BILL NUMBER: AB 2435	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Adams

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2008

   An act to amend Section 980 of the Civil Code, relating to
ownership rights.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2435, as introduced, Adams. Ownership rights: original works.
   Existing law provides that the author of any original work of
authorship that is not fixed in any tangible medium of expression has
an exclusive ownership in the representation or expression of that
work as against all persons except one who originally and
independently creates the same or similar work. Existing law also
provides that the inventor or proprietor of any invention or design,
with or without delineation, or other graphical representation, has
an exclusive ownership in the invention or design, and in the
representation or expression thereof, which continues so long as the
invention or design and those representations or expressions remain
in his or her possession.
   This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to that
provision.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 980 of the Civil Code is amended to read:
   980.  (a) (1) The author of any original work of authorship that
is not fixed in any tangible medium of expression has an exclusive
ownership in the representation or expression  thereof
  of that work  as against all persons except one
who  orginally   originally  and
independently creates the same or similar work. A work shall be
considered not fixed when it is not embodied in a tangible medium of
expression or when its embodiment in a tangible medium of expression
is not sufficiently permanent or stable to permit it to be perceived,
reproduced, or otherwise communicated for a period of more than
transitory duration, either directly or with the aid of a machine or
device.
   (2) The author of an original work of authorship consisting of a
sound recording initially fixed prior to February 15, 1972, has an
exclusive ownership therein until February 15, 2047, as against all
persons except one who independently makes or duplicates another
sound recording that does not directly or indirectly recapture the
actual sounds fixed in such prior sound recording, but consists
entirely of an independent fixation of other sounds, even though
 such   those  sounds imitate or simulate
the sounds contained in the prior sound recording.
   (b) The inventor or proprietor of any invention or design, with or
without delineation, or other graphical representation, has an
exclusive ownership therein, and in the representation or expression
thereof, which continues so long as the invention or design and the
representations or expressions thereof made by him  or her 
remain in his  or her  possession.