[quote=njtosd][quote=XBoxBoy]you can sell the copyright rights even though you don’t sell the copyright.
[/quote] Um – I hope those are your words and not an attorney’s. . . Anyway – here is the question: If they stop paying, who does the copyright belong to? If you have assigned (sold it), the copyright no longer belongs to you, and your only recourse would be to sue for breach of contract. Generally speaking, you don’t assign without getting the money up front, just as you wouldn’t transfer title on a house without getting the money up front.
Here’s at least one question. Copyrights, to be enforceable, must be registered with the U.S. (for US citizens) Copyright Office. Who do THEY think owns it? Have you filed a document with the Copyright office assigning the ownership of the copyright to someone else?[/quote]
Njtosd, Thanks for all your concern, but as I mentioned above I’m not going to get into specifics of my situation in an online forum.
But two simple points.
1) If I understand correctly your questions center around what the copyright law would say about selling copyright rights, but I’m not talking about copyright law, but instead about tax regulations. Interesting that you were the one who pointed out that the laws would be different and it would be best to get separate advice on the two topics. Ironically, I think you’re proving your own point, although maybe you don’t see that. (I believe you mentioned you are a patent attorney) My comments above should not be taken to have any bearing on ownership under the copyright laws, only on the way the IRS views things.
2) The words above were my words, however they are just a simplified version (perhaps bastardization would be a better term) of words in the regulation:
“A transfer of a computer program is classified as a transfer of a copyright right if, as a result of the transaction, a person acquires any one or more of the rights described in paragraphs (c)(2)(i) through (iv) of this section.”
Again keep in mind this is only relevant to the tax regulation, not to actually ownership of the copyright under copyright law.
