On Wed, 17 Apr 2013 19:52:38 +0200, clipka wrote:

> Am 16.04.2013 18:21, schrieb Jörg 'Yadgar' Bleimann:
>> Hi(gh)!
>>
>> On 16.04.2013 13:23, Thomas de Groot wrote:
>>
>>> That would be indeed challenging as a (large?) number of authors is
>>> not active anymore and may have moved away,
>>
>> ....or even passed away - the oldest image files in my private
>> collection date back to 1998! Who inherits the copyright if no explicit
>> testamental provisions had been made? Depends on the country... I don't
>> even know how the rules are in Germany...
> 
> IANAL, but the concept of copyright in the American sense does not exist
> in Germany. Instead, there is a set of author's rights ("Urheberrecht"),
> and the heirs do get to exercise and benefit from these until so-many
> years after the author's death (the duration depending on the type of
> work AFAIK), after which the work passes on into the public domain.

That's pretty much the way it works in the US, too - copyright is for the 
author's life + 70 years IIRC, and the rights are given to the copyright 
holder or the rights assignee (in some cases the publication), and after 
that period lapses, the work passes into the public domain.

I'm not sure what's different between the German definition you gave and 
what I know of the US system (as a copyright holder).

Jim

Post a reply to this message