Re: Assignment of "Future Works"

Another example, one with which I am very familiar, is an exclusive songwriting contract. All the songs the writer composes during the term of the contract are assigned to the publisher (usually for the duration of the copyright, although there can be twists on this, such as an agreement to return the songs to the writer if they are not exploited within a certain amount of tiem, and this doesn't take into account the provisions of U.S. law concerning termination of transfers or the arcane area of renewal rights). Leaving aside these points, in order to respond to your request for authority, are you talking about the present state of affairs (i.e., post-1978), or whether it was possible before 1978. You say that you've "always understood" (correctly, I believe), so it's unclear whether you want to know what made it so in the past, or what makes it so now. I don't have any cites handy, but the response might be different depending on the focus of your question.

At 04:20 PM 4/8/2005, Heiko E. Burow wrote:
>Hello,
>
>I have always understood that, in the U.S., it is permissible to agree to
>assign the copyrights to "future works," i.e., one or more works that is
>not yet in existence but will or may come into existence in the
>future. For example, a company entering into a service contract can have
>an independent contractor sign a general assignment clause pursuant to
>which the contract assigns its copyrights in any work that are created
>within the scope of the service contract. I understand that such
>assignment would be enforceable. Does anybody have any legal authority on
>this point that they can share?
>
>I guess the outside bounds of the enforceability are public policy, lack
>of consideration or excessive ambiguity (under state contract law), such
>as where it is not reasonably possible to determine what is and what is
>not a future work covered by the assignment.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Heiko
>
>Heiko E. Burow

S. Martin Keleti
Cohen and Cohen
740 North La Brea Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038-3339
323.938.5000
323.936.6354 fax Received on Mon Apr 11 2005 - 22:50:59 GMT