Comments on: “Throughout the Universe”

By: AdamsDrafting » Blog Archive » Wall Street Journal Article and Video on “Throughout the Universe”

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:01:57 +0000

[...] on this subject was dreadfully earnest: The phrase throughout the universe, which I wrote about in this January 2007 blog post, is certainly a bit silly. But it’s symptomatic of the broader dysfunction in contract [...]

By: Chris Snyder

Chris Snyder — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 03:29:33 +0000

Ah thanks, I was looking for that clause.

You posted this across time (nearly two years ago now), so what’s so un-sober about crossing space?

I first saw this language in reality television contracts, and it made perfect sense to me for anything that might ever be broadcast. A tv or radio signal transmitted the day you wrote this will have traveled 2 light years into space by now.

By: Chris Lemens

Chris Lemens — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 21:34:57 +0000

I had this phrase in a photo release recently. I re-wrote the whole thing in plain English. That phrase became “everywhere and forever” — which I think is much clearer than “in perpetuity throughout the universe.” For one thing, I rather suspect that some of the models would have thought that “perpetuity” was a particular place.

By: Eric Goldman

Eric Goldman — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 18:18:53 +0000

We use the phrase “throughout the universe” to overcome the IP cases that interpret words narrowly in the advent of new and unexpected technological evolutions. Thus, in the unlikely event that licensing rights on Mars becomes available in the future, the language “throughout the universe” avoids the battle over whether Mars was included in the license grant. Eric.

By: mike

mike — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 15:06:17 +0000

I took a look, but I couldn’t find the dispute about (I think) NASA’s supposedly unlicensed use of certain materials in space.

In general, I think most people have assumed “world-wide” means “everywhere.” However, similar disputes have arisen for things like types of media–who would have thought digital, satellite (note, satellites arguably create copies of works during rebroadcast in space) or internet 40 years ago when licensing music.

World-wide has in practice been understood as “without territorial restriction,” but for a guy that goes to the dictionary a lot, is that really the case? This is especially true for copyrights. Software, for example, might very well be used 30-40 years out for mission critical systems which may end up elsewhere in our universe–note no one thoughy mainframes would last as long as they have and the shuttle uses software an computer equipment from the 70s and 80s? [I'd love to be the attorney on that infringement case.]

Also, why am I not offended by the “from the beginning of time” usage? In most cases, its more efficient and more reliable than trying to determine the time of the earliest cause of action. Overkill yes, but really is it that bad?