assigning joint ownership rights

I could use some assistance in answering the following questions. Assume that A. B and C are joint authors of a work (in this case, a motion picture) and acknowledge that each owns an undivided 1/3 interest in the copyright (which, I assume, means, at the least, that any money earned by any of them, after expenses, must be shared 1/3 with each of the other two).

If owner A wants to share her 1/3 interest with X, an individual who worked on the project, can she simply transfer 50% of her 1/3 interest to X, or does she need the permission of her co-owners to do so? If A does properly assign to X 50% of her 1/3 interest, are the other co-owners obligated to share their profits with her alone, and she
(only) obligated to share them 50/50 with X, or are the other two
owners, upon notice, required to treat A and X each as owners of an undivided 1/6 interest?

Does the answer change if, instead of being a joint author of the work, A obtained her 1/3 ownership interest by assignment from C, the original author?

Any guidance you can provide would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Howard Zaharoff, Esq.
Morse, Barnes-Brown & Pendleton, P.C.
1601 Trapelo Road
Reservoir Place
Waltham, MA 02451
(781) 622-5930 x237
(781) 622-5933 fax

email: hgz[_at_]mbbp.com Received on Fri Mar 24 2000 - 00:23:06 GMT