Re: copyright ownership question

[Bill Westwood <westwood@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Brad,

The copyright ownership to these works still resides with the corporation.
(If the corporation registered the work(s), their name would appear in space
#2 as the author and it would be indicated in the next line that the work
was a work made for hire.) If the corporation declared bankruptcy and sold
its assets, including the intellectual property, copyright would be
transferred to another entity.  If the company just folded, those copyrights
would still remain property of the corporation just like other physical
assets (buildings, land, equipment, name, etc), even if they weren't
registered.

The faculty member in question should track down someone from the company
and request permission (in writing) to use the work. He/she could even
request a transfer of copyright back to them (again in writing).  Unless the
company has future plans for the work, one request or the other would
probably be granted.

Best regards,

Bill Westwood
-- 
William B. Westwood, M.S.
Board Certified Medical Illustrator
Westwood Medical Communications
915 Broadway
Albany, NY  12207

p(518) 432-5237
f(518) 432-7106

For Great Medical Art, There's WESTWOOD and There's The Rest





on 11/1/04 4:34 PM, Bradley Brazzeal at bbrazzeal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> A faculty member asked me a question about copyright ownership, and I
> could use some help finding the answer. The faculty member used to work
> for a corporation that closed down, but it did not declare bankruptcy.
> As an employee for the corporation, he produced material as "works made
> for hire," and he would now like to use those works for things such as
> professional presentations. If the business entity was not a
> corporation, I would assume that the owners would maintain ownership of
> the copyrights. But for corporations, it is unclear to me.
> 
> I have looked through the copyright code, searched various databases,
> and tried to find relevant cases in West's Federal Practice Digest 4th,
> but I have not found anything addressing this issue. I would appreciate
> any help that anyone could give.
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> Brad Brazzeal
> Instruction Services Librarian
> Mississippi State University Libraries
> bbrazzeal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx