ADVOKS GLOBAL · KENYA
Copyright Act
33. Assignment and licences
Edition: 2022-12-31 · In force
33. Assignment and licences
(1)Subject to this section, copyright shall be transmissible by assignment, by licence, testamentary disposition, or by operation of law as movable property.(2)An assignment, license or testamentary disposition of copyright may be limited so as to apply only to some of the acts which the owner of the copyright has the exclusive right to control, or to a part only of the period of the copyright, or to a specified country or other geographical area.(3)No assignment of copyright and no exclusive licence to do an act the doing of which is controlled by copyright shall have effect unless it is in writing signed by or on behalf of the assignor, or by or on behalf of the licensor, as the case may be.(3A)An assignment under subsection (3) shall not be valid unless it is lodged at the Board and a certificate of recordal issued to the applicant and entry made in the Assignment Register.(4)A non-exclusive licence to do an act the doing of which is controlled by copyright may be written or oral, or may be inferred from conduct, and may be revoked at any time, but a licence granted by contract shall not be revoked, either by the person who granted the licence or his successor in title, except as the contract may provide, or by a further contract.(5)An assignment, licence or testamentary disposition may be effectively granted or made in respect of a future work, or an existing work in which copyright does not yet subsist, and the prospective copyright in any such work shall be transmissible by operation of law as movable property.(6)A testamentary disposition of the material on which a work is first written or otherwise recorded shall, in the absence of contrary indication, be taken to include the disposition of any copyright or prospective copyright in the work which is vested in the deceased.(7)Where an agreement for license of copyright does not specify the period of license, the license shall terminate after three years.(8)In the case of agreements regarding future works which are not specified in detail, either party may, on giving not less than one month’s notice, terminate the agreement not earlier than three years after it was signed or such shorter period as may be agreed.(9)A licence granted in respect of any copyright by the person who, in relation to the matters to which the licence relates, is the owner of the copyright, shall be binding upon every successor in title to his interest in the copyright, except a purchaser in good faith and without notice, actual or constructive, of the licence, or a person deriving title from such purchaser and any reference in this Act to the doing of anything in relation to any copyright, with or without the licence of the owner of the copyright, shall be construed accordingly.(10)Where the doing of anything is authorised by the grantee of a licence or a person deriving title from the grantee, and it is within the terms, including any implied terms of the licence for him to authorise it, it shall for the purpose of this Act be deemed to be done with the licence of the grantor and of every person, if any, upon whom the licence is binding.