As already mentioned, authors cannot completely transfer their copyrights to other people by contract ("inter vivos"). Under Austrian law, copyrights are too closely linked to the author’s person. 

Info: In other countries, especially in the USA, a complete copyright transfer is in fact possible.

Although you cannot transfer your copyright, you can authorise other people to use your artwork with the following contractual agreements:

  • Through the granting of rights of use;

or

  • Through the granting of licenses for rights of use.
  • Besides the limits of immorality (see the chapter on fair remuneration), the rules of interpretation are also important for contracts in copyright law: interpretation is used to determine the content and meaning of the contract. Rules of interpretation are important because contracts often do not conclusively regulate every detail.

Austrian legislation and case law tend to favour a copyright-friendly interpretation: if no clear provision has been made in the contract, it is assumed, in case of doubt, that the exploitation rights remain with the authors. It is assumed that the person who acquires rights of use does not acquire more rights in case of doubt than appear necessary for the fulfilment of the planned use of the work (transfer of purpose theory).

There are certain special rules for interpretation in copyright contract law. Here are two examples:

  • In case of doubt, a licence to use a work does not include the right to edit it;
  • In case of doubt, the acquisition of a piece of work does not include any rights to use the work.

Example: You are a freelance artist and sell a painting. The buyer becomes the owner of the work. Unless you have agreed otherwise, the buyer does not also acquire exploitation rights upon their purchase of the work. You reserve the right to commercially exploit your copyright to the work of art—e.g. reproduction, public communication, editing.  

In Austrian copyright law, freedom of form and (with a few exceptions) freedom of contract apply. This means that contracts can be structured as desired and can be concluded verbally, in writing, or tacitly (implied—i.e. through conclusive actions).

Example: If you are booked as a photographer for a photo shoot so that your client can use the photos in a catalogue, the rights of use for the photos in this catalogue are deemed to have been implicitly granted—even if you have not expressly agreed this.

In the following sections you will find information on the granting of rights of use for works and the granting of licences to use works. 

...you can grant rights for your work to be used

People to whom you have granted a right to use your work are exclusively authorised to exploit your work under copyright law. Not even you can exploit your work or authorise other people to exploit your work of art. The right to use a work is transferable and inheritable. People who are holders of the right to use a work can also take independent action against copyright infringements.

To do: To avoid conflicts, you should clearly specify exactly how you authorise the other person to use the work. Should no provisions have been made on certain points, you will have to apply the rules of interpretation to ascertain the content of the contract. Rights of use can be granted until the end of the term of protection or for a shorter, specified period. After expiry of the term, the right to use the work expires and the rights granted automatically revert to you as the author. You and your contractual partner can also contractually agree on other reasons that lead to the automatic reversion of the right to use the work (e.g. the death of your contractual partner).

An important example of work use rights is the publishing right. Only the publisher to whom you have granted comprehensive rights to use your literary work may exploit your work. 

Example: You are an author and write a novel. You are therefore the author of the work. As soon as you conclude a publishing contract for this novel, the publisher acquires the publishing right. The publisher has free use of your work within the scope of this agreement and may grant licences to other publishers.

....you can grant a licence for your work to be used

You can also grant someone a non-exclusive licence to use your work. In the licence, you allow your contractual partner to use your work. You can restrict this licence in terms of space, time, and content as you wish. While the person is using your work, you may continue to use it yourself and also grant other people further authorisation to use your work. 

...you can authorise a collecting society to manage your rights

As in all EU/EEA countries, collecting societies also have a monopoly position in Austria. There is a separate collecting society for each specific area of management, which depends on the specific artistic genre. The Austrian supervisory authority grants the collecting societies a licence. This allows them to manage the rights of their members in a specific field. 

Characteristics of collecting societies in Austria:

  • Since collecting societies should not exploit their monopoly position, they are subject to state control;
  • Collecting societies are legally obliged to conclude contracts between authors and interested users, and to do so under standardised conditions (obligation to contract);
  • Collecting societies themselves must not be profit-orientated. This means that all of their income—minus administrative expenses—must be distributed, in full, to their members;
  • Collecting societies do not manage all use rights on a fiduciary basis, but only those that cannot be managed individually by the artists themselves or only with disproportionate effort. A distinction is made between "small rights" and "grand rights"; small rights are managed by the artists themselves, while grand rights are managed by the collecting society. 

Example: In the field of literature, lectures (readings) are categorised as "small rights". These rights are exercised by the authors themselves.

Example: Complete performances of musical-dramatic stage performances (e.g. musicals, operas, operettas) fall within the scope of "grand rights". Licences are therefore granted directly. The broadcasting of musical-dramatic works on the radio also falls within the scope of "grand rights".

Collecting societies manage rights both in Austria and abroad. To this end, they conclude reciprocity agreements with foreign collecting societies. In this way, artistic productions can also be exploited abroad. See the chapter on collecting societies within the EU/EEA. 

Info:    Detailed regulations can be found in the Collecting Societies Act 2006 (VerwGesG 2006) and on the website of the supervisory authority for collecting societies.

The following table gives you an overview of the collecting societies in Austria: 

In the field of music:
AKM (society for authors,
composers and music publishers)		 Performance and broadcasting rights AKM/austro mechana English 
AUME  (Austro-Mechana) Mechanical rights (reproduction)  
  AUME has since become a subsidiary of AKM https://www.akm-aume.at/
LSG (management of ancillary copyrights) Ancillary copyrights of performing artists and producers of sound recordings http://lsg.at/

In the field of literature :
Literary Mechana Mechanical rights (reproduction) of literature 
Performance and broadcasting rights of linguistic works		 http://literar.at/

In the field of film art:
VAM (collecting society for audiovisual media) Protects the rights of film producers https://www.vam.cc/en
VDFS (collecting society of
audiovisual authors)		 Represents rights that belong to the author or the performers and not to the film producers https://www.vdfs.at/en/

RAW (organisation for the assertion of rights relating to the public performance/reproduction of audiovisual media)

https://www.raw-rechte.at/ 

In the field of fine arts:
BILDRECHT (Society for the management of visual rights) Represents various rights and deals with (statutory) remuneration claims of visual artists http://www.bildrecht.at/

In the field of broadcasting:
VGR (collecting society for broadcasting) Exercises various rights and remuneration claims of broadcasters http://www.vg-rundfunk.at/