Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8.

   "To promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing    for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive rights    to their respective writings and discoveries."      (United States Constitution, Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8).

Copyright law as enacted in the United States clearly allows an author to sell the copyright to a work that he or she has created. I can't think of any interpretation of Clause 8 that would not allow an author to license a work in any way that he or she sees fit... But if the author has the "exclusive rights to their... writings" -- does that mean that the author can act to deprive his or her self of that right -- i.e. sell the copyright.

References to cases where an author was accused, and even convicted, of infringement have been mentioned recently. I would assume that if an author granted an exclusive license to "MegaCorp", and then created a derivative work, that the derivative work could be an infringement of MegaCorp's license. So a "self-infringement" case might not quite address whether an author can sell a copyright -- particularly if it didn't get to the Supreme Court.

Can anyone think of a Supreme Court case that speaks to whether an author can actually _sell_ a copyright? (Or for that matter if the Supreme Court has ever defined what "for limited times" means?)

     Sincerely,
     Christopher

Christopher Gwyn
Licensing Agent, iCopyright.com
425-430-4555 x628 (voice)
425-430-8878 (fax)
http://www.iCopyright.com/
<christopher[_at_]icopyright.com> Received on Fri Jul 28 2000 - 19:03:11 GMT