A licence agreement provides, in addition to a contract on the transfer of copyright rights, a basic way of obtaining titles for the use of copyright rights belonging to another person.
The legal institution of the licence was regulated in Article 67 Act of 4 February 1994 on copyright and related rights (hereinafter: “pr. car”). According to Article 67(1) the author, and thus the entity which has essentially the property rights to the work, may authorise the use of the work on the fields of exploitation listed in the contract, specifying the scope, place and time of use.
The song as a manifestation of human creative activity
As shown by the above mentioned content Article 67(1) The subject of the license agreement is the right to use copyright rights for the work.
This work is to be understood as any established in the outside world (the requirement of this does not satisfy the fixation only in the creator's consciousness) of the creative activity of man of an individual character.
In particular, works can be distinguished: expressed in words, mathematical symbols, graphic characters (literary, publicist, scientific, cartographic and computer programs), artistic, photographic, soldering, industrial design, architectural, architectural-urbanist and urbanist, musical and verbal-musical, stage, stage-musical, choreographic and pantomimeic, audiovisual (including film).
Because of the requirement of creative activity of an individual nature, copyright protection is not covered by: discoveries, ideas, procedures, methods and principles of operation and mathematical concepts.
According to Article 17 If the act does not provide otherwise, the creators have the exclusive right to use and dispose of the work in all fields of operation and to pay for the use of the work. The mentioned provision refers precisely to copyright rights which the creator (or other entity to which the copyright is entitled) can grant a licence. The use of another's work without a proper legal title is unlawful and exposes the infringer to court proceedings against him for:
- no infringement;
- the removal of the consequences of the infringement;
compensation for damage caused:
- on general terms or
- by payment of a monetary sum equivalent to twice the remuneration that would have been due at the time of its investigation by the rightholder's consent to use the work;
- the issue resulting from the infringement.
The conclusion of an effective licensing agreement is one of the basic legal means of using someone else's work, and thus not to expose yourself to such claims.
Work fields
Content Article 67(1) It follows that modelly the licence agreement should indicate the work to which it relates, the operating area in which the licensee is to be entitled to use the work and the place and time of use. The fields of exploitation mentioned in that provision should be understood as technological means of using the work. According to Article 50 separate fields of use are in particular:
- in the field of preservation and reproduction of the work - the production of specific techniques of copies of the work, including printing, reproduction, magnetic recording and digital technology;
- as regards the marketing of the original or of copies on which the work is fixed, the marketing, lending or hiring of the original or copies;
for distribution of the work in a way other than that specified in point 2 - public performance, display, display, reproduction and broadcast and re-issue, as well as making the work publicly available in such a way that everyone can have access to it at the place and time they choose.
The disputed result remains that the parties do not indicate in the licence agreement the fields of use on which the licensee is to be entitled to use the work.
The first of the views presented in this regard refers to a literal interpretation Article 41(2) A vehicle which provides that the contract for the transfer of copyright or the contract for the use of the work includes the fields of exploitation expressly mentioned therein. On the can. Article 41(2) car.
(and Article 67(1) ) the position is presented, according to which the failure to indicate at least one field of exploitation results in the nullification of both the licensing agreement and the agreement governing copyright property law.
The dominant position, on the other hand, takes the view that in the absence of an indication of fields of exploitation in the content of the licence agreement, it is possible to determine the content of those fields by interpreting (interpreting) the provisions of the contract.
The view of the admissibility of the interpretation of fields of use refers to the content Article 65 Civil code.
The correct indication of the fields of operation covered by the licence agreement should therefore be assessed as one of the essential elements of the licensing agreement.
Types of licensing agreements
Due to their diversity, different types of licensing agreements can be distinguished. The basic division of licensing contracts is the division into exclusive and non-exclusive contracts (cf. Article 67(2) This division is complete.
A non-exclusive licence is an agreement whereby the licensee's authorisation to use the work does not restrict the licensee's right to use the work and to grant other licences in the same field of use.
The exclusive licensing agreement, on the other hand, requires the licensor not to grant licences to other entities in the field of operation.
In the case of exclusive licensing contracts, two sub-types can be distinguished – the agreement may provide that, alongside the licensee, the licensor is also entitled to use the work in a given field of use (so-called "sole license"). On the other hand, the licensor may oblige the licensee not to use the work under the scope of the contract. In this case, the licensee is the only person entitled to use the work (so-called exclusive license).
When describing the specificity of exclusive licences, it should be pointed out that, unlike non-exclusive licences which may be concluded even in an implicit form, it is necessary to conclude a contract in writing for their validity.
License agreements may be paid or free of charge. The duration of the contract depends on the content of the contract itself and, depending on the will of the parties, may be a fixed or indefinite period.
According to Article 67(4)) The licence agreement may provide for the licensee's right to grant further licences by the licensee. Such licences are referred to as sub-licenses. In relation to sublicense contracts, the divisions of the types of licensing contracts previously submitted shall remain valid. A characteristic feature of further licenses is that they are concluded between the licensee from a basic relationship, acting as a sublicenser and a sublicenser.
License agreements are a typical solution whereby third parties can legally use other people's copyright works. Since the defective formulation of a licence agreement may have negative consequences, including even nullity, for both parties, we recommend a detailed analysis of the provisions of the Copyright and Related Rights Act before drawing up the text of the contract.