The court considered an equitable assignment of a copyright, and in particular the assignment of rights of action associated with a copyright.
Held: The only rights that an equitable assignment could create in the equitable assignee were rights against the assignor – who became trustee of the benefit of the option for the assignee, and thus could be compelled in equity to exercise those rights for the benefit of the assignee.
Lord Denning MR said: ‘The grantor cannot be expected to act on a letter (purporting to exercise the option) which comes out of the blue from someone or other of which he knows nothing. He must be told that it comes from an assignee who has taken an assignment.’
Judges:
Lord Denning MR, Roskill LJ, Sir John Pennycuick
Citations:
[1976] QB 430
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Intellectual Property
Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.224225