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?)

It doesn't take a Supreme Court opinion to determine whether an author can sell a copyright. All it takes is 17 USC 201(d)(1).

Robert C. Cumbow
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