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  1. English
  2. Copyright
  3. 3. WHO... owns the copyright in the work?
  4. 3.2 Joint author
  • 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?
    • 3.1 Author
    • 3.2 Joint author
    • 3.3 The author cannot be determined
    • 3.4 Other owners of rights
  • 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
  • 6. AND... responsibility and sanctions?
  • 7. Copyright and social media

3.2 Joint author

Index FAQ

If several people have contributed as authors to the creation of a work, they are called joint authors. These joint authors all have a joint copyright in the work (Art. 7 para. 1 CopA).

The joint authors can create a joint work by collectively working on an idea or objective (e.g. several artists create a sculpture together), or each joint author can create their own work which is then added to the joint work, together with the work of all the other joint authors (e.g. several writers write a text contribution to a joint book). In both cases, it is important that everybody gives creative input.

Unless agreed otherwise, the joint authors may only use the work with the consent of all the authors. The other joint authors may not arbitrarily refuse to give their consent ('contrary to the principles of good faith') (Art. 7 para. 2 CopA) and usually have to give their consent if the work is used for its customary purpose. If the individual contributions can be separated and there is no agreement to the contrary, each of the joint authors may individually use their own contribution, provided that this does not affect the exploitation of the joint work (Art. 7 para. 4 CopA).

There is no joint authorship in the following cases:

  • Executing person

A distinction must be made between the joint author and the executing person. The latter only follows instructions and does not give any creative input. An executing person therefore does not have any copyrights. (E.g. if an employer makes use of its authority to give directives and tells an employee exactly how to create a work; the employee does not give any creative input.)

  • Authorship of derivative works and collected works

It can also be difficult to determine joint authorship when an existing work is combined with a new work (derivative works, Art. 3 para. 1 CopA or collected works, Art. 4 para. 1 CopA).

In this case, the author of the existing work and the author of the new work are not joint authors. The criterion for joint authorship is that a work must be jointly created; this is not fulfilled here.

FAQ

3.2-1 Who is the author of a children's book if one person writes the text and another person creates the illustrations?

Both of them are joint authors. They are engaged in a joint creative task – in this case, the creation of a children's book – and are jointly pursuing this objective.

3.2-2 A lecturer wants to prepare a PowerPoint presentation for his class, but does not know how it works. He writes the text on paper and asks an assistant to insert it into PowerPoint without any changes. Is the assistant a joint author of the text?

No, the lecturer is the only author. The assistant created the slides as directed by the lecturer and did not give any creative input of their own. The assistant is just the executing person.

3.2-3 A lecturer has not put anything to paper and asks his assistant to prepare PowerPoint slides for the lecture. The assistant prepares them, using their own ideas and structures, then the lecturer revises the slides. Who is the author of the work?

The lecturer and the assistant are joint authors. They have a joint task, i.e. to add the contents of the lecture to a PowerPoint presentation; both the lecturer and the assistant give creative input.

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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.

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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).

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