Dutch copyright law

Dutch copyright law (called "Auteursrecht") grants exclusive rights to the author of a work of literature, science or art. It was originally intended to cover books, but today it applies to many other materials including films, recorded music and visual art.

Auteursrecht includes exclusive publishing rights and allows the author to make and sell copies of their work. It also includes the exclusive right to make products derived from the copyrighted work and to publicly display the work (or to grant permission to do so).This is normally recorded in a license contract between someone who has created a copyrighted work and someone who wishes to use that work. Unlike patents, which grant "monopolierecht" ("monopoly right") on inventions, copyrights only apply to specific creative manifestations of one or more ideas. Copyrights, however, can be bought and sold.

Generally, the owner of a copy of a copyrighted product can do with the copy as they please, even without actual ownership of the copyright, provided no copies are made and the product is not modified. Those who acquire modified copies from the copyright holder are also bound by these limitations.

There are some limits on what the owner of a copy can do with it. For example, public displays of the creative work are regarded as a form of copying. However, both Dutch and Belgian law allow for "citaatrecht" (quotation right). This allows the use of portions of a copyrighted work under a strict set of conditions. Quotation rights are more limited and demarcated than the concept of fair use.

Difference between copyright and 'auteursrechten'

Aside from those mentioned above, there are a few legal differences between auteursrechten and copyrights. One noticeable difference is that auteursrechten grants more rights to employees over intellectual and other property created at work. Artists and musicians (not just the company with distribution rights) are also granted the right of resale, which means they are entitled to a royalty each time a copy of the work is published or exhibited. This is known as "naburige rechten" (literally "neighboring rights").

Auteursrechten, like the French idea of "droits d'auteur", implies not only legal but also moral rights. An author is theoretically given, in addition to the right of ownership, the right to be recognized for the work rather than being criticized for it. Regardless of whether property rights are allocated to the publisher or to the author, the author retains this moral right.

History

Historically, governments issued "monopolierechten" to publishers for the sale of printed work. Great Britain was the first to change this in 1710 with the Statute of Anne, which recognized that authors, not publishers, should be the rightful claimant. It also entailed protection for buyers of printed work in that publishers were no longer allowed to control the use of sold works. Furthermore, it limited exclusive rights to 28 years, after which the work or works would be released to the public domain.

The Berne Convention in 1886 first settled the recognition of copyrights between sovereign nations. Under the Berne Convention the right of ownership ("eigendomsrecht" in Dutch) was automatically granted to every creative work. The author no longer needed to register the work, and was not required to apply for copyright coverage.

The Berne Convention is still in effect today. When a work is finished (defined as being written or recorded on a physical medium), the author automatically receives all exclusive rights for that work as well as derivatives, unless and until the author explicitly renounces those rights or the copyright expires. The expiration time differs from country to country, but according to the Berne Convention the minimum time is the lifetime of the author plus 50 years. In the Netherlands the term is 70 years after the death of the author.

National laws and treaties

Copyright laws differ between countries. However, there are several international treaties concerning copyright, including:

* The Berne Convention, 1886
* The Universal Copyright Convention, 1952
* The WIPO Copyright Treaty, 1996
* The WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty, 1996
* The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) (which manages the rights concerning trade in intellectual property)

There are also many other treaties that settle specific parts of copyright. Examples are the European Directive on Copyright Protection of Software (Europese Richtlijn op de Auteursrechtelijke Bescherming van Software) and the European Directive on Neighboring Rights (Europese Richtlijn op de Naburige Rechten).

Misconceptions

There are many misconceptions about copyright laws in the Netherlands.

* Trademarks and patents, not copyrights, govern names and inventions.
* Although copyright infringement is often compared to theft, when something is stolen the owner no longer has access to the stolen property.
* Copyright is granted automatically in countries such as the Netherlands that have signed the Berne Convention, meaning as soon as a person creates a work, it is covered by copyright. This means that technically it is not necessary to include copyright indicators such as "copyright © 2006." (However, such indicators are generally included for the sake of clarity.)
* The word "copyright" has no legal meaning in the Netherlands. Thus the phrase "op dit werk berust copyright" ("this work is covered by copyright") has no legal meaning. The correct phrase is "dit werk is auteursrechtelijk beschermd." The symbol © also has no legal meaning in the Netherlands. Fact|date=August 2008
* Anyone who has made a creative work has a copyright. An underexposed, badly composed picture of the Eiffel Tower on a personal homepage is just as covered as a two meter tall print of a perfect photograph of the same tower by a professional photographer.
* Copyright is only granted to creative, original works. The creator of the work must have used some creativity or a certain creative decision must have been made. "Creativity" is a relative term, however, as this is a legal, not aesthetic, standard. Passport photographs are an example of works that are not covered by copyright because they are produced in a standard way. Passport photographs are covered by "portretrecht" (portrait right). Fact|date=August 2008
* An author can transfer a copyright to someone else using "securitisatie", at which point the author receives the current value of future copyright revenues at the time of public presentation.
* Copyright lasts for a time, specifically 70 years after the death of the author. When a copyright expires the work become part of the public domain. An author also can prematurely renounce a copyright. Expiration or termination of the copyright does not automatically mean the work can be freely copied and published. For example, portrait rights of the person depicted may still apply to portraits.
* The author of a work always retains certain rights, even if the copyright is transferred or renounced: the right of the author to be mentioned in, on or near the work is the best example. These rights are called moral rights. These rights also last until 70 years after the death of the author.

Works of the government and laws and court rulings

In principle all works communicated to the public by or on behalf of the public authorities (government) are not copyright protected in the Netherlands, unless the copyright has been reserved explicitly, either in a general manner by law, decree or ordinance, or in a specific case by a notice on the work itself or at the communication to the public. This is regulated in [http://www.ivir.nl/legislation/nl/copyrightact.html Article 15b of the Copyright Act of 1912] . This implies that programmes of the Netherlands Public Broadcasting service (they are public authorities just like the Silicose Oud-mijnwerkers foundation, see ABRS 30 November 1995, JB 1995/337) are not copyright protected.

In the Netherlands there is no copyright at all on the text of laws and court rulings; these governmental works can be accessed at all times by anyone for any purpose. However, some publishers of legal texts and court rulings do claim copyrights on the form in which they present the texts.

External links

* [http://www.ivir.nl/legislation/nl/copyrightact.html Copyright Act (Netherlands) (1912)]
* [http://www.ivir.nl/legislation/nl/relatedrights_unofficial.pdf Neighbouring Rights Act (Netherlands) (1993)] (pdf of unofficial translation)
* [http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/training/Hirtle_Public_Domain.htm Cornell Law summary of US Copyright] (includes for works published outside US)
* [http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html 10 Big Myths about copyright explained]