Joint authors Where two or more people have created a single work protected by copyright and the contribution of each author is not distinct from that of the other(s), those people may be considered joint owners. There are slightly different rules for what are referred to as “co-written works” – see below.

The U.S. Copyright Act provides the default rules for who owns what when it comes to joint works, or collaborations between two or more authors. As stated above, co-authors are co-owners of a joint work. This means that each co-author is entitled to an undivided interest in the work as a whole.

Co-authors own the work’s copyright jointly and equally, unless the authors make an agreement otherwise. Each joint author has the right to exercise any or all of the exclusive rights inherent in the joint work.

(b) Joint Works.— In the case of a joint work prepared by two or more authors who did not work for hire, the copyright endures for a term consisting of the life of the last surviving author and 70 years after such last surviving author’s death.

Thus, both co-owners of a copyright and the owners of a subdivision of an exclusive copyright interest have in common that each can independently license, sue to protect and transfer their respective interests.

When two or more authors materially contribute to a work, and each does so with the intent of creating a single work, the work is “jointly authored.” If you only contribute non-copyrightable elements, such as ideas and suggestions, then you’re not an author.

Under Indian law, joint owners of a copyright cannot exploit the copyright singly or individually; they can only do so jointly. No joint owner can assign, transfer, license or sub-license or in any other manner use the copyright without the concurrence of the other joint owners.

The court held that in order to be characterized as a joint author, an individual must show two things: first, that he or she produced independent copyright material within the context of the creative process and second, that both individual authors exhibited mutual intent to create the joint work.

A “copyright owner” or “copyright holder” is a person or a company who owns any one of the Exclusive Rights of copyright in a work. Copyright ownership is separate from the ownership of the work itself. For instance, when an artist sells a painting to someone, the artist usually retains the copyright in the painting.

coauthor. author, writer – writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay)

A work of joint authorship is different to works of “co-authorship”, where the author of a musical work and the author of a literary work collaborate to create two works to be used together, such as a musical or an opera. Joint owners of copyright in a literary work must both agree to any exploitation of their work.

You can look at the copyright page near the front of the book to find the copyright owner next to the © and the year the book was copyrighted.

If joint authorship exists, the authors of the “joint work” will be recognized as the co-owners of the copyright in that work. Co-authorship and collaboration are commonplace in the publishing industry.

When two or more authors prepare a work with the intent to combine their contributions into inseparable or interdependent parts, the work is considered joint work and the authors are considered joint copyright owners. The most common example of a joint work is when a book or article has two or more authors.

The law of copyright provides that an author is the person who creates a work of authorship and is, at least the first instance, the sole owner of the work.

The U.S. Copyright Office allows buyers of exclusive and non-exclusive copyright rights to record the transfers in the U.S. Copyright Office. This helps to protect the buyers in case the original copyright owner later tries to transfer the same rights to another party.