Transfer/assignment of copyright 

A creator can freely transfer their copyright, for example, to another person or organisation. For instance, a journalist can transfer the publishing rights of an article they have written to a newspaper.  

The law does not impose specific requirements on the form of copyright assignments. However, the agreement must be in writing.  

In accordance with the EU Digital Single Market Directive (Directive (EU0 2019/709), Ireland’s Copyright Act 2019 stipulates that creators are entitled to appropriate and proportionate compensation if they transfer their exclusive rights or grant an exclusive licence for the exploitation of a work to another person or organisation. Creators also have the right to regular reporting on the use of their work by the recipient of the rights if they have received income from the use of the work, and if the compensation paid to the creator depends on the extent of the use of the work. 

A creator can transfer their economic rights in full or in part, for some or all acts, and for part of or the whole copyright period.  

There are no limitations on the content of copyright agreements. The agreements can freely determine – for example, the price of a usage licence for the work or the level of royalties payable. However, there are industry norms for royalty levels and fees that both publishers and creators can reference and if the success of a work later appears to be out of alignment with the original agreement, under the 2019 Copyright Act, the creator can seek a review of the original terms. 

The creator can also assign the usage rights to the work with an open licence, such as a Creative Commons licence. 

However, a creator cannot transfer their moral rights. 

Reversion of rights 

If the recipient of any rights in a work has not used these rights within a reasonable time after they have been transferred, the creator can demand the return of these rights if they are not used within six months or less depending on their original agreement with the licensee. 

Copyright versus ownership rights 

It should be noted that copyright is different from ownership rights. When a copy of a work is sold, such as a painting, a book, or a digital download, the buyer does not acquire copyright to the original work. Therefore, the buyer does not have the right, for example, to upload extracts from an ebook solely because they own the ebook.  

Collective licences 

In certain situations, such a large number of works are used for a given purpose that it is impossible to obtain permissions individually from all rightsholders involved. One example is, the copying of small extracts from printed books and newspapers in school classrooms. Mass usage of works in such situations has been made possible through a separate provision in the Copyright Act concerning collective licences. 

Thanks to these provisions, a copyright organisation that is recognised by Government as representative of a given creative sector can grant usage licences for the types of works it represents. This allows users to obtain comprehensive licences for the use of works from collective management organisations (CMOs) and avoids the need for thousands of micro-permissions. 

[CRRA Sec. 149-174] 

In Ireland, works consisting of written words and still images are represented by the Irish Copyright Licensing Agency (ICLA).