[WikiEN-l] Knol - Our first major scandel

[Anthony]

On Mon, Apr 27, 2009 at 2:36 PM, <WJhonson at aol.com> wrote:

> In a message dated 4/27/2009 11:12:44 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
> saintonge at telus.net writes:
>
>
> > Yes, and, absent any agreement to the contrary, any one of those same
> > authors may grant a free licence.>>
>
> --------
>
> I'm very suspicious of this claim.
> If I and seven other own a piece of property, I alone cannot sell it to a
> prospective buyer.  The same would hold of copyright.  Although each owner
> has a copyright, a single owner cannot grant away the entire right to a
> third
> party.


http://depts.washington.edu/uwcopy/Creating_Copyright/Ownership_Factors/Joint.php

To "sell it to a prospective buyer" would be equivalent to the grant of an
exclusive license.  To "grant an easement on the property" would be closer
to the grant of a nonexclusive license.  However, the analogy fails to some
extent, because it's not physically possible for multiple people to enjoy
the entirety of physical property simultaneously in the same way that this
is possible for intellectual property.