copyright

noun · Urheberrecht

Urheberrecht for the right, Nutzungsrechte for everything the market actually trades, because the German Stammrecht cannot be assigned among the living, § 29 Abs. 1 UrhG. Assigns all copyright translated word for word describes a transaction German law does not offer, the working clause grants ausschließliche Nutzungsrechte.

Which translation, when

Urheberrechtthe parent right, born in the creator, § 7 UrhG, and not transferable inter vivos, § 29 Abs. 1 UrhG, the inheritance route excepted. What the author keeps by force of law.

Nutzungsrechtewhat the market moves, einfache oder ausschließliche Nutzungsrechte, § 31 Abs. 1 UrhG, granted rather than assigned, with the Zweckübertragungslehre of § 31 Abs. 5 UrhG as the interpretive funnel.

Why

German copyright is monist and stubborn about it. The right is born in the human creator, § 7 UrhG, and cannot be assigned among the living, § 29 Abs. 1 UrhG, the route through death and inheritance being the statutory exception. What commerce moves instead are Nutzungsrechte, exclusive or simple, § 31 Abs. 1 UrhG, granted, not assigned, and read narrowly, because § 31 Abs. 5 UrhG hands every use the parties failed to name back to the author, the Zweckübertragungslehre. Work made for hire does not travel either, the right stays with the employee and § 43 UrhG merely runs the grant machinery through the employment, Nutzungsrechte flowing by express or implied grant, only software runs the other way, § 69b UrhG handing the employer the economic powers in programs by default. So the reflex rendering, Übertragung des Urheberrechts, drafts an impossibility that courts rescue by reading it down into a grant, and the rescue is narrower than the English buy-out ever intended, with the Urheberpersönlichkeitsrecht, §§ 12 ff. UrhG, staying with the author throughout.

Typical mistakes

Übertragung des Urheberrechts describes the impossible, § 29 Abs. 1 UrhG, inter vivos the right stays put, the clause that works grants ausschließliche Nutzungsrechte.
Die Zweckübertragungslehre shrinks silence, § 31 Abs. 5 UrhG keeps unnamed Nutzungsarten with the author, so the broad English buy-out must name its uses or lose them.
Work made for hire has no German twin, § 7 UrhG plants the right in the employee, under § 43 UrhG only Nutzungsrechte flow through the employment by express or implied grant, and software alone runs the other way by default, § 69b UrhG.

What matters

IP clauses in service agreements meet the wall head-on: the Contractor assigns all copyright in the deliverables cannot happen in Germany, § 29 Abs. 1 UrhG, the working German reads räumt ausschließliche, zeitlich und räumlich unbeschränkte Nutzungsrechte für alle bekannten Nutzungsarten ein, uses named, because § 31 Abs. 5 UrhG hands silence back to the author. The word-for-word Übertragung survives only by judicial mercy and shrinks on arrival.

Authority

§ 7 UrhG
§ 29 Abs. 1 UrhG
§ 31 Abs. 1, 5 UrhG
§ 43 UrhG
§ 69b UrhG
§§ 12 ff. UrhG

What the machine misses

Copyright assignment comes back as Übertragung des Urheberrechts with total confidence, and German law does not sell that transaction, the right is born in the author and stays there among the living, only Nutzungsrechte move. The output drafts an impossibility, the courts read it down into a grant, and the Zweckübertragungslehre then shrinks whatever the parties forgot to name, three surprises stacked inside one translated verb.

Examples

assignment of copyright	die Einräumung ausschließlicher Nutzungsrechte
copyright notice	der Urheberrechtsvermerk
the copyright in the work	das Urheberrecht am Werk
royalty-free licence	die vergütungsfreie Lizenz