Goto Main Content
:::

Chapter Law Content

Title: COPYRIGHT ACT CH
Category: Ministry of Economic Affairs(經濟部)
Chapter III Authors and Copyright
Section 4 Economic Rights
Subsection 3 Transfer, Exercise, and Extinguishment of Economic Rights
Article 36
Economic rights may be transferred in whole or in part to another person and may be jointly owned with other persons.
The transferee of economic rights obtains economic rights within the scope of the transfer.
The scope of the transfer of the economic rights shall be as stipulated by the parties; rights not clearly covered by such stipulations shall be presumed to have not been transferred.
Article 37
The economic rights holder may license others to exploit the work. The territory, term, content, method of exploitation, and other particulars of the license shall be as stipulated by the parties; particulars not clearly covered by such stipulations shall be presumed to have not been licensed.
The license referred to in the preceding paragraph shall not be affected by subsequent assignment or further licensing of economic rights by the economic rights holder.
A non-exclusive licensee may not sublicense the rights inherent in the license to any third party for exploitation without the consent of the economic rights holder.
An exclusive licensee may, within the scope of the license, exercise rights in the capacity of economic rights holder, and may perform litigious acts in its own name. The economic rights holder may not exercise rights within the scope of an exclusive license.
The provisions of paragraphs 2 through 4 shall not apply to any license conferred prior to the implementation of the November 12, 2001 amendment to this Act.
The provisions of Chapter VII do not apply in the following circumstances except for works subject to the management of copyright collective management organizations:
1. Exploitation of digitized karaoke machines or jukeboxes which contain licensed duplication(s) of music works for public performance; or
2. Rebroadcasting works of an original broadcast; or
3. Communicating the sounds or images of an original broadcast to the public with loudspeaker or other equipment; or
4. Communicating the works to the public through public broadcasting or simultaneous public transmission of advertisement, by a broadcaster, within which such works have been reproduced under authorization.
Article 38
(deleted)
Article 39
Where economic rights are the object of a pledge, unless otherwise stipulated at the time the pledge is created, the economic rights holder may exercise the economic rights to the work.
Article 40
In the case of a joint work, each author's share of the ownership of such a work shall be as stipulated by the joint authors; where no stipulation has been made, ownership shares shall be determined according to the degree of each author's creative contribution. Where the degree of each author's creative contribution is not clear, it shall be presumed that each author owns an equal share.
Where an author of a joint work abandons its share of the ownership of the work, that share shall be apportioned among the other joint authors in proportion to their respective shares.
The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall apply mutatis mutandis where the author of a joint work dies with no successor or is extinguished with no receiver.
Article 40-1
Joint economic rights in a work shall not be exercised except with the consent of all the joint economic rights holders; no economic rights holder shall transfer its share to another person or establish a pledge of its share in favor of a third party without the consent of all other joint economic rights holders. A joint economic rights holder shall not refuse consent without a legitimate reason.
The joint economic rights holders of a work may select a representative from among themselves to exercise their economic rights. Limitations imposed on the representative powers of such representative shall not be effective against a third party acting in good faith.
The second and third paragraphs of the preceding article shall apply mutatis mutandis to joint ownership of economic rights.
Article 41
Where an economic rights holder makes a submission to a newspaper or magazine, or licenses the public broadcast of the work, it shall be presumed, unless otherwise stipulated, that the economic rights holder has licensed one printing or one public broadcast only, and that said printing or broadcast shall have no effect on other rights belonging to the economic rights holder.
Article 42
Economic rights are extinguished upon expiration of the term of protection. Economic rights are also extinguished where any of the following circumstances occurs during the term of protection:
1.The economic rights holder has died and the economic rights, for that reason, divest by law to the national treasury.
2.The economic rights holder is a juristic person that has been extinguished and the economic rights, for that reason, divest by law to a local government.
Article 43
Except as otherwise provided by this Act, any person may freely exploit a work for which the economic rights have been extinguished.