Press Enter go to main content
:::

Taiwan Intellectual Property Office_Logo

:::

How do I get a person's consent if I wish to use their work?

To generate economic value, works must be circulated for use. Apart from assigning (selling) the economic rights of their works in exchange for valuable consideration, authors may also license others to use ("exploit") their works in exchange for royalties, increasing the economic value of the works. For persons wishing to use works of others, economic rights licensing is the usual avenue taken for lawful use of such works. An "economic rights license" basically refers to a private contract between a user (exploiter) of a work and the economic rights owner of the work. Such contracts are stipulated between the exploiter and the economic rights owner according to their mutual intent, based on the principle of freedom of contract. Any particulars that are not clearly covered by stipulations for use (exploitation) are presumed not having been licensed, so as to protect the economic rights holders. Therefore, license contracts should be made in writing. The more specific and detailed the content, the less likely that any dispute may arise later on. Generally speaking, the content of a license contract should be stipulated between the two parties according to their needs, and should cover the territory, term, content (which economic rights are licensed), method of exploitation, amount of the royalties and means of payment, and other particulars of the license. It is highly recommended that license contracts be made in writing to avoid subsequent disputes. Also, if the genuine intent of the parties is to sign an "exclusive license" contract, this should also be explicitly stated to avoid subsequent disputes.

  • Publish Date : 2008-04-24
  • Update : 2020-09-09
  • Organization : International Legal Affairs Office
  • Visitors : 2670

ePaper Subscription

Subscribe to TIPO's monthly ePaper for the latest IP news

Top