English
Deutsch English Français Italiano
  • FAQs
  • Knowledge base
    • BASICS OF COPYRIGHT
    • Where... is the work used and which national law is applicable?
    • What... is a protected work?
    • Who... owns the copyright in the work?
    • Which... rights in the work are protected?
    • How... may other people use a work?
    • And... responsibility and sanctions?
    • Copyright and social media
  • Training
    • Training Offer
    • Case Studies
  • Advising
  • About
    • CCdigitallaw
    • Affiliation
    • Events
  • News Archive

  1. English
  2. Copyright
  3. 5b. HOW ... can other people use a work? - Contractual licenses
  • Basics of Copyright
  • 1. WHERE... is the work used and which national law is applicable?
  • 2. WHAT... is a protected work?
  • 3. WHO... owns the copyright in the work?
  • 4. WHICH... rights in the work are protected?
  • 5. HOW... may other people use a work?
  • 5b. HOW ... can other people use a work? - Contractual licenses
    • 5b.1 Creative Commons Licences
    • 5b.2 Free and open source software licences
  • 6. AND... responsibility and sanctions?
  • 7. Copyright and social media

5b. HOW ... can other people use a work? - Contractual licenses

Index

If authors do not wish to give up their copyrights by assigning them to other natural persons, they can sign a contract (licence agreement) that simply gives others the right to use (licences) their work. The users (licensees) do not acquire any exclusive rights – they just obtain the consent of the author to use the latter's rights in a specific way. Licensees do not assume the legal position of an author (in contrast to the assignment of copyrights). In particular, the acquired right to use the work may not be assigned to third parties, unless a sub-licence is permitted. Authors may also grant additional licences to their work to other persons, unless a licensee has been given an exclusive licence.

Types of licences:

  • Exclusive licence and sub-licence

Authors and users can agree that the licence gives the user an exclusive right to use the work, and that neither the author nor any other person may use the work (exclusive licence). Authors and users can agree in a contract that the user may in turn give rights to use the work to additional persons (sub-licences).

  • Statutory licence

A statutory licence is based on provisions of the Copyright Act that grant the licensee the right to use the work. It is also referred to as a limiting provision of copyright law and is a very important part of copyright law. Users of a work can use a protected work under a statutory licence without needing the consent of the author or the owner of rights. The best-known example of a statutory licence is the limiting provision on private use in the personal sphere or within a circle of persons closely connected to each other (Art. 19 para. 1 (a) CopA) and the use of the work for educational purposes (Art. 19 para. 1 (b) CopA). Statutory licences are discussed in detail in the chapter 'How ... may others use a work?'

  • Compulsory licence

A compulsory licence refers to a legal obligation on authors or owners of rights to grant users a corresponding licence. In this case, authors or owners of rights must conclude a licence agreement with users. However, Swiss law only makes provision for one compulsory licence (Art. 23 CopA).

Services

FAQ FAQs, developed from real cases, allow you to quickly find answers to everyday digital law questions.
Knowledge Base A detailed knowledge base provides you insights into various legal aspects, currently with a focus on copyright issues.
Training A vast choice of on- and offline trainings are available together with interactive case studies to work through.
Advising A team of legal experts with competences ranging from copyright to data protection and licensing agreements are available for your questions.

About


CCdigitallaw is a national Competence Center in Digital Law that supports Swiss Higher Education Institutions (students, academic and administrative staff) in dealing with legal questions related to the digitization process and the use of new media and technologies. To do so, the Center offers various services such as a detailed knowledge base, FAQs, a wide range of on- and offline training activities and an advising service.

Partners


CCdigitallaw has been created through a project funded by swissuniversities. The center is the result of a collaboration between the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), University of Basel (UNIBAS), University of Neuchâtel (UNINE), University of Geneva (UNIGE), and the Conference of Swiss Libraries (CBU-KUB).

Contacts


The team of legal experts working for the Center will be more than happy to answer your questions personally, by e-mail, phone or chat.
  • e-mail: info@ccdigitallaw.ch
  • tel: +41586664930
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

 swissuniversities.png

Disclaimer
de gb fr it

Cookies

This platform uses cookies for sessions, user support, analytics and user feedback. The session and user support cookies are necessary and cannot be disabled but you can opt out of the analytics and user feedback.
Analytics
User feedback