Are my rights transferable?

Yes, just like you can obtain a license for using third-party content, you can also license or assign your original content to third parties.

Assignment

• Transfer of ownership in the work

• Should be in writing

• Can be limited by time, territory, rights to which they apply

License

• Allowing someone to use the work without transferring ownership

• No need to be in writing, but advisable to do so

• Can be limited by time, territory, rights to which they apply

License

When you transfer some of your rights in the work without transferring your ownership in those rights, you are said to have given out a license. For example, if you have written a book, you could give out a license to one person for creating and commercialising the translation of the book and another license to someone else for adapting the book into a movie. Another example is if you have created an original video, you can grant a license to a third party to use your video on a particular website only or for a particular purpose only.

The document transferring such rights is called a License Agreement.

Assignment

An assignment is equivalent to the sale of rights in the work. When you transfer all or some of your rights in your work, you are basically transferring the ownership of those rights in your work. Such transfer of ownership is called an assignment and is done by way of an Assignment Deed.

You can limit the assignment or license in your work in a number of ways, such as, by limiting:

• the time of use (for example, license for one year);

• the territory of use (for example, license for commercialising the work in India);

• the type of rights to which they apply (for example, license to develop a sitcom based on a novel); etc.