Copyright of purchaser?

[rhess]

If after paying off a lawsuit, an organization takes title to an archive that had a lien on it placed by the winner of the lawsuit in order to collect his judgment, does that organization have ownership rights to the non-profit corporation's newsletter? Can anyone use the material in those newsletters without permission from the organization if the organization has not separately copyrighted those newsletter issues?
Thanks.
Howard
(212) 579-0689 (B)

 

[freebird]

A copyright exists once a "work of authorship" is "affixed in a tangible medium." Simply put, if you write it down or in a similar fashion, it is automatically copyrighted. Proof is another issue.

The right to the copyright is different than the right to the physical copy of the work. For example, if you created 5 copies of a book, there is a difference between physically owning the 5 copies of the book and the copyright to print up 50 books or however many you want to reproduce. From what you are telling me, it seems that unless the ownership of the copyright was ever explicitly mentioned as being at risk here and subject of the lien, then the copyright was not transferred. It would seem that in such a case the only thing transferred was physical possession of the newsletters which the owner can send or give as he pleases but certainly not more in a way that would violate the owner's copyright rights.

Originally posted by rhess
If after paying off a lawsuit, an organization takes title to an archive that had a lien on it placed by the winner of the lawsuit in order to collect his judgment, does that organization have ownership rights to the non-profit corporation's newsletter? Can anyone use the material in those newsletters without permission from the organization if the organization has not separately copyrighted those newsletter issues?
Thanks.
Howard
(212) 579-0689 (B)