Copyright law seeks to protect works that are their author’s own intellectual creation. The owner of a copyright can authorize, or prohibit, anyone to make the copyright protected work available to the public and/or to reproduce it.

How do I obtain copyright protection?

A work is copyright protected if it has its own, original character and bears the creator’s personal imprint. The work needs to be an expression of the author’s own intellectual creation. The author must therefore have made some creative choices when creating the work. There is however an absolute minimum to copyright protection. Everything that is too banal or trivial, is exempted from copyright protection.

Contrary to trademark protection, copyright protection does not require a registration. The copyright protection is granted without any registration and exists by the mere creation of the work.

There are many objects that may qualify for copyright protection. Examples are product packaging, product designs, website lay-outs, articles, musical works, movies and photographical works. In addition, software and its preparatory design material can be copyright protected. However, technical work practices, styles, methods and ideas which have not been expressed are generally not copyright protected.

How can I use copyright protection?

The owner of the copyright has the exclusive right to make the copyright protected work available to the public as well as to reproduce the copyrighted work. With such exclusive right the owner can prohibit third parties to, inter alia, copy or make the work available on a website. In addition, the owner can give a license to a third party to use or reproduce his work.

Our expertise

Our IP and IT attorneys have thorough experience in relation to copyright law. This experience includes the drafting and assessment of license agreements, advising about the transfer of copyrights and protection against counterfeiting.