In the European Union

Whenever the law of an EU/EEA country is applicable, the following basic standards apply:

• Works of art by EU/EEA citizens are protected in other EU/EEA countries under the same conditions as the works of art of the respective nationals. The scope of protection always depends on the copyright laws of the specific EU/EEA country.
• The extent to which works of art by third-country nationals are protected in other EU/EEA countries depends on the copyright laws of the respective countries. In these cases, the main question is whether the respective EU/EEA country has concluded an international copyright agreement with your country of origin.
• In copyright agreements, it is always possible to mutually agree that the law of a particular country applies to the contract. If authors do not choose the applicable law in their contracts, the law of the country in which the contract's characteristic performance was rendered or to which the contract has the closest connection applies in accordance with the Rome I Regulation (see the example below).
• In all member states, it is possible to use copyright-protected works in certain ways without the author's consent (free use of works). What these are in detail, however, depends on the laws of the individual member states. In most cases, use in the field of science, satire, or for exclusively private purposes is permitted.
• The EU has issued basic standards for collecting societies, which serve to protect the interests (e.g. remuneration, enforcement of rights, distribution of works of art) of authors. Each member state has only one collecting society for a specific genre of art (monopoly principle). See the chapter on collecting societies below.
• Principle of European exhaustion. If an author authorises another person to publish their work of art in an EU/EEA country, once the work has actually been published there, it may automatically be published in all other EU/EEA countries. 

Example: You are an Italian author and grant a Belgian publisher based in Brussels the rights to use your new novel on Belgian territory. Your book is printed, marketed, and sold in Belgium. Belgian law applies to the publishing contract because the place of fulfilment is in Belgium and the closest connection is to Belgium.

Attention: The conditions under which a work is protected by copyright and the types of exploitation available to authors differ from member state to member state. You should find out about the respective national regulations in the countries where you are working as an artist.

To answer the following questions, you must check the copyright laws of the EU/EEA country in which you exploit your art, in which your copyright has been infringed, or whose law you have contractually agreed to apply for the copyright exploitation of your works: 

• Who is the author of a work of art?
• Which exploitation rights do authors have?
• Which exploitation rights can authors not prohibit other people from exercising?
• How can authors defend themselves against copyright infringements?

To do: Find out whether your country of origin has concluded an agreement with the country in which you wish to commercially exploit your artwork. 

The EU has issued a directive to standardise the regulations on collecting societies, which serve to collectively protect the interests (e.g. remuneration, enforcement of rights, distribution of works of art) of authors and ancillary copyright holders in certain artistic genres. 

Info: Ancillary copyright holders are not authors, but they are entitled to similar rights. Some of these include performing artists and people whose artistic productions are not protected by copyright. See the chapter on ancillary copyrights.

Artists transfer their exploitation rights to collecting societies, which then take care of their exploitation. Each member state has only one collecting society for a specific artistic genre (monopoly principle).

Example: In Germany, the collecting society Bild-Kunst represents the interests of visual artists, while in Austria it is the collecting society Bildrecht, and in Norway Bono Opphavsrett. 

If users wish to use artistic productions protected by ancillary copyrights or copyrights, they must contact the collecting society. They will then be granted permission to use the work. 

This is advantageous for users as well as for authors and ancillary copyrights holders. Collecting societies conclude standardised contracts with their members and grant permission to use the artists’ entire repertoire at standard rates.

They also fulfil the purpose of representing interests. Collecting societies from different countries conclude reciprocity agreements so that the other collecting society can also exploit the foreign artists’ repertoire in their own country. 

Example: You are a singer in Portugal and have a whole repertoire of songs. You authorise a Portuguese collecting society to manage your rights. Your Portuguese collecting society has concluded reciprocity agreements with all relevant collecting societies within the EU/EEA. Consequently, your songs can also be exploited in all other EU/EEA countries through foreign collecting societies.

As collecting societies do not only conclude reciprocal representation agreements within the EU/EEA, but also with collecting societies in third countries, many collecting societies are practically rights holders of the entire global repertoire. They have a strong position in collective bargaining and could advocate for appropriate remuneration for authors. 

If artists do not have their rights managed by collecting societies, users would have to contact the artists for every work they wanted to use. In addition, authors would always have to check for themselves whether someone was using their works without authorisation. Given the large number of uses, this would be virtually impossible for either of the two parties.

To do: You should check the use of your works yourself and notify your collecting society of any unauthorised use. Check whether you find any known but missing uses in the collecting society's statement. If there are errors in the statement, you can file a complaint with the collecting society within a certain period.

There are a few exceptions meaning that artists cannot manage their rights themselves and must therefore conclude a contract with the collecting societies in order for them to be managed. 

Example: Remuneration claims, such as the flat-rate levy for storage media remuneration, can only be paid out to authors by the collecting society. In order to receive this remuneration, authors must contact a collecting society.