Raul Miller wrote: >> On 2004-07-14 18:36:52 +0100 Raul Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >> > I wonder what happens when two copyrighted works are in question, >> > where the parties involved each claim that their work has copyright >> > and the other does not, and both have choice of law and/or choice of >> > venue clauses. > > On Wed, Jul 14, 2004 at 07:22:30PM +0100, MJ Ray wrote: >> I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "has copyright" here, but I >> suspect it depends who is accusing who of infringement. > > Sorry, I wasn't clear. > > Party A has written work B. > Party C has written work D. > > Party A holds the copyright on work B and claims D is an infringing copy. > Party C holds the copyright on work D and claims that B is an infringing > copy. > > In scenario 1, the works also have conflicting "choice of law" clauses. > In scenario 2, the works also have conflicting "choice of venue" clauses. > > If we assume that choice of venue clauses have a material effect on > the meaning of the copyright, then scenario 2 introduces some seemingly > paradoxical results.
They have no effect on the copyright at all; if the issue is strictly one of copyright, the license does not come into it and venue is determined by other means. They have an effect on the *license*. To make this scenario work, you have to do the following: Party A has issued a license E to the public for work B Party C has issued a license F to the public for work D Party A claims that B is allowed by license F (C disagrees) Party C claims that D is allowed by license E (A disagrees) In scenario 1, the court will interpret license F by its laws, and license E by its laws, and determine who's right. Scenario 2 is admittedly problematic. However, you can't have B be a derivative work of D, *and* have D be a derivative work of B. The court who has venue for the copyright question will presumably rule on that. Afterwards, one of the license questions becomes moot. I don't know whether the copyright court would then send it to the venue for the other license; maybe, but there may be some legal rules about not having too many court cases for one problem which would cause the copyright court to decide that on its own. -- There are none so blind as those who will not see.
