The Powerful Effects of Copyright Reversion

A common type of client I've seen in practice is the founder who sold IP (or company) to another, only to see the creation buried for one reason or another. The client usually wanted the rights back, so as to see the work grow. We invariably had to give the bad news: there was little to do but negotiate for a return (which we sometimes achieved). [Practice tip: build reversion rights into the sales contracts, though the buyer often chokes on such language].Of course, we explored copyright reversion, which allows for reversion after 35 years for post 1978 works. But in the software area, 3 years might as well be forever. Few software products last 35 years (is Linux a work made for hire? Uh oh).Paul Heald (Illinois) has done some really useful work in this area. His prior work shows the U-shape curve of books available on Amazon. Recent books are available, and books in the public domain (before the 1920s) are available, but books in copyright but not recent are not…

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