§ 5 (2).
is made in the first instance, then there is no liability to pay royalties on copies made and sold by the assignee of the copyright[1].
Copyright passes on death as owner's personal property.
Copyright is personal property and passes on the death
of the owner to his personal representatives[2]. A bequest of " all my books " has been held to include valuable owner's
manuscript notes left by a physician[3]. Where an
author by his will directed his trustee to pay the
annual income " of his estate to his niece, it was "held that
all the proceeds from literary works published in the
testator's lifetime should be paid as income, but that all
proceeds from works posthumously published should be
invested as capital[4].
Bankruptcy. Copyright comes within the vesting section of the Bankruptcy Act, and passes to the trustee of a bankrupt owner[5].
Licence distinguished from partial assignment. A licence must be distinguished from a partial assignment. A licence passes no part of the legal property in the copyright, but is merely a contractual relation between the parties. If there is any doubt as to whether a written instrument is to be construed as a licence or an assignment, the answer will, as a rule, depend upon whether or not there are terms in the contract which show a reliance on the part of the grantor on the personal skill or reputation of the grantee. If they do, then a licence is to be presumed rather than an assignment[6]. For instance, a grant of the "sole and exclusive right of printing and publishing" is in itself an ambiguous expression, but if the agreement bears the personal imprint, it will be construed as a licence only, and not as a total or partial assignment of the copyright[7].
Licensee cannot sue alone. A licence differs from an assignment in that it does
- ↑ Nichols v. Amalgamnted Press (1908), Cop. Cas. 1905-10. p. 166.
- ↑ Latour v. Bland (1818), 2 Stark. 382.
- ↑ Willis v. Curtois (1838), 1 Beav. 189.
- ↑ Davidson's Trustees v. Ogilvie, [1910] S. C. 294.
- ↑ Mawman v. Tegg (1826), 2 Russ. 385, 392.
- ↑ Hole v. Bradbury (1879), 12 Ch. D. 886; Stevens v. Benning (1854), 1 K. & J. 168; Reade v. Bentley (1857), 3 K. & J. 271 ; 4 K. & J. 656; Cooper v. Stephens, [1895] 1 Ch. 567; Bastow, Ex parte (1854), 14 C. B. 631; Black v. Imperial Book Co. (1904), 8 Ont. L. R. 9.
- ↑ The Liedertafel Series, In re, [1907] 1 Ch. 651; Clinical Obstetrics, In re (1908), Cop. Cas. 1905-10, p. 176; Booth v. Richards (1810), The Times, July 14, Cop. Cas. 1905-10, p. 284.
