collective work
Definition
A work, such as an issue of a magazine, an anthology or an encyclopedia, in which a number of contributions, constituting separate and independent works in themselves, are assembled into a collective whole. See 17 U.S.C. §101. This is relevant in the copyright law context. A copyright to a contribution to a collective work is not the same as the copyright to the collective work.
Definition from Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary
Under copyright law, a work, such as a periodical, anthology, or encyclopedia, in which a number of separate and independent works are assembled into one work. To create a collective work, permission must be obtained from the copyright owners of the separate parts (assuming such parts are not already in the public domain). Although the author of the collective compilation may not own the copyright to any of the individual parts, the creativity involved in selecting and organizing the constituent materials is often protected by copyright. (See also: compilation)
Definition provided by Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary.
August 19, 2010, 5:12 pm
