Copyrights

Grafia monitors the intellectual property rights of its members and works to develop legislation in the sector by representing its members as a profession, issuing opinions and negotiating on behalf of the members. Grafia is a member of Kopiosto.

Kopiosto grants licences for the use of works and distributes the remunerations it collects from photocopying to its member organisations on a pro-rata basis to the number of Grants of Rights assigned to them by creators. Grafia also aims to raise the awareness of copyrights and contract law among the general public and its members’ clients.

Copyright Act

The act states that “a person who has created a literary or artistic work shall have copyright therein”.

Any literary or artistic work can be protected by copyright if it is original and independent. The purpose or artistic level of the work is irrelevant for obtaining protection. The technique or materials used to create the work are also irrelevant. For example, the copyright rules concerning images protect images printed in books as well as images on websites.

Protected works include:

• Books
• Magazines
• Paintings
• Photographs
• Films
• Maps
• Computer programmes

Copyrights protect the form and the mode of expression of works. However, the information, idea or structure of works are not protected, so they are freely available to everyone.

How are copyrights created and for whom and how long are they valid for?

Copyright is created simultaneously with the work. Copyright is created for the person who creates the work. The age of the creator is not relevant; minors can also be creators. Formalities such as registration are not required for the creation of copyright. The copyright of a work lasts for the lifetime of the creator and 70 years after the creator’s death.

The term of copyright of photographs depends on the photograph. If a photograph can be considered an artwork, in other words, if it is original and independent, its copyright term is the lifetime of the creator and 70 years after the creator’s death. For all other photographs, in other words, for photographs not considered artworks, the copyright term is shorter. The copyright term of these so-called ordinary photographs is 50 years from the moment the photograph was taken. Ordinary photographs published before 1966 are excluded from copyright protection. A work is published when it has been made available to the public with permission.

What do copyrights mean?

“A person who has created a literary or artistic work shall have copyright therein.” The creator alone can control their work. Similarly, the creator has the right to prohibit others from using their work. In practice, copyright often means that the creator has the right to exploit their work for financial gain. As a general rule, the creator also has the right to determine how and in what circumstances others may use their work.

Copying a work

Creators have the right to decide whether their work can be reproduced, for example, whether their book can be copied. The right of reproduction covers any way or technique by which a work may be copied. Both photocopying and scanning are considered copying which is at the discretion of the creator. Creators also have the right to decide whether recordings of any kind are made of their work.

In addition to direct copying, creators also have the right to decide whether altered copies or adaptations are made of the work. For example, it is up to the creator to make a decision on whether the colours of an image can be changed. The copying of a section of a work is also under the creator’s control. There are also exceptions to these main rules, such as the provision on reproduction for private use.

Making a work public

Creators have the right to decide whether their works are made public. The copyright also provides the creators an exclusive right to control whether a reproduction can be made public as an alteration, translation or adaptation, in another literary or artistic form, or by any other technique.

Making a work available to the public involves giving the public, with the creator’s consent, the opportunity to read a book, listen to a composition, watch a film etc. Making a work public can take the form of public performance, public display or distribution of copies of the work, for example books or videos, to the public by selling, renting or otherwise distributing them, for example via information networks.

The creator has an exclusive right on making a work available to an audience when the activity is public or audience oriented. You are, however, free to show and display works, for example, amongst family.

Creators’ moral rights

Creators’ moral rights include the right to claim authorship and the right to the integrity of the work.

The right to claim authorship means that that the name of the creator must be stated. The name must be stated in accordance with good practice when the work is used, for example, when it is reproduced or when it is presented in public. There are no specific rules on where and how the name is to be stated. The creator’s name should be included in the context in which it naturally belongs.

The right to the integrity of the work means that works must not be altered in ways that violate the integrity of the creator’s literary or artistic value or originality. The work must not be made public in such a form or context that violates the creator’s integrity. Any violation of integrity is assessed based on objective standards.  However, to some extent, the subjective perception of the creator can also be taken into account.