電子郵件1040305c

要旨

令函要旨

According to your e-mail, your mother commissioned Shiy de Jinn to create a watercolor painting in 1961.If we look at Article 16 of the Taiwan Copyright Law at that time ( the 1949 Law):“Where a work is completed under commission, the work’s copyright is owned by the commissioning party. Provided, where there is agreement between the commissioning party and the commissioned person, such agreement shall govern.” Therefore, if your mother didn’t have any agreement concerning the copyright-ownership of the painting with Shiy de Jinn back in 1961, the copyright of the painting is owned by your mother and the person who inherits the right. Also, since the author of the painting is Shiy de Jinn, who signed and dated the work, according to Article 30 of the current Taiwan Copyright Law, the copyright term of the painting is “author’s life plus 50 years”, which means that the painting’s copyright will last until 2031 (Shiy de Jinn died in 1981). As above, since the right to make quality copy of the painting and the right to sale or give away the copy is exclusively owned by the copyright owner (“reproduction right”and “distribution right”), if you have the permission from your mother or inherits the painting’s copyright from her, you are free to make copies of the painting for sale or giving-away.