Glossary — Digital rights transfer
What is a digital rights transfer?
Contractual transfer to a third party of all or part of the rights on digital assets: domain name, website content, source code, database, access, trade mark. The transfer is governed by the regimes applicable to each asset type (intellectual property, contract law, GDPR).
What it is
Digital rights transfer covers several legal regimes depending on the nature of the assets concerned.
- The domain name is transferred by transfer of the registration at the registrar, accompanied by a transfer agreement.
- A website's content (text, images, design) is transferred under copyright, by a written contract specifying the scope (reproduction, representation, adaptation) and the duration.
- The source code is transferred under articles L. 113-9 and L. 122-7 of the French Intellectual Property Code.
- A database enjoys a sui generis producer's right, transferable under article L. 342-1 of the same code.
Any transfer concerning personal data remains subject to GDPR: the assignee becomes the data controller.
Why it matters
Many digital assets carry a residual value that exceeds their storage cost: a well-ranked domain name, a blog with traffic, a qualified database. Without a transfer agreement, those assets fall into a legally murky zone after cessation. With one, they can be valorised (sold, integrated into another project) or simply maintained as estate elements.
How Archivum approaches it
The Archivum template contract provides, at end-of-period arbitration, the option of transferring rights — domain name, content, mail subscriber base, source code — to Archivum. The terms under which Archivum may then operate them are set out in the individual contract and are not standardised in public copy. It is a contractual option, never an automatic outcome.