An assignment involves a transfer of the ownership of the copyright in the work from one person to another. If Dick assigned the rights in his drawing to George, George would be free to deal with the copyright in whatever way he likes. However, their contract is not an assignment; instead, Dick has granted George a licence to make use of his work in the manufacture and sale of toy robots.

 

Licences and assignments can be quite specific about types of permitted activity (what you are allowed to do with the work), duration (for how long), and geography (where in the world you can make use of the work). For example, whereas an author might assign all rights in their literary work to a publisher, the publisher in turn might license different forms of commercial exploitation of the work to different third parties. A production company might secure the right to turn the book into a film. A print media company might pay to serialise the book in a magazine or in the weekend supplement of a newspaper. An overseas publisher might license the publication of the work in a foreign language whether in Europe, Asia or South America, and so on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The licence that Dick has granted to George is for the manufacture and sale of toys, based on Dick’s robot. Rather than a one-off fee, they have agreed payment on a royalty basis. That is, every time George sells one of his robots Dick receives a small percentage of the profit. Also, as you can see from the different types of currency, the licence allows George to market and sell the robot on a world-wide basis; it is not tied to any particular geographic region.