U.S.A. Copyright Law, Library of Congress. Copyright Office [reading diary TXT] 📗

a network station" in lieu of "programming contained in a primary

transmission made by a network station and embodying a performance or

display of a work." Id. at 1501A-531 and 544. The Act amended section

119(a)(2) by substituting new language for paragraph (B) and, in

paragraph (C), by deleting "currently" after "the satellite carrier"

near the end of the first sentence. Id. at 1501A-528 and 544. It also

amended section 119(a)(4) by inserting "a performance or display of a

work embodied in" after "by a satellite carrier of" and by deleting "and

embodying a performance or display of a work." Id. at 1501A-544. The

Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999 further amended section

119(a) by adding subparagraph (E) to paragraph (5). Id. at 1501A-528.

It amended section 119(a)(6) by inserting "performance or display of a

work embodied in" after "by a satellite carrier of" and by deleting "and

embodying a performance or display of a work." Id. The Act also

amended section 119(a) by adding paragraphs (11) and (12). Id. at

1501A-529 and 531.

The Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999 amended section 119(b)

(1) by inserting "or the Public Broadcasting Service satellite feed"

into subparagraph (B). (See endnote 60, infra.) Id. at 1501A-530.

The Act amended section 119(c) by adding a new paragraph (4). Id. at

1501A-527. The Act amended section 119(d) by substituting new language

for paragraphs (9) through (11) and by adding paragraph (12). Id. at

1501A-527, 530 and 531. The Act substituted new language for section

119(e). Id. at 1501A-529.

56 The Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999 amended section

119(a)(1) by deleting "primary transmission made by a superstation and

embodying a performance or display of a work" and inserting in its place

"performance or display of a work embodied in a primary transmission

made by a superstation." Pub. L. No. 106-113, 113 Stat. 1501, app. I at

1501A-543. This amendatory language did not take into account a prior

amendment which had inserted "or by the Public Broadcasting Service

satellite feed" after "superstation" into the phrase quoted above that

was deleted. Pub. L. No. 106-113, 113 Stat. 1501, app. I at 1501A-530.

There was no mention of the phrase "or by the Public Broadcasting

Service satellite feed" in that second amendment. To accommodate both

amendments, the phrase "or by the Public Broadcasting Service satellite

feed" has been placed at the end of the new language, after

"superstation."

57 The Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1994 states that "The provisions of

section 119(a)(5)(D) . . . relating to the burden of proof of satellite

carriers, shall take effect on January 1, 1997, with respect to civil

actions relating to the eligibility of subscribers who subscribed to

service as an unserved household before the date of the enactment of

this Act." Pub. L. No. 103-369, 108 Stat. 3477, 3481.

58 It appears that section 1011(b)(2)(D)(i) of the Satellite Home

Viewer Improvement Act of 1999 inadvertently omitted the word "a" when

it amended this paragraph. Pub. L. No. 106-113, 113 Stat. 1501, app. I

at 1501A-528.

59 The Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1994 states that "The provisions of

section 119(a)(8)[,] . . . relating to transitional signal intensity

measurements, shall cease to be effective on December 31, 1996." Pub. L.

No. 103-369, 108 Stat. 3477, 3481.

60 It appears that Congress intended for the Satellite Home Viewer

Improvement Act of 1999 to amend section 119(a) of title 17, as amended

by section 1005(d) of the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999,

by adding a new paragraph (12) at the end thereof. Pub. L. No. 106-113,

113 Stat. 1501, app. I at 1501A-531. However, due to a drafting error,

the reference in the amendment is to section 119(a) as amended by

section 1005(e), instead.

61 It appears that Congress intended for the Satellite Home Viewer

Improvement Act of 1999 to amend section 119(b)(1)(B)(ii) to insert "or

the Public Broadcasting Service satellite feed" after "network station."

Pub. L. No. 106-113, 113 Stat. 1501, app. I at 1501A-530. However, due

to a drafting error, the reference in the amendment is to section 119(b)

(1)(B)(iii), instead. The Act states that this amendment shall be

effective as of July 1, 1999. Pub. L. No. 106-113, 113 Stat. 1501, app.

I at 1501A-544.

62 The Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999 states that

section 119(c)(4) shall be effective as of July 1, 1999. Pub. L. No.

106-113, 113 Stat. 1501, app. I at 1501A-527.

63 The Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999 states that

section 119(c)(5) shall be effective as of July 1, 1999. Pub. L. No.

106-113, 113 Stat. 1501, app. I at 1501A-544.

64 The Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999 states that

section 119(d)(9) shall be effective as of July 1, 1999. Pub. L. No.

106-113, 113 Stat. 1501, app. I at 1501A-544.

65 The Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999 states that

section 119(d)(12) shall be effective as of July 1, 1999. Pub. L. No.

106-113, 113 Stat. 1501, app. I at 1501A-544.

66 In 1990, the Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act added

section 120. Pub. L. No. 101-650, 104 Stat. 5089, 5133.

67 The Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 1997, added section 121.

Pub. L. No. 104-197, 110 Stat. 2394, 2416. The Work Made for Hire and

Copyright Corrections Act of 2000 amended section 121 by substituting

"section 106" for "sections 106 and 710." Pub. L. No. 106-379, 114 Stat.

1444, 1445.

68 The Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999 added section 122.

Pub. L. No. 106-113, 113 Stat. 1501, app. I at 1501A-523. The Act states

that section 122 shall be effective as of November 29, 1999. Pub. L. No.

106-113, 113 Stat. 1501, app. I at 1501A-544.

Chapter 2

Copyright Ownership and Transfer

Ownership of copyright

Ownership of copyright as distinct from ownership of material

object

Termination of transfers and licenses granted by the author Execution of transfers of copyright ownership Recordation of transfers and other documents

Section 201. Ownership of copyright {1}

(a) Initial Ownership. Copyright in a work protected under this title

vests initially in the author or authors of the work. The authors of a

joint work are coowner of copyright in the work.

(b) Works Made for Hire. In the case of a work made for hire, the

employer or other person for whom the work was prepared is considered

the author for purposes of this title, and, unless the parties have

expressly agreed otherwise in a written instrument signed by them, owns

all of the rights comprised in the copyright.

(c) Contributions to Collective Works. Copyright in each separate

contribution to a collective work is distinct from copyright in the

collective work as a whole, and vests initially in the author of the

contribution. 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.

(d) Transfer of Ownership.-

(1) The ownership of a copyright may be transferred in whole or in part

by any means of conveyance or by operation of law, and may be bequeathed

by will or pass as personal property by the applicable laws of intestate

succession.

(2) Any of the exclusive rights comprised in a copyright, including any

subdivision of any of the rights specified by section 106, may be

transferred as provided by clause (1) and owned separately. The owner of

any particular exclusive right is entitled, to the extent of that right,

to all of the protection and remedies accorded to the copyright owner by

this title.

(e) Involuntary Transfer. When an individual author's ownership of a

copyright, or of any of the exclusive rights under a copyright, has not

previously been transferred voluntarily by that individual author, no

action by any governmental body or other official or organization

purporting to seize, expropriate, transfer, or exercise rights of

ownership with respect to the copyright, or any of the exclusive rights

under a copyright, shall be given effect under this title, except as

provided under title 11. [2]

Section 202. Ownership of copyright as distinct from ownership of material

object.

Ownership of a copyright, or of any of the exclusive rights under a

copyright, is distinct from ownership of any material object in which

the work is embodied. Transfer of ownership of any material object,

including the copy or phonorecord in which the work is first fixed, does

not of itself convey any rights in the copyrighted work embodied in the

object; nor, in the absence of an agreement, does transfer of ownership

of a copyright or of any exclusive rights under a copyright convey

property rights in any material object.

Section 203. Termination of transfers and licenses granted by the

author [3]

(a) Conditions for Termination. In the case of any work other than a

work made for hire, the exclusive or nonexclusive grant of a transfer or

license of copyright or of any right under a copyright, executed by the

author on or after January 1, 1978, otherwise than by will, is subject

to termination under the following conditions:

(1) In the case of a grant executed by one author, termination of the

grant may be effected by that author or, if the author is dead, by the

person or persons who, under clause (2) of this subsection, own and are

entitled to exercise a total of more than one-half of that author's

termination interest. In the case of a grant executed by two or more

authors of a joint work, termination of the grant may be effected by a

majority of the authors who executed it; if any of such authors is dead,

the termination interest of any such author may be exercised as a unit

by the person or persons who, under clause (2) of this subsection, own

and are entitled to exercise a total of more than one-half of that

author's interest.

(2) Where an author is dead, his or her termination interest is owned,

and may be exercised, as follows:

(A) the widow or widower owns the author's entire termination interest

unless there are any surviving children or grandchildren of the author,

in which case the widow or widower owns one-half of the author's

interest;

(B) the author's surviving children, and the surviving children of any

dead child of the author, own the author's entire termination interest

unless there is a widow or widower, in which case the ownership of one-

half of the author's interest is divided among them;

(C) the rights of the author's children and grandchildren are in all

cases divided among them and exercised on a per stirpes basis according

to the number of such author's children represented; the share of the

children of a dead child in a termination interest can be exercised only

by the action of a majority of them.

(D) In the event that the author's widow or widower, children, and

grandchildren are not living, the author's executor, administrator,

personal representative, or trustee shall own the author's entire

termination interest.

(3) Termination of the grant may be effected at any time during a period

of five years beginning at the end of thirty-five years from the date of

execution of the grant; or, if the grant covers the right of publication

of the work, the period begins at the end of thirty-five years from the

date of publication of the work under the grant or at the end of forty

years from the date of execution of the grant, whichever term ends

earlier.