Concept Of Assignment Under Copyright

Nobody has the right to use the copyrighted work without the permission of the copyright owner. This means that no one can copy, publish, reproduce, or use the work for commercial purposes without the prior permission of the creator. The law plays an important role here and gives the right to the copyright owner to transfer these rights of ownership of copyright to the third party.

There are certain moral rights that remain with the author even after the assignment of the copyright. These rights are independent in nature.
Some of the moral rights are:

• The copyright owner retains the right to claim the ownership on the work even after the assignment.
• The creator can claim damages for any kind of changes (which includes modifications and distortion).
• If any act of the assignee causes damages to the goodwill of the creator by any of his acts then he shall have to pay the damages to the owner of the copyright. It is important to note that such an act is done before the expiration of the term.

Difference Between Assignment And License

There is no formal registration required in copyright and it exists for seventy years after the death of the creator of the copyrighted work. Because of this thing, it sometimes becomes very difficult to keep track of the copyrighted work. The rights are given to publish the work and is the publishing right and is different from the assignment of the copyrighted work.

Usually, the copyright owner prefers to license their work so that others can use their work in return they will receive royalties. On the other side copyright owners can choose to assign their work with the motive to gain monetary benefits. It depends entirely on the discretion of the copyright holder to give an assignment or the license on his work. These two terms are often confused even if they are highly differentiated.

Various kinds of licenses can be granted under copyright. A license is granted in the form of a licensing agreement, it also gives the time period for which it is granted. “A perpetual license can be granted in relation to copyright, these are licenses which are granted for an indefinite period.”