Ch. 11
11.8.1
11.8.1
11-22
Part 11.8 RENEWAL CLAIMANTS: PROPRIETORS
11.8.1
Proprietors in general.
I.
Definition. The term "proprietor" refers to the owner of copyright on the date the renewal application is filed.
II.
Derivation of title. In order to claim renewal as "proprietor," the claimant must derive his title directly or indirectly from the original copyright owner.
11.8.2
Posthumous works.
I.
Proper claimant. If a work "posthumous" within the meaning of the copyright law, the proprietor is the only proper claimant.
a.
Generally, the author's widow, children, executors, or next of kin have no right to claim renewal in posthumous work.
b.
It a work consists of the writings of more than one person, and if one of the authors died before first publication, the work is regarded as partially posthumous, and renewal or copyright in the posthumous material must be claimed by the proprietor.
Example:
collection or letters by famous author, edited by his widow; widow may claim renewal in her editing as "author, but publisher claims renewal in letters as "proprietor of copyright in a posthumous work."
c.
There is doubt under the wording of the renewal section as to whether the proprietor of a posthumous work may claim renewal when the work was originally published as a contribution to a periodical and not registered separately. The Copyright Office will accept applications from the proprietor, from the author's executors, widow, children, or next or kin, or from both, provided separate applications and fees are submitted.
II.
Definitions. The term "posthumous work" includes a work first published after the author's death, and registration in such a work is made only in the name of the proprietor. It is unclear whether the following works are "posthumous," and the Copyright Office will accept claims by the proprietors, by the author's beneficiaries, or both:
a.
Works registered as unpublished after the author's death, but never published.
