al object in which
the work is embodied. Transfer of ownership of any material object,
including the copy or phonorecord in which the work is first fixed, does
not of itself convey any rights in the copyrighted work embodied in the
object; nor, in the absence of an agreement, does transfer of ownership
of a copyright or of any exclusive rights under a copyright convey
property rights in any material object.
Section 203. Termination of transfers and licenses granted by the
author [3]
(a) Conditions for Termination. In the case of any work other than a
work made for hire, the exclusive or nonexclusive grant of a transfer or
license of copyright or of any right under a copyright, executed by the
author on or after January 1, 1978, otherwise than by will, is subject
to termination under the following conditions:
(1) In the case of a grant executed by one author, termination of the
grant may be effected by that author or, if the author is dead, by the
person or persons who, under clause (2) of this subsection, own and are
entitled to exercise a total of more than one-half of that author's
termination interest. In the case of a grant executed by two or more
authors of a joint work, termination of the grant may be effected by a
majority of the authors who executed it; if any of such authors is dead,
the termination interest of any such author may be exercised as a unit
by the person or persons who, under clause (2) of this subsection, own
and are entitled to exercise a total of more than one-half of that
author's interest.
(2) Where an author is dead, his or her termination interest is owned,
and may be exercised, as follows:
(A) the widow or widower owns the author's entire termination interest
unless there are any surviving children or grandchildren of the author,
in which case the widow or widower owns one-half of the author's
interest;
(B) the author's surviving children, and the surviving children of any
dead child of the author, own the author's entire termination interest
unless there is a widow or widower, in which case the ownership of one-
half of the author's interest is divided among them;
(C) the rights of the author's children and grandchildren are in all
cases divided among them and exercised on a per stirpes basis according
to the number of such author's children represented; the share of the
children of a dead child in a termination interest can be exercised only
by the action of a majority
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