Chain of title

Chain of title

A chain of title is the sequence of historical transfers of title to a property. The "chain" runs from the present owner back to the original owner of the property. In situations where documentation of ownership is important, it is often necessary to reconstruct the chain of title. To facilitate this, a record of title documents may be maintained by a registry office or civil law notary.

Chain of title for real property

Real estate is one field where the chain of title has considerable significance. Various registration systems, such as the Torrens title system, have been developed to track the ownership of individual pieces of real property. In real estate transactions in the United States, insurance companies issue title insurance based upon the chain of title to the property when it is transferred. Title insurance companies sometimes maintain private title plants that track real estate titles in addition to the official records. In other cases, the chain of title is established by an abstract of title, sometimes, although not always, certified by an attorney.

Chain of title for copyrights, trademarks, and rights of publicity

In the motion picture industry, the chain of title involves the series of documentation which establishes proprietary rights in a film. The chain also applies to compilations in other fields, where many people have contributed to the project, thus acquiring authorship rights, or where materials were culled from many sources. Chain of title is extremely important to film purchasers and to film distributors, as it establishes the veracity of the owner's proprietary rights (or rights under license) in the intellectual property in a film, book or encyclopedia.

Chain of title documentation can include:

  • copyright clearances on music from the regional collecting society, and to a less common extent, footage of other films;
  • proof of errors and omission insurance (a special form of insurance for motion picture producers which covers omissions in obtaining adequate chain of title).

Specialist organizations engage in the production of copyright property reports for motion picture studios, which cover original or unexploited works, and include the results of United States Copyright Office screening searches, author claimant searches, registration renewal searches and assignment searches. This involves reviewing US Copyright Office records from 1870 to present and numerous trade publications and databases, and Library of Congress records.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • chain of title — chain of title: the succession of conveyances of the title to a particular item of real property (as a house) ◇ The chain of title is usually stated or shown in an abstract of title. Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam Webster. 1996.… …   Law dictionary

  • Chain of Title — Die Chain of title, auch Rechtekette genannt, ist ein Begriff aus dem Filmrecht und beschreibt den lückenlosen Nachweis des Erwerbs der Rechte für Musik, Roman, Drehbuch etc. zur Verwendung innerhalb eines Filmstücks. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • chain of title — Another name for abstract of title. American Banker Glossary * * * chain of title ˌchain of ˈtitle noun chains of title PLURALFORM [countable usually singular] LAW PROPERTY the complete list of owners of a property over a period of time: • You… …   Financial and business terms

  • Chain Of Title — The official record of ownership of a property or asset. The chain of ownership gets its name from its sequential nature; a chain of title traces historical title transfers from the current owner back to the original owner. Due to their critical… …   Investment dictionary

  • Chain of title — Die Chain of title, auch Rechtekette genannt, ist ein Begriff aus dem Filmrecht und beschreibt den lückenlosen Nachweis des Erwerbs der Rechte für Musik, Roman, Drehbuch etc. zur Verwendung innerhalb eines Filmstücks. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • chain of title — the succession of conveyances from some accepted starting point whereby the present holder of real property derives his title * * * chain of title, a history tracing the successive transfers of ownership of real estate …   Useful english dictionary

  • chain of title — Record of successive conveyances, or other forms of alienation, affecting a particular parcel of land, arranged consecutively, from the government or original source of title down to the present holder. See abstract of title …   Black's law dictionary

  • chain of title — Record of successive conveyances, or other forms of alienation, affecting a particular parcel of land, arranged consecutively, from the government or original source of title down to the present holder. See abstract of title …   Black's law dictionary

  • chain of title — The successive conveyances and devolutions of title, commencing with the patent from the government or some other source and ending with the conveyance or devolution to the person claiming title presently. Capper v Poulsen, 321 Ill 480, 482, 152… …   Ballentine's law dictionary

  • chain of title — noun In the law of real property, a series of documents recorded in the appropriate government repository which establish the passage of a parcel of property from owner to owner, ideally back to the first owner to reduce the property to private… …   Wiktionary

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