Copyright

Your rights

When you create an original literary, scientific and artistic work, such as poems, articles, films, songs or sculptures, you are protected by copyright. Nobody apart from you has the right to make the work public or reproduce it.

In EU countries, copyright protects your intellectual property until 70 years after your death or 70 years after the death of the last surviving author in the case of a work of joint authorship.

Outside of the EU, in any country which signed the Berne Convention, the duration of copyright protection can vary but it lasts until at least 50 years after the author's death.

Copyright protection grants you the following exclusive rights:

• economic rights – guaranteeing you have control over your work and remuneration for its use through selling or licensing
• moral rights – usually protecting your rights to claim authorship (right of attribution) and to refuse a modification of your work (right of integrity)

How to obtain copyright protection

If you create literary, scientific and artistic work, you automatically have copyright protection, which starts from the moment you create your work, so you don't need to go through any formal application process.

However, you may need to advise other people that you are the author of that work. You can attach a copyright notice to your work – such as the "all rights reserved" text, or the © symbol – together with the year the work was created.

You can also register your copyright via a dedicated service provider, which can be useful to prove the existence of your work at a certain point in time.

Reproduction, licenses and exceptions of copyrighted material

With few exceptions copyright is not covered by EU law. National laws in each country are the most relevant reference on the topic.

Right of reproduction, licensing exclusive rights

By granting a licence, you (the licensor) authorise others (the licensee(s)) to use your copyright-protected work, under the terms and limitations you define in the licence agreement. For example, you can license only the right of reproduction of a photograph, in which case the licensee is authorised to make copies of the work, or you can license additional rights such as the right to modify or communicate the work to the public. If you decide to license the right of reproduction only, the licence agreement can include specific rules about the types of reproduction allowed (e.g. digital or print) as well as how many copies, and whether the licensee has the right to full or partial reproduction of the work.

Types of licences

If you grant an exclusive licence, only the licensee is allowed to use the work. Under an exclusive licence, even you as the copyright holder may be excluded from using the work during the period agreed in the licence. In contrast, a non-exclusive licence, allows you, as the copyright holder and licensor, to grant rights, such as the right of reproduction to as many users as you want, at the same time.

Moreover, as a copyright owner, you may negotiate an individual licence with a specific person or entity (or group of persons or entities), or you can decide to license your work to the public under conditions which apply equally to all users, via a public licence. ‘Creative commons’ licenses are public standardised licences under which creators can authorise the public to use their works via a unilateral declaration with pre-determined conditions. There are six Creative Commons licences, each defining specific user permissions and obligations.

Licence agreements can contain different types of conditions and limitations, such as the duration of the authorisation to use the work, geographic limitations, and whether the licensee may grant sublicences to others. In addition, as the licensor, you can authorise the reproduction of your work for commercial purposes or restrict it to non-commercial purposes. You can also require a licensee to attribute the work to you, as the copyright owner, and decide how this should be done in the work’s copyright notice (e.g. “© John Doe, 2025”). 

Exceptions

Under EU copyright law, there are exceptions that allow copyright-protected work to be used without the copyright owner’s permission (i.e., without a licence). An exception may refer to one or more exclusive rights.

For example:

• The reproduction of broadcasts by social institutions is an exception to the right of reproduction
• Quotation for criticism or review or illustration for teaching are exceptions to the rights of reproduction and communication to the public.
• If the conditions for an exception are met , users can reproduce parts of a work and make it available to the public, e.g., via the internet.

Key copyright exceptions under EU law:

• Private copying - Individuals may make copies of copyrighted works for personal use under certain conditions.
• Reporting and criticism - You may report on current events, quote works for criticism or review, and make parodies and caricatures.
• Access to knowledge - Under EU law certain copyright exceptions facilitate access to knowledge, including for: text- and data-mining*; digital uses of works for the purpose of illustration for teaching; and the preservation of cultural heritage extended collective licensing and similar mechanisms; making audiovisual works available on video-on-demand services.
• Public domain works - Anyone can use and share without restriction copies of works of art in the public domain (for example, a picture of a sculpture no longer covered by copyright), under certain conditions.