And, finally tonight - we have the second part of our interview with intellectual property expert Marissa Longsworth and her view of the Belcan Bridge dispute.
She told us that the author of a creative work retains their copyright no matter what.
But, the Lebanese firm now in the middle of this dispute and the Belize City Council argue that the government of Belize paid for Roque Matus's engineering plans, which are not architectural drawings.
Via Zoom, we asked Longsworth about that specific provision of the copyright law:
Jules Vasquez
"That that, you know, there is, in fact, under the copyright law, a specific provision for when a protected work has been made by, under the direction of or the control of the government."
"Right. That that it's it becomes a property of the government. Furthermore, you spoke about, you know, the intrinsic ownership of a drawing, but engineering drawings Is not the same as an architectural drawing. What would you say in response to those two criticisms?"
Voice of: Marissa Longsworth, IP Expert
"Though both of those drawings are treated similarly under the Copyright Act. The only difference is they are both classified as artistic works. So once they are created, once a drawing is drawn, it is created as an artistic work and copyright arises out of that creation."
"When we start to talk about ownership and vesting of ownership, a copyright creator must consciously, formally consent to the giving up of any rights when it comes to Crown copyright, which is ownership of copyright by the Crown."
"The words you've used are correct. It must be made by or under the direction of the state. Now that is usually when the person who is creating is either an employee of the government or has already been contracted or commissioned by the government at the time of drawing the drawing itself."
"The assumption is that the work was created and then a transaction occurred at some point in time, which may have moved the ownership rights at that point in time. But at the time of creation, if you were not otherwise commissioned and contracted, then you are indeed the owner of the work. So a Government of Belize employee, for example, does not have the same privilege once they are an employee of the government, Everything they create is government Copyright is Crown copyright."
"And let's remember, Jules, that no matter where the copyright vests, moral rights, which is one of the biggest parts of this issue, moral rights are inalienable."
"So you know, even though the lawyers and so on will have to look at the contracts, the lifeline, the storyline of this creation. At the end of the day, if it does turn on the moral right of attribution, not the right to reproduce a map, not the right to to modify a drawing, but if it really comes down to the right to, to name or to not have someone else seem to be the creator, then that right, it can't be contracted out of."
Best information tells us that both sides seem to be headed for court in what looks like it will be an intellectual property lawsuit and a defamation suit.
