Comparative Analysis of National Approaches on Voluntary Copyright RelinquishmentDr Andres Guadamuz University of Sussex, UK
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Can you relinquish your copyright?
Of course!
Surely!
Errrr… I guess so?
Why are you asking?
Depends on the view of copyright
Copyright as a property right: you can do what you want with your property, even donate it.
Copyright as a fundamental right of personality: you cannot renounce basic rights.
Terminology
Public domain dedication
relinquishment
renouncement
abandonment
Relinquishment (Kenya)s. 45(1) of the Kenyan Copyright Law: “The following works shall belong to the public domain-[…] (b) works in respect of which authors have renounced their rights;”
s 45(2): “For the purposes of paragraph (b), renunciation by an author or his successor in title of his rights shall be in writing and made public but any such renunciation shall not be contrary to any previous contractual obligation relating to the work.”
Moral rights (Colombia)
“Art. 30 (1) The above [moral] rights may not be waived or transferred. When authors transfer and authorize the exercise of their patrimonial rights they grant the enjoyment and disposal referred to the respective contract, and retain the [moral] rights provided in this Article.”
Results by countryCountry Allows voluntary
relinquishment?Can moral rights be waived?
Brazil Unclear No
Chile Yes No
China Unclear No
Colombia Yes No
Egypt Unclear No
France Unclear No
India Yes Unclear
Kenya Yes No
Republic of Korea Unclear No
Who is dedicating works to the public domain?
Scientific projects (Human Genome Project)
Memory institutions
Public bodies
Very few individuals
Creative Commons
CC licensing suite
BY Attribution
BY-NC Attribution - Non Commercial
BY-SA Attribution - Share Alike
BY-ND Attribution - No Derivatives
BY-NC-SA Attribution - Non Commercial - Share Alike
BY-NC-ND Attribution - Non Commercial - No Derivatives
CC0
Public domain dedication to the extent permitted by law.
If local copyright law does not allow relinquishment, then it acts as a “royalty-free, non-transferable, non sublicensable, non exclusive, irrevocable and unconditional license” to exercise all rights in the work.
CC0 adoptersThe British Library: The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) Library Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) Europeana Genomes Unzipped German National Library Harvard Library Netherlands Government Sage Commons Université de Montréal Biodiversity Centre
And…“As a work of the United States Government, this document is in the public domain within the United States. Additionally, the United States Government waives copyright and related rights in this work worldwide through the CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.”
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Concluding…
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