The owner of the copyright is the creator of the work. Under Austrian copyright law, this can only be a natural person, i.e. a human being. Legal entities (companies such as limited liability companies, universities, associations, museums) cannot be authors, even if they have commissioned the work. However, legal entities can have exploitation rights to the copyrighted creations (see the chapter on exploitation rights). 

Info: The situation is different in US copyright law. There, legal entities can also be owners of copyrights. In the case of commissioned works, it is even assumed that copyrights are held by the client, unless they have made a contractual agreement to the contrary ("work made for hire").

Info: People who are authorised to exploit a work are also referred to as rights holders. Since authors and ancillary rights holders can authorise other people to exploit artistic productions, the latter become rights holders in the scope of the permitted use.

In the case of anonymous and pseudonymous works, the author either does not provide a name or makes up a name. In such cases, the editors or publishers are deemed to manage the copyright.

Besides being created alone, works can also be produced together:

  • If a work cannot be "broken down" into individual parts but represents an inseparable unit, all the artists involved are co-authors. All co-authors must agree on how they wish to exploit the work of art. However, if one person infringes the copyright of their joint work, each individual co-author can defend themselves against the infringement. See the subchapter How can I take action against infringements of my copyrights?
  • An associated work is only "associated" and therefore separable. Each part of the associated work remains a work in its own right and does not constitute co-authorship of the other parts. Only the exploitation of the entire work is carried out jointly by the participating artists.

Example: You and another musician write a melody for a song together. This artistic creation forms an inseparable unit; you are co-authors.

Example: You and another musician write a song together: one of you composes the melody, the other writes the lyrics. The music and lyrics are a combined work because you can separate the melody from the lyrics. You are not co-authors of the song, but each of you is the author of your own part: lyrics or music. However, if you want to exploit the song commercially, you must do so together.

Does a copyright notice lead to copyright protection for my artwork? 

No, whether or not you attach a copyright notice has no bearing on the question of whether your work of art is protected by copyright. Your work is always automatically protected from the moment it is created. 

To do: However, a copyright notice is still recommended. This is because it may be of significance under the laws of other countries. In times of digital networking and distribution on the internet, a copyright notice serves to emphasise on the internet that the work is protected. 

Attention: A correct copyright notice looks like this: © + name of the copyright holder(s) + year of first publication of the work.

In Austrian law, a copyright notice also triggers the presumption of authorship (Section 2 UrhG): if your name is on your work of art, it is assumed that you are the author of the work until proven otherwise.

Example: You have created an artistic photograph and have not attached a copyright notice. Another person places a copyright notice on your photograph, stating that they—and not you—are the author of the photograph. Until you can prove that you took this photo, the other person is considered to be the author.

In practice, it is often difficult to provide counterevidence, although artists have developed methods to make this easier. You can deposit your original work or a copy of it (e.g. printout, photo, CD) with a notary, who can then confirm that you created this work of art for the first time. Alternatively, you can send this "proof" to yourself by post and keep it unopened. The postmark serves as proof that you created the work first ("priority").