Reverting to reversion rights? Reflections on the Copyright Act 1911

Cooper, E. (2021) Reverting to reversion rights? Reflections on the Copyright Act 1911. European Intellectual Property Review, 43(5), pp. 292-297.

Abstract

With reversion rights on the legislative agenda of EU Member States (owing to art.22 Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive ) this article uncovers the legislative history of reversion in the UK Copyright Act 1911 (which applied also to the British Empire). Reversion related to controversies surrounding the significant increase in the copyright term in 1911 (to the author’s life plus 50 years). A significant post-mortem term was intended to enable authors to make meaningful provision for their families but this would be undermined if "rich publishers" could take an assignment for the full term. Accordingly, reversion was an essential part of the legislative package which facilitated significant term extension in 1911. The 1911 debates were also the occasion for the consideration of a proposal for reversion in the event of an assignee’s bankruptcy. This article concludes by reflecting on the implications of the debates of 1911 for how we think about reversion and copyright policy today.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Cooper, Dr Elena
• Authors: Cooper, E.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Law
• Journal Name: European Intellectual Property Review
• Publisher: Sweet & Maxwell
• ISSN: 0142-0461
• ISSN (Online): 0142-0461
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 Thomson Reuters
• First Published: First published in European Intellectual Property Review 43(5):292-297
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher