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Permalink Reply by Abington on November 13, 2011 at 3:39

Interesting question, but I don't see how it would be possible to copyright the words in a lease. They are made up of standard phrases used in the public domain, tailored to the individual needs.

Also, you would not be distributing the words to the public, only using them for your own property.

And yes, the work of the attorney is for your benefit and can be used as you need in your other legal work in multiple deeds, leases, etc. 

 

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on November 13, 2011 at 13:34

No, no and no.  With the caveat that it is possible but not probable that "Earthworks" would actually attempt to defend their assumptions to copyright law protection over legal language that is used in millions of mineral leases in multiple jurisdictions over a one hundred year history.  The burden of proof on Earthworks would be unsupportable in any court familiar with mineral law.  IMO, it is a lame attempt to intimidate those who would base lease language upon the Earthworks leases.  Few O&G attorneys compose a lease from scratch.  It is much more straight forward and less costly to the lessor to draft an Exhibit A to the lessee's standard lease form.   I have participated in the drafting of a number of "custom" leases and the O&G attorneys who own the work product have never pursued copyright protection.  The are far too smart to ever go down that road.

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Permalink Reply by Ray on November 14, 2011 at 2:57

Thanks for the opinions, guys.  Skip, I'm not sure I made myself clear.

 

Earthworks is the good guy ... at least if you're a lessor. They're a non-profit environmental group ... and on their website they're giving away for free a beautiful, lessor-friendly sample lease form ... not copyrighted.

 

But a law firm used the same lease form for a woman's lease ... and said it was copyrighted. This is why I'm confused.

 

I'm wondering whether the Earthworks lease is the same as the TLMA lease ... which you can buy for $250 from the Texas Land & Mineral Owners Assoc.

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on November 14, 2011 at 3:27

Ray, lease forms get copied and amended all the time.  I have seen some very unique and creative leases drafted by experienced and highly regarded O&G attorneys.  Those leases were not copyrighted.  According to the authors it was nigh impossible to keep up with who might be using some of the unique language much less the entire lease agreement unchanged.  Intellectual property is hard to track and difficult to defend.  For legal forms with myriad versions on file around the world such as an Oil, Gas And Mineral lease, proving that it was unique would be difficult to say the least.  Anyone can place a copyright symbol on their work product.  That does not mean that it is copyrighted or that it would stand up in a court of law if it was.  Using any lease form no matter how "good the guy" without having it reviewed by a qualified O&G attorney is not a good idea.  And if you are the owner of a modest size mineral interest the form of lease does not matter.  The Exhibit "A" language is all that is needed to amend the unacceptable portions of a lease form.  The specific language you like from Earthworks could be used in that exhibit.  Unless you own  thousands of acres or have some extenuating circumstances you don't need a lease form of your own.

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Permalink Reply by The_Baron on November 14, 2011 at 4:04

I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Besides, you are more likely to request certain clauses or languges to be added in an exhibit, than create your whole lease form, unless as Skip says you have vast holdings.

 

I wouldn't worry about lifting language from any documant that has been placed into the public record.

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