Copyright And Moral Rights Question...

[Guest noah]

I'm planning on selling my full copyright (to music I solely have written and own) and am mixed up with regards to the 'moral rights' issue. From what I understand moral rights are actually alienable (can be sold/waived), however this seems to vary depending on the country you may be selling from. My question is ...can I draw up a simple contract assigning what moral rights I choose to keep (in my case authorship and a degree of coherence to lyric/form) and have this contract valid in any country I may have the copyright for sale in? The party buying the copyright may or may not have a specific contract of their own, so I am hoping to draft something for my own benefit and have it applicable in various situations.

My performing rights organization (SOCAN) does not provide a standard 'assignment of copyright' form and the ones I have viewed from other organizations are hardly specific. I understand music publishers will incorporate a clause for 'moral rights' in a standard contract ...could I perhaps draft my contract loosely based on something like this?

[Steve]

noah said:

I'm planning on selling my full copyright (to music I solely have written and own) and am mixed up with regards to the 'moral rights' issue. From what I understand moral rights are actually alienable (can be sold/waived), however this seems to vary depending on the country you may be selling from. My question is ...can I draw up a simple contract assigning what moral rights I choose to keep (in my case authorship and a degree of coherence to lyric/form) and have this contract valid in any country I may have the copyright for sale in? The party buying the copyright may or may not have a specific contract of their own, so I am hoping to draft something for my own benefit and have it applicable in various situations.

My performing rights organization (SOCAN) does not provide a standard 'assignment of copyright' form and the ones I have viewed from other organizations are hardly specific. I understand music publishers will incorporate a clause for 'moral rights' in a standard contract ...could I perhaps draft my contract loosely based on something like this?

If you draft your own contract, you can have anything you like in it. Whether the other party will agree to your terms/demands is another matter all together!

Have a look at these articles by Lazz.

 

Copyright Part 1 - Almost Everything I Know

Copyright Part 2 - Almost Everything I Know

Copyright Part 3 - Almost Everything I Know

 

Welcome to songstuff.

[john]

Hey

Welcome to Songstuff!

Take some time and post a little of your background in the Introduce Yourself board.

Coptright law does vary, however you can write your own contract, although I would recommend that you start by looking at existing copyright permission contracts.

There are several ways to assign your copyright premission, including sale. Is there a reason that you want to sell your songs rather than license them?

Some countries do not recognise copyright at all, but for all intents and purposes they are the exception.

Hopefully Lazz can help you with this, though I know he has been busy with a project so he might not see your post right away.

Cheers

John