Licensing Your Exclusive Rights

Copyright law affords copyright owners certain exclusive rights, meaning rights reserved just for the copyright owner: the right to reproduce a work, the right to create derivative works, the right to publicly perform a work, the right to publicly display a work, the right to distribute a work, and the right to publicly perform sound recordings via digital transmission. While this “bundle of rights” can be licensed together, meaning the granting of rights to other users of the copyright (without granting ownership), it is important to consider 1) the type of work involved (text, music, photographs, art, film, etc.) and 2) the rights involved in licensing. This blogpost will give you a better understanding of the scope of your license and the implications for your protected work.

If you aren’t sure what exactly a copyright is and how it affects your small business, we encourage you to also check out our free resource library, including one outlining different ways a small business owner can protect their copyrights or another distinguishing between copyrights, trademarks, and other types of IP.

The Right to Reproduce the Work

Simply put, the right to reproduce is the right to copy a protected work. This is the right that is likely the most understood, especially when it comes to copying a work without permission. What constitutes a copy can depend on the type of work and the degree of copying. It can be a literal duplication, such as reprinting photographs or the text of a book, but a copy is not always the entire work. Sometimes reproducing a portion of a protected work will also constitute a copy. Reproducing a work means that there can be more copies available for use or purchase by the public, which makes this right especially valuable in licensing for merchandise, publishing, and distribution.

The Right to Make Derivative Works

A derivative work is a new work that is based on an existing protected work. It can look like a movie adapted from a novel, a new song featuring a sample, or even fan fiction. As with the other exclusive rights, the right to make a derivative work belongs to the copyright owner alone. However, the copyright owner may permit others to make a new work based on their protected work.

This exclusive right is one of the most important because it can serve as the foundation for countless new works. A character from a book can become the basis for a new movie or tv show. A cartoon could be the basis for a line of children’s books. The world of derivative works is wide and in some cases the copyright owner of the original work can obtain ownership rights in the new work. This, in turn can create additional licensing opportunities.

The Right to Publicly Perform

Copyright owners have the exclusive right to perform their work for a public audience, but this right only pertains to works that can be performed such as music and dramatic works like plays and musicals. Generally, the right of public performance intersects with live performance. This affects concert halls, theatres, venues, and arenas, which must obtain public performance license before allowing live shows or programming. The right of public performance also touches most public places like restaurants, bars, and shopping malls, because playing music in a public setting constitutes a public performance.

Depending on the terms, the license can establish details like where and how long a work will be performed. For example, the amount of time a musical runs at a theatre is generally dictated under a licensing agreement. 

Other Exclusive Rights

The other exclusive rights, the right to distribute and the right to publicly display a work, are more intuitive but no less important. The right of distribution allows for copies of a protected work to be made available to the public and with technological advances, the right of distribution applies to physical and digital distribution. The right to display a work publicly generally relates to visual art such as murals, paintings, and photos, but can also extend to text and images from audiovisual or dramatic works like movies, tv shows, and plays. Licensing terms concerning these rights can dictate the territory and duration of distribution (e.g., United States for 3 years) as well as how a work is displayed and the care required during its period of display (e.g., displaying a painting in a museum in a room with low humidity).

Understanding these exclusive rights is critical to understanding your licensing terms. When you understand your rights under copyright law you can better control how, where, and when your work is being used. Because of these various terms and options, it’s important to discuss with an attorney your specific situation before licensing your creative. 

DISCLAIMER: This blog post is meant for informational purposes only and does not constitute specific legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship. Readers should discuss their specific situation and considerations with an attorney.