On Tue Jan 13 16:09:42 2004, Daniel Harris wrote:
On Dec 20, 2003, at 8:06 pm, Dave Cridland [Home] wrote:... in the case of a joint copyright...What about having joint copyright on the code then? Would that work? Is it possible to assign copyright to another entity but still retain it for yourself?
Oddly enough, I'm not sure if assignment to joint copyright is actually covered in UK law. The copyright hodler(s) can certainly assign copyright to a single entity, but I can't see anything about assignments to multiple entities.
Does *joint copyright* mean that both parties have to be consulted before any action can be taken or does it mean both can act independent of each other, probably under some sort of agreement - like territories or use?
Joint copyright is entirely valid, but has problems, specifically that in some territories, such as the US, the judge can insist that all joint copyright holders are present in an infringement case. That's a pain, since there may be hundreds, if not thousands, of joint owners of copyright.
Exactly how joint copyright works *between* authors is, IIRC, pretty vague. I'd have thought you'd need a contract between them, and a contract - not being a license - is not valid unless both sides get something. Since the donator of code isn't getting anything, it'd be interesting to see if the contract could be valid.
** I am not a lawyer. ** Dave.