Truckenbrod, Baetcher 1

Tomislav Truckenbrod Felix Baetcher Independent Studies Fall 2010 Allison Anders 12/6/2010

German Copyright
The Anglo-American Copyright is a set of exclusive rights granted by the law to the author or creator of an original work, including the right to copy, distribute and adapt the work, except that it does not protect ideas, only their expression or fixation. Copyright laws are partially standardized through international and regional agreements such as the Bern Convention, the World Intellectual Property Organization, and the European copyright directives such as the Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations. Although there are consistencies among nations' copyright laws the latter one emphasizes the recognitions of moral rights of creators, such as the right to be credited for the work. In 1902 a law in Germany adapted which said that the approval of each author is required for every public performance of the musical work. The Society for Musical Performing and Mechanical Reproduction Rights (GEMA) was established as a collecting society representing the rights of the copyright of those composers, lyricists and publishers of musical works that are organized as a member in it. The task given to the Gema contains protection of intellectual property rights of music creators and the representation of their interests to get properly remunerated for the use of

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their works. The Scope of their jurisdiction pertains to the German Copyright which will be covered below. The German Copyright (Urheberrecht) is the area of law pertaining to the protection of authors of creative work in the fields of literature, science, and art. Creators include writers, composers, painters, etc. In addition to protect the copyrights of creators it protects neighboring