Cap. 415 ст. 24Assignment and licences.

(1) Subject to the provisions of this article, copyright and neighbouring rights shall be transmissible by assignment, operation of law or by testamentary disposition as movable property.

(2) An assignment or testamentary disposition of copyright or neighbouring rights may be limited so as to apply to some only of the acts which the owner of the copyright or neighbouring rights has the exclusive right to authorize or prevent, or to a part only of the period of the copyright or neighbouring right, or to a specified country or other geographical area.

(3) When an author in relation to the original or copy of his work or a performer in relation to the fixation of his performance assigns his exclusive right to authorize or prevent the rental thereof to the producer of the sound recording or the producer of the audiovisual work containing the author’s work or the performer’s fixed performance, that author or performer shall retain the right to obtain individually or through a collecting society an equitable remuneration for the rental of the said sound recording or original or copy of the said audiovisual work from the producer concerned and such right may not be waived. In the absence of agreement on the remuneration payable under this sub-article, the amount of such remuneration shall be determined by the Board.

(4) Subject to the provisions of article 52 no assignment of copyright or neighbouring rights and no licence to do an act the doing of which is controlled by copyright or by neighbouring rights shall have effect unless it is effected by an agreement in writing between the parties: Provided that when a contract is concluded between a performer and a producer of audiovisual works concerning the production of an audiovisual work the performer shall be deemed to have assigned to the producer his exclusive rights on the fixation of his performance, unless agreed otherwise, subject only to the right, which may not be waived, of the performer to an equitable remuneration payable on the conclusion of the contract by the producer to the performer or should he so desire to a collecting society representing him, which remuneration shall, in the absence of agreement between the parties, be determined by the Board. Provided further that, when a contract is concluded between the author of an audiovisual work or the authors of the underlying works used as the basis for the audiovisual work and the producer of the audiovisual work concerning the production of that audiovisual work such authors shall be deemed to have assigned to the producer their exclusive rights on their copyright works, unless agreed otherwise, subject only to the right, which may not be waived, of the authors to an equitable remuneration payable on the conclusion of the contract by the producer to the author individually or should the author so desire, to a collecting society representing him, which remuneration shall, in the absence of agreement between the parties, be determined by the Board.

(5) An assignment or licence of copyright granted by a joint author or an assignment or licence of a neighbouring right granted by a joint rightholder shall have effect as if granted by the other joint authors or joint rightholders respectively: Provided that, where any other joint author in the case of copyright or joint rightholder in the case of neighbouring rights is not satisfied with the terms on which such assignment or licence has been granted, he may, within three months from the day on which the said terms have been communicated in writing to him, apply to the Board for the determination by it of such terms as the Board may consider fair and reasonable.

(6) An assignment, licence or testamentary disposition may be effectively granted or made in respect of a future work or an existing work in which copyright or a neighbouring right does not yet subsist, and the prospective copyright or prospective neighbouring right in any such work shall be transmissible as movable property: Provided that in the case of copyright such assignment or licence shall not be deemed to include a copyright which in terms of article 11(1) vests in the author’s employers, unless the parties expressly include it.

(7) A testamentary disposition of the material on which a work is first written or otherwise recorded shall, unless the testator has provided otherwise, be deemed to include any copyright or neighbouring right or prospective copyright or prospective neighbouring right in the work which is vested in the deceased.