Revisionary Copyright: A Ghost of the Past or a Current Trap to Assignments of Copyright?

Abstract

Worldwide copyright assignments that contain a choice of law clause are the norm. National copyright laws in the United Kingdom and Spain do, however, contain provisions on reversionary copyright in their transition provision. These provisions would, if applicable, terminate the assignment 25 years after the death of the author and hand the copyright back to the author's successors in title rather than the assignees. From a choice of law pwerspective this becomes a classification issue. This article argues that we are dealing with a transferability issue and that the issue cannot be classified as contractual. That puts numerous assignments at risk.