Also known as: termination rights · right of termination · rights of termination · right to terminate · termination clause · exit right
Written by attorneys — see sources below.
2 senses
A tenant's power to end a leasehold by vacating the leased property while the right exists. The tenant must also follow any lease terms on the method of termination or, absent such terms, take reasonable steps to inform the landlord of the decision and its reason.
A tenant's power to end a leasehold by vacating the leased property while the right exists. The tenant must also follow any lease terms on the method of termination or, absent such terms, take reasonable steps to inform the landlord of the decision and its reason.
An author's statutory power to terminate a prior grant of copyright interests in a work, available notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary.
An author's statutory power to terminate a prior grant of copyright interests in a work, available notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
Tonya Takahashi leased a training facility from Threshold Capital for her minor-league team. When mold appeared in the locker rooms, she removed all equipment, vacated the premises mid-season, and emailed the landlord stating the health reason for ending the arrangement. Because she both left the property and gave direct notice of her decision and its basis, her termination right took effect under the governing standard.
1 common questions
The tenant must vacate the property while the right exists, follow any lease-specified method of termination, and if no method is stated, give the landlord reasonable notice of the decision and its reason. These requirements ensure the landlord receives clear knowledge that the tenancy has ended.
Supporting sources
Tara Tran created illustrations for a comic series and later assigned the copyright to Topaz Mining under a written agreement. Years afterward she exercised her termination right by serving the required notice on the company. The assignment ended, restoring her ownership even though the original contract contained no termination clause.
In the fall of 1985, petitioners Community for Creative Non-Violence and Mitch Snyder conceived the idea for a sculpture depicting a contemporary Nativity scene featuring homeless people to dramatize their plight during the annual Christmastime Pageant of Peace in Washington, D.C. Snyder contacted respondent James Earl Reid, a sculptor, and in two telephone calls the parties agreed that Reid would produce the three life-sized human figures while CCNV would build the steam grate and pedestal. They selected Design Cast 62 as the material, capped the project cost at $15,000 excluding Reid's donated services, set a December 12 deadline, and reached no written agreement while never discussing copyright. After Reid received an advance of $3,000, he made several sketches of figures in different poses. At Snyder’s request, Reid sent CCNV a sketch of a proposed sculpture showing the family in a crechelike setting: the mother seated, cradling a baby in her lap; the father standing behind her, bending over her shoulder to touch the baby’s foot. Reid sought a black family to serve as a model for the sculpture. Upon Snyder’s suggestion, Reid visited a family living at CCNV’s Washington shelter but decided that only their newly born child was a suitable model. While Reid was in Washington, Snyder took him to see homeless people living on the streets. Snyder pointed out that they tended to recline on steam grates, rather than sit or stand, to warm their bodies. From that time on, Reid’s sketches contained only reclining figures. From November through mid-December 1985, Reid worked on the statue in his Baltimore studio with assistance from people paid by CCNV installments, and CCNV members visited to check progress and directed the inclusion of a shopping cart for the figures' belongings. On December 24, 1985, 12 days after the agreed-upon date, Reid delivered the completed statue to Washington. Snyder paid Reid the final installment of the $15,000. The statue remained on display for a month. In late January 1986, CCNV members returned it to Reid's studio in Baltimore for minor repairs. In March 1986, after Snyder requested the sculpture's return, Reid refused, registered a copyright in his name, and planned a tour. Snyder filed a competing registration as CCNV trustee. CCNV and Snyder then sued Reid seeking return of the sculpture and a determination of copyright ownership. Following a two-day bench trial the district court held the sculpture was a work made for hire owned by CCNV, but the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed and remanded on the possibility of joint authorship, prompting the Supreme Court to grant certiorari.
View case2 common questions
Yes. The right remains available to the author or heirs notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary, including agreements to make a will or future grants. Courts treat attempts to recharacterize a work as one made for hire as impermissible efforts to evade the right.
Supporting sources
A work made for hire vests initial copyright ownership in the employer or commissioning party, eliminating the author's termination right entirely. The classification therefore controls not only ownership but also the availability of later termination under the statute.
Supporting sources