Which rights are managed by which society?

The author has the exclusive right to determine whether, when and how a work may be used (Art. 10 Para. 1 Federal Copyright Law, URG). There are only a few exceptions to this rule. These are cases in which the law declares a use to be permissible (so-called “statutory licence”) but generally provides for a remuneration in return. This applies to private copying for example.

Individual and collective management of authors’ rights

In principle, the authors are entitled to decide for themselves whether to permit or forbid an individual work use (individual rights management). They are however also entitled to assign certain rights or claims to remuneration to a collective rights management organisation for administration (voluntary collective management). And finally, there are cases in which the law itself lays down a collective rights management organisation obligation; this means that in these cases, individual rights management is not permissible under any circumstances (obligatory collective management). Depending on the work category, more (e.g. music) or fewer (e.g. film) rights are managed collectively.

Joint tariffs and common collecting agencies

If a number of collective rights management organisations are active in the same field of use, they are normally required to establish joint tariffs and designate a common collecting agency (Art. 47 Federal Copyright Law, URG). Collective management via collective rights management organisations is thus very much in the interest of the user who is able to obtain all rights for a specific use centrally in the sense of a “one-stop shop”.

The table below shows which rights or claims to remuneration are collectively managed through which society. If rights are not collectively managed via a collective rights management organisation, the assignment or licensing takes place on the basis of individual contracts.