Re: Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8.

On Fri, Jul 28, 2000, Christopher Gwyn <christopher[_at_]icopyright.com> wrote:
>
> "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?)

Fogarty v. Fantasy may speak to the first. I'd think that the practice is so well established that it's not considered a question. See, for example, works for hire as defined in 17 USC.

The recent (current -- status update Eric?) Eldritch v. Reno case attempted to clarify what "for limited times" means. Initial finding was for the defendent -- eg: life + n years is considered "limited". Frankly, the court's logic fails me.

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