Читать книгу The Tax Law of Charitable Giving - Bruce Hopkins R., Bruce R. Hopkins, David Middlebrook - Страница 88

Another item of intangible personal property that, to be transferred, must be passed in a formal manner is a copyright interest. A determination as to whether a properly completed transfer of a copyright interest occurred is essentially governed by state law, but only after certain federal law restrictions are satisfied.³⁸ The federal requirements involve a written transfer instrument signed by the donor as owner.³⁹ A copyright certificate is issued; however, possession of the certificate does not constitute ownership of the copyright itself.⁴⁰

In one instance, an individual physically presented to a charitable organization a copyright certificate for a book that was generating royalties, in an attempt to make a charitable gift. There was no executed written transfer instrument, and no formal action was taken by the recipient organization to formally transfer the copyright to itself. A court held that “[t]herefore, standing alone, . . . [the individual's] physical presentation of the copyright certificate to . . . [the charitable organization], although accomplished with much ceremony, was insufficient to transfer a legal interest in the copyright” to the charity. “This invalid transfer,” the court continued, “does not begin to qualify as a deductible charitable contribution.”⁴¹