65
votes
Accepted
If I add a copyright disclaimer to my app, am I exempt of charges?
Imagine if the answer was a simple yes: adding a disclaimer was enough to exempt you from any and all copyright and trademark law suits. If that was the case, there would be no point in copyright or ...
- 818
59
votes
Who owns copyright on works found in a storage unit/attic?
Note: this answer refers to US copyright law. Other jurisdictions may differ, though the Berne Convention means that the general rules are largely the same. See chx's answer for more details.
...
- 6,793
34
votes
Accepted
How can a different company make a sequel if the original game company goes bankrupt?
A company does not cease to exist simply because it goes bankrupt. The company may wind down its operations, but it may just go through a process of restructuring its debts.
If the company is merely ...
- 61.1k
23
votes
If I add a copyright disclaimer to my app, am I exempt of charges?
"No infringement intended" is meaningless. One of these things is true:
The copy isn't an infringement.
The copy is an infringement, and the responsible person knows it.
The copy is an ...
- 38.8k
20
votes
How does copyrights work for mobile/web applications?
A fundamental principle of copyright law is that protection is only afforded to the concrete expression, and not the abstract idea. Therefore, if you write a sort program, what is protected is "...
- 216k
16
votes
How does copyrights work for mobile/web applications?
If the developer sold exclusive rights to their code, their customer has grounds to sue.
If the developer licensed their code non-exclusively, there isn't grounds.
Normally, a contract developer will ...
- 2,938
15
votes
How can a different company make a sequel if the original game company goes bankrupt?
The copyrights do not disappear just because the owner ceased to exist. That applies to both companies and people. As an asset, the copyright is part of the estate of the entity and will be either ...
- 2,120
14
votes
Who owns copyright on works found in a storage unit/attic?
Quick answer: Only the author/creator can get copyright, so: No, this buyer does not get copyright over these works.
(The US Copyright Office has several pamphlets explaining copyright clearly and ...
- 8,428
14
votes
What is required to transfer copyright when purchasing an original work (with out a contract)?
The work and the copyright to the work are different property rights
Buying one does not give you rights to the other. Copyright laws differ by country so its impossible to say which need transfers to ...
- 218k
12
votes
If I add a copyright disclaimer to my app, am I exempt of charges?
Neither the disclaimer nor the ads make any real difference. Using Nintendo-copyright images is potentially copyright infringement. Regardless of whether you earn money for it or put a disclaimer ...
- 1,157
10
votes
When an author sells the underlying copyright to a third party, where does the publisher now send the royalties?
Any obligation to pay royalties comes from the agreement between the publisher and the copyright holder. In a particular agreement, "the Author" is defined as the specific person, and the ...
- 216k
9
votes
Can I monetize a Pokemon themed App in Google Store
Your app is a simple case of copyright infringement. All the Pokémon are copyrighted, the lettering and names are also protect by trademarks.
Trying to claim fair use will be outright impossible: you'...
- 43.1k
7
votes
Accepted
Does the "70 years after death" rule always apply unconditionally?
In the EU, that's the general rule going forward, but there are two big exceptions I'm aware of. The general rule from Article 1(1) of the Copyright Term Directive:
The rights of an author of a ...
- 4,951
7
votes
If a copyrighted article is published in a copyrighted platform, then who own the copyright?
The term in copyright law for such a "platform" is a "collective work" or "compilations ". US law, 17 USC 101, says:
A “collective work” is a work, such as a periodical ...
- 114k
6
votes
Who owns copyright on works found in a storage unit/attic?
Note while jurisdictions do vary, copyright actually vary very little because it's an international convention. So let's review what the Berne Convention has on unpublished works:
https://www.law....
- 388
6
votes
If I add a copyright disclaimer to my app, am I exempt of charges?
That disclaimer really doesn't do much other than make it clear that what you're doing is not official. It isn't going to protect you. Using a company's intellectual property without their permission ...
- 190
6
votes
Accepted
If a copyrighted article is published in a copyrighted platform, then who own the copyright?
A platform will have copyright on its selection of articles, for example. Even if you get permission of all authors who are published on the platform, you couldn't just copy their selection of ...
- 35.1k
6
votes
Accepted
How the rights of the DotA map could be transferred to Valve?
An additional important fact is that the EULA at the time did not assign Blizzard the rights to custom maps.1 And since 2010, Blizzard and Valve have jointly registered DotA-related copyright. See e.g....
- 65.7k
6
votes
When an author sells the underlying copyright to a third party, where does the publisher now send the royalties?
Where does the publisher send the royalty check? To the author, or to
the new copyright owner?
To the new owner, as soon as the publisher is informed of the change in ownership of the copyright.
If ...
- 229k
5
votes
Accepted
Does utilizing "copyleft" programs like git and gcc imply that the output has to be under the same license?
My understanding is that here "derived from the program" means "created by modifying the source code of the program" and not "created by running the program". Certainly that is the way all users that ...
- 114k
5
votes
If one is the owner of an MIT licence, can that person relicense the software?
The MIT license is non-exclusive. If S is the sole copyright holder, S can issue any other non-exclusive license in parallel, and can also stop offering the software under the MIT license. However, ...
- 24.1k
5
votes
Accepted
What duty does the grantee of a license have to ascertain that granter holds the copyright or appropriate license?
You have strict liability for infringement of copyright whether you knew that the work was infringing or not (although due diligence could avoid punitive damages for willful infringement, or criminal ...
- 229k
4
votes
Accepted
What is the meaning of 'the rights reverted to the author of the book in 1951'?
"The rights to this work reverted to the author in 1951" means that back in 1951 the publisher's contract to print the book ended, and the author resumed full rights. (This might have been done by the ...
- 114k
4
votes
What is required to transfer copyright when purchasing an original work (with out a contract)?
Making a copy for the purpose of protecting the original is likely to fall under fair use (US) fair dealing (UK and perhaps some other jurisdictions) or a similar exception to copyright law (in still ...
- 38.8k
4
votes
Accepted
Will Naver own all user content on Wattpad when the sale goes through?
The Current Wattpad TOS says:
When you post content to Wattpad, we need the legal permission under applicable copyright laws to display that content to users of the Wattpad Services. Legally this ...
- 114k
4
votes
If one is the owner of an MIT licence, can that person relicense the software?
Can I use this code in my personal project and discard the MIT License?
Sure. You can use the code however you want. US law permits ordinary use without significant restrictions. If you buy a book, ...
- 3,271
4
votes
If one is the owner of an MIT licence, can that person relicense the software?
If S is the owner: yes
But S isn't the owner
The software the question describes is probably a joint work - the copyright belongs to all of the authors collectively.
If the work of individual authors (...
- 218k
4
votes
How to make an indie app to "belong" to the legal company?
There are basically two kinds of things one could do.
One could assign or transfer intellectual property rights and contracts related to the app to the entity, or one could license the intellectual ...
- 229k
4
votes
Can I sell the file OR a print of a 3D model that I significantly altered?
united-states
The license won't let you sell the .stl file. Probably you have created a derivative work, which means you can't sell it without a copyright license (and the CC-A-NC won't do).
If it ...
- 161
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible