Vocabulary

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Adaptation

An adaptation of a work could, for example, be a translation of a literary work or a new version of a musical work. The right to modify, translate or adapt a work is part of the creator’s exclusive rights.

Anthology

An anthology is a collection of selected literary pieces or passages or works of art or music. Permission from all rightsholders is needed to publish an anthology.

Citation

A citation is a reference to a source.

Collective Management Organisation

A collective management organisation (CMO) is an organisation that manages copyright and related rights on behalf of rightsholders. They license the use of works and distribute licence income to rightsholders.

Collective work

A collective work is a work in which various creators’ contributions can be distinguished from each other, such as a book containing both text and images, or a collection of essays. In the case of a collective work, each creator can determine the use of their own contribution.

Compensation

If someone uses a work protected by copyright the creator must receive compensation. The creator/rightsholder can determine what that compensation should be depending on how much of their work is to be used and how. If their work is used without permission, they can seek compensation retrospectively whether the user knew they should request permission or not.

Copying

Copying can be done through printing, digitising, photocopying, recording, or otherwise duplicating copies of a work. The production of copies falls under the creator’s exclusive rights and is one of the creator’s economic rights.

Copyright

Copyright is the legal protection for creative work. It gives the creator the right to decide how their work will be used.

Copyright compensation

Copyright compensation is a payment made to the creator for the use of a work, granting of usage rights, or other transfer of copyright. The transfer can also occur without compensation – it is for the creator to decide.

Copyright infringement

Creative Commons (CC) licence

Creative Commons is an American licensing system that a creator can use to allow the use of their work under certain conditions. The creator specifies how the work can be used with CC licence markings.

Database right

A right protecting a database or other products containing a large amount of structured information, where there has been a substantial investment in obtaining, verifying, organising and/or presenting the contents of the database.

Derivative work

A derivative work is a new work based on an original work, for example, through modification. Examples of derivative works include translations, adaptations, and compilations. Permission from the creator of the original work is required to create a derivative work.

Direct quote

A direct quote is a verbatim reproduction of an (oral or written) original text or statement.

Distribution

Copies of works can be distributed through sales, lending, licensing and renting. The distribution right is one of the creator’s exclusive economic rights.

Exceptions and limitations

A provision in copyright law that allows the use of a work without the creator’s permission in certain situations. This provision limits the creator’s exclusive right.

Exclusive publication right

The exclusive publication right refers to a right granted by the creator to publish a work in a specific form, such as the right to publish a newspaper article in a specific newspaper or for a publisher to be the only organisation to publish a novel in print form and as an ebook in a particular language.

Exhaustion of rights

When a physical copy of a work is first released or transferred to a new owner with the creator’s permission, the creator’s exclusive right to distribute the work expires (is exhauseted). In practice, this means, for example, that once copies of a book have been produced for sale and sold, the same copies, having been paid for, can subsequently be freely borrowed from the library.

Indirect quote

An indirect quote is a rephrasing of information or content from an original text (source) in one’s own words.

Integrity right

The right of integrity means that a work cannot be altered without the creator’s permission and that an altered version of a work cannot be attributed to the original creator, who might suffer reputational damage as a result.

Intellectual property

Intellectual property is an area of law that includes copyright and industrial property rights such as patents, trademark rights, and design rights. Intellectual property rights resemble ownership rights and protect the results of creative work, inventions, databases, computer programs, etc.

Joint work

A joint work is a work created collectively by two or more individuals, where the personal contributions of the creators are not independent works, but a shared whole.

Licence

A licence is the permission to use a specific work under specified conditions granted by the creator or rightsholder.

Make available to the public

When a work is made accessible to a broader audience beyond one’s own private circle, it is made available to the public. Making available to the public can occur through public performance, public display, distribution, or transmission. Making available to the public is part of the creator’s exclusive economic rights.

Moral rights

The moral rights of the creator mean that the creator and their work should be respected. The creator’s name should be acknowledged whenever the work is used, and the work should not be altered in a way that would harm the creator’s reputation.

Multimedia work

A multimedia work is a work consisting of multiple types of materials, such as images, sound, text, and moving pictures.

Original work

An original work is an independent and original literary or artistic work created by a human creator. A distinction is made between original works and derivative works, which can be, for example, compilations, adaptations, and translations.

Originality

For the result of creative work to be protected by copyright, it must be independent, original and created by a human being. A work may be considered original if it is unlikely that someone else could undertake the same task and achieve a similar result.

Paternity right

The paternity right means that the creator has the right to be acknowledged as the creator of the work when it is used.

Performing artist

A performing artist, such as an actor, musician, or singer, receives protection for their performance in form of related rights.

Photo collage

A photo collage consists of a collection of a variety of photographs, drawings, paintings or other images. Generally, permission from the copyright holders is required to use images in a photo collage.

Plagarism

Plagiarism is taking the ideas, expressions and language of another person and representing them as your own original work. It is an infringement of both economic and moral rights.

Producer

A film or music producer is someone who oversees and guides the production and recordings, of film or music projects. The producer has related rights in the recording.

Public display

Public display means showing a copy of a work publicly without technical aids, such as exhibiting a work of visual art like a painting. Public display falls under the creator’s exclusive economic rights.

Public domain

The term ‘in the public domain’ refers to works whose copyright protection term has expired or whose creators have decided to make them freely available or ‘open access’.

Public performance

Public performance refers to performing a work in front of a present audience. Public performance is part of the creator’s exclusive economic rights.

Publication

Publication means making a work available to the public.

Publishing

Publishing means making copies of a work available to the public.

Publishing agreement

A publishing agreement is a contract between an author and a publisher for the publication of a literary work.

Quotation

A quotation is a borrowed extract from a published text. When quoting, you must mention the author’s name.

Related rights

Related rights closely resemble copyright. They protect, among others, performing artists, recording and film producers, publishers and manufacturers of catalogues.

Resale right

The resale right entitles visual artists to compensation when their works are sold to a new owner through professional or public sales.

Rightsholder

The rightsholder is a person, a company, or another legal entity that owns the copyright or other rights, such as exclusive licence to publish, to a work.

Royalties

A royalty payment is a payment made to a creator for granting someone the right to use a work, for example, compensation to an author for the sale of a book or to a musician for the sale of recordings.

Source

The source is the original text, which can be either oral or written.

Summary

A summary is a condensed or abbreviated version of a written or oral presentation, where the content of the original presentation is recounted.

Threshold of originality

To be protected by copyright, a work requires creative effort. The result of this creative effort should be independent and original, surpassing the so-called ‘threshold of originality’.

Transfer

A creator may transfer their economic rights to someone else, such as a publisher, employer, or producer.

Transmission

Transmission involves making a work available to the public via wired or wireless means. Broadcasting a work on the radio or sharing it on the internet constitutes transmission. Transmission is part of the creator’s exclusive economic rights.