Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 90 Part 2.djvu/1100

 90 STAT. 2568

"Public broadcasting. entity." 47 USC 397.

PUBLIC LAW 94-553—OCT. 19, 1976 compilation of pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, or the unauthorized use of any portion of an audiovisual work. (g) A s used in this section, the term "public broadcasting entity" means a noncommercial educational broadcast station as defined in section 397 of title 47 and any nonprofit institution or organization engaged in the activities described in clause (2) of subsection (d). Chapter 2.—COPYRIGHT O W N E R S H I P A N D TRANSFER Sec. 201. 202. 203. 204. 205.

17 USC 201.

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.

§ 201. Ownership of copyright (a) I N I T I A L O W N E R S H I P. — C o p y r i g h t in a work protected under this title vests initially in the author or authors of the work. The authors of a joint work are coowners of copyright in the work. (b) W O R K S MADE FOR H I R E. — I n the case of a work m a d e for h i r e,

the employer or other person for whom the work was prepared is considered the a u t h o r 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)

, 1 '

CONTRIBUTIONS TO COLLECTIVE W O R K S. — C o p y r i g h t 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. I n 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)

TPVANSFER o r

OWNERSHIP.—

(1) The ownership of a copyright may be transferred in whole or in part by any means of conveyance o r 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 r i g h t 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. — W h e n an individual a u t h o r ' s owner-

ship 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 p u r p o r t i n g 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. 17 USC 202.

§ 202. Ownership of copyright a s 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

�