Re: one time use

Re licensing one's photos or stories to magazines under a grant that specifies "one time use":

Remember that sec 201(c) of the Copyright Act provides that "In the absence of an express transfer of the copyright or of any rights under it, the owner of copyright in the collective work is presumed to have acquired only the privilege of reproducing and distributing the contribution as part of that particular collective work, ANY REVISION of that collective work, AND any later collective work in the same series." (Emphasis added.) This suggests to me that "one time" might be interpreted to include not only the initial edition or issue, but also revisions and later works in the same series.

It may be that specifying "one time use" would be sufficiently clear to trump the Act's default provision, and keep the licensee from featuring your work in more than one edition. But it strikes me as a phrase that's dangerously vague. It can't be taken literally-- for a magazine will make thousands of copies of your licensed photo or story with each press run, and may make several press runs of the same issue, without anyone imagining that they're exceeding the "one time" restriction. So, since "one time" means MORE THAN ONE copy or more than one moment, it may be an open question as to how much more than one literal copy the term does embrace. And I can well imagine a judge calling on the above statutory provision to fill in the blank.

Wendy J. Gordon                 |		
Professor of Law                |  Internet:  wgordon[_at_]bu.edu
Boston University Law School    |  Phone:     617-353-4420
765 Commonwealth Avenue         |  Fax:       617-353-3077
Boston, MA  02215               |
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