. legislation specifically addresses the issue of protection of the equitable interests of licensees in s.  90(4) which provides:
 
  (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.
Sorry I don't have more time now to consider this, but hopefully these references will save others' time......
 
Howard
 
 
********************************
Howard P. Knopf
Professor of Law,
John Marhsall Law School,
Chicago, Illinois
-------------------------------------------
Of Counsel,
Macera & Jarzyna/Moffat & Co.
Suite 1200
427 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, Canada
K1R 7Y2
Phone: 613-238-8173
Fax: 613-235-2508
E-mail: howard.knopf AT macerajarzyna.com
Website: http://www.macerajarzyna.com
***********************************************************
This correspondence is intended for the person to whom it is addressed
and contains information that is confidential, and/or privileged to the
named recipient, and may be proprietary in nature. It is not to be used
by any other person and/or organization.  If you have received this
e-mail in error, please notify us immediately by telephone and/or return e-mail.

>>> Carys Craig/osgoode <CCraig AT osgoode.yorku.ca> 19-Jul-04 5:40:28 pm >>>




Hello all,

These are both good points and worth considering, but I'm not convinced
that they present problems for the CC license. Both section 14(1) and
section 57(3) apply only to assignments of copyright and 'grants of
interest' in the copyright. While an exclusive license would constitute a
"grant of an interest in a copyright" as per s. 13(7), I believe it's
generally agreed that non-exclusive licenses, and arguably even sole
licenses, do not amount to the grant of an interest in the copyright per
se, but merely authorization or consent allowing the licensee to do certain
otherwise infringing acts in relation to the work. The CC license is
described as non-exclusive, and the licensor apparently retains the right
to license the work to other parties; as I understand it, this does not
amount to "a license granting an interest".  As such, I don't think that
these provisions threaten to restrict or undermine the terms of the
license.

Cheers,
Carys

ps. Apologies, Howard, if there's something from your chapter that I'm
missing -- 57(3) has always bothered me, so I'll be checking your book out
the library tomorrow!


Carys Craig
Assistant Professor
Osgoode Hall Law School
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, Ontario, M3J 1P3
416 736 5189
ccraig AT osgoode.yorku.ca





                                                                                                                                          
                      "Kaplan-Myrth, Andy"                                                                                                
                      <akaplanmyrth@ogilvyr        To:       <cc-ca AT lists.ibiblio.org>                                                    
                      enault.com>                  cc:                                                                                    
                      Sent by:                     Subject:  [Cc-ca] Concerns: Copyright Act s. 57 and s. 14                              
                      cc-ca-bounces AT lists.i                                                                                               
                      biblio.org                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                          
                      19/07/2004 09:41 AM                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                          




Hi all,

There are two concerns with the draft licence that I'd like to raise.

s. 14(1) of the Act provides that any assignments or grants of interests
in a copyrighted work is inoperative beyond 25 years after the death of
the author. This must include a CC licence. You can't get around this by
including some sort of waiver in the licence, because the Act provides
that, "notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary", interests revert
to the estate of the author. This is only true where the author is the
first copyright owner, but that will almost always be the case for CC
works. Maybe this isn't a fundamental concern, but it might be worth
pointing out somewhere (since people don't generally know about this
provision) that the licence will not be in effect for the duration of
the applicable copyright (as you state in CCC s. 3), but rather for 25
years past the death of the author-owner.

s. 57(3) provides that "any licence granting an interest in a copyright
... shall be adjudged void against any subsequent ... licensee for
valuable consideration without actual notice, unless the prior ...
licence is registered ... before the registering of the instrument under
which the subsequent ... licensee claims". By my reading (please correct
me if I'm wrong!), this means that a CC licensor can revoke the CC
licence by simply granting another licence. The fact that the prior
licence said it was perpetual may not stand up against the operation of
s. 57 given the presence of a subsequent licence. There may be caselaw
on that point -- unregistered prior assignment versus subsequent
assignment granting rights before expiration of the prior assignment.

Are there any other provisions lurking in the Copyright Act that might
cause a CC licence to terminate early?

Andy Kaplan-Myrth
Student at Law, Ogilvy Renault
Law Student, University of Ottawa
613-780-8670
akaplanmyrth AT ogilvyrenault.com

--------------------------------------------------------


Confidentiality Message

This e-mail message is confidential, may be privileged and is intended for
the exclusive use of the addressee. Any other person is strictly prohibited
from disclosing, distributing or reproducing it. If the addressee cannot be
reached or is unknown to you, please inform the sender by return e-mail
immediately and delete this e-mail message and destroy all copies. Thank
you.

Use of e-mail

Our communications to you may contain confidential information or
information protected under solicitor-client privilege.  Please advise if
you wish us to use a mode of communication other than regular, unsecured
e-mail in our communications with you.
--------------------------------------------------------


Avis de confidentialite

Ce message, transmis par courriel, est confidentiel, peut etre protege par
le secret professionnel et est a l'usage exclusif du destinataire
ci-dessus. Toute autre personne est par les presentes avisee qu'il lui est
strictement interdit de le diffuser, le distribuer ou le reproduire. Si le
destinataire ne peut etre joint ou vous est inconnu, veuillez informer
l'expediteur par courrier electronique immediatement et detruire ce message
et toute copie de celui-ci. Merci.

Utilisation du courrier electronique

Nos communications avec vous peuvent contenir des renseignements
confidentiels ou proteges par le secret professionnel. Si vous desirez que
nous communiquions avec vous par un autre moyen de transmission que le
courrier electronique ordinaire non securise, veuillez nous en aviser.





_______________________________________________
Cc-ca mailing list
Cc-ca AT lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/cc-ca



_______________________________________________
Cc-ca mailing list
Cc-ca AT lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/cc-ca

Attachment: hpk excerpt re gold.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page