Publishing law
The publishing right within the meaning of the German § 8 Publishing Act (VerlG) is the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute a work of literature or music (i.e. sheet music). It is part of the copyright usage rights . Authors usually grant publishers the right to publish a work by concluding a publishing contract.
content
The owner of the publishing right is initially the author . The author can assign the publishing right to another person, e.g. B. to a publisher . The holder of the publishing right is entitled to produce in the typical book print form. Which rights the owner is entitled to in detail is a question of the individual case. However, it is only usual to reproduce in paper form. Electronic storage, on the other hand, is not covered by publishing law, but requires a separate agreement. In addition to the right to publish, there may be other copyright and moral rights to a work .
Publishing contract
history
Publishing contracts in this sense have existed since the first half of the 17th century. Even in the 18th century it was still customary to transfer the (even inheritable) ownership of the manuscript to the publisher in a publishing contract . Forerunners were the agreements between castigators and publishers.
The contents of the earliest publishing contracts were, in addition to publishing law, above all the level of fees, the number of free copies and the modalities of correction. The modalities for new editions were also regulated in publishing contracts in the 18th century. But it was only later that the publishing contract was developed to fix the economic distribution between author and publisher. From the 18th century, publishing contracts have also received information on the equipment of books and on appointments.
Legal provisions
The subject of the publishing contract is the publishing law. A publishing contract exists when an author or a licensee transfers the right to publish a work to a publisher . Through a publishing contract i. S. d. § 1 VerlG the author is obliged to leave his work to the publisher for reproduction and distribution. In return, the publisher is obliged to reproduce and distribute. According to § 14 VerlG, this must be done in an appropriate manner, in particular it is necessary that the publisher advertises the work. According to § 48 VerlG, the provision applies accordingly if the publishing right is not granted by the author but by a licensee. The publishing contract is to be separated from the publisher contract. The publisher's contract is an agreement that deals with the typical publisher's duties, in particular the collection and selection of articles and the organizational preparation for publication.
A publishing contract i. S. d. Section 1 VerlG presupposes that the publisher acts at least to a not inconsiderable extent on his own account (for a differentiation see grant publisher ). No publishing contract in the strict sense of the word is a contract that has other uses than in book form. The variants are as numerous as the forms of exploitation (e.g. audio book , stage performance, etc.). However, it is customary to transfer other exploitation rights to the publisher with the publishing right.
If the author or a licensee has granted the right to publish through a publishing contract, the content of the contract is authoritative; in addition, legal regulations must be consulted. The contract stipulates which editions the publisher should be entitled to (e.g. only hardcover editions or paperback editions). Any ambiguities about the scope of the transferred rights are regularly at the expense of the publisher.
The Publishing Act is mainly applied if the contracting parties have not made an express agreement. Otherwise it is a dispositive right, ie it can be waived in a contract (exception § 40 VerlG for future works). The publishing contract creates a continuing obligation between the parties. It can be terminated for an important reason.
literature
- Constanze Ulmer-Eilfort, Eva Inés Obergfell (ed.): Publishing law. Comment. 1st edition CH Beck, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-406-61999-1 .
- Karl Friedrich Fromm, Wilhelm Nordemann, Axel Nordemann, Jan Bernd Nordemann: Copyright: Commentary on the Copyright Act, Copyright Management Act, Publishing Act . 12th edition. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2018, ISBN 978-3-17-034406-8 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Harald Steiner: The author's fee - its development history from the 17th to the 19th century . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1998, ISBN 3-447-03986-8 ( Scientific articles from the German Book Archive Munich , Vol. 59), pp. 63–65.
- ↑ Harald Steiner: The author's fee - its development history from the 17th to the 19th century . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1998, ISBN 3-447-03986-8 ( Book scholarly contributions from the German Book Archive Munich , vol. 59), p. 65.
- ↑ Harald Steiner: The author's fee - its development history from the 17th to the 19th century . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1998, ISBN 3-447-03986-8 ( Scientific articles from the German Book Archive Munich , Vol. 59), p. 71.
- ↑ For delimitation: LG Cologne, judgment of April 21, 2004 - 28 O 702/03 -