Spanish copyright law, or authors' right law (), governs intellectual property rights that authors have over their original literary, artistic or scientific works in Spain. It was first instituted by the Law of 10 January 1879, and, in its origins, was influenced by French authors' right law (droit d'auteur) and by the movement led by Victor Hugo for the international protection of literary and artistic works. As of 2006, the principal dispositions are contained in Book One of the Intellectual Property Law of 11 November 1987 as modified. A consolidated version of this law was approved by Royal Legislative Decree 1/1996 of 12 April 1996: unless otherwise stated, all references are to this law.

Protected works

The conception of a "protected work" in Spain (contained in Title II, Chapter 2) is generalist, and covers (art. 10.1) "all original literary, artistic or scientific creations expressed in any medium or support", including: books, pamphlets, writings, addresses, lectures, judicial reports (informes forenses) and other works of the same nature; musical compositions with or without words; dramatic and dramatico-musical works, choreographies, mime and theatrical works in general cinematographic works and any other audiovisual works;* sculptures; drawings, paintings, engravings, lithographies; cartoons and comics; their preparatory work and any other physical works; projects, plans, models and designs of architectural and engineering works; graphs, maps and pictures relating to topography, geography and science in general; photographs and analogous works; computer programs.* Cinematographic works, other audiovisual works and computer programs are subject to slightly different treatment from other types of work. The title of a work is also protected so far as it is original (art. 10.2). Derived works are protected alongside the protection of the original work (art. 11), and include: translations and adaptations revisions, updates and notes musical arrangements any other transformation of a work Collections of works (e.g. anthologies) and other collections of data which, by reason of the selection or arrangement of the contents, constitute intellectual creations are also protected (art. 12)

Works are protected by "the sole fact of their creation" (art. 1), regardless of the nationality of the author or the place of publication. Corporate persons can only be authors of collective works (arts. 4.2, 8).

Exceptions

Article 13 provides that the following official works are not covered by copyright protection: Laws and reglementary dispositions (disposiciones legales o reglamentarias), either approved or awaiting approval (y sus correspondientes proyectos) Court judgements (resoluciones de los órganos jurisdiccionales) Acts, agreements, deliberations and rulings of public bodies (actos, acuerdos, deliberaciones y dictámenes de los organismos públicos) Official translations of any of the above (las traducciones oficiales de todos los textos anteriores) Images are only concerned by this exception to copyright protection when they form an integral part of any of the above, for example the diagrams in a patent: otherwise the copyright is held by the author of the image (e.g. the photographer).

Registration

Registration of a protected work is not necessary to be owner of the authors' rights, but a Register of Intellectual Property (Registro de la Propiedad Intelectual) exists (see "External links") for authors who wish to take advantage of it. Registration provides prima facie evidence of creation and authorship (art. 140.3, renumbered to art. 145.3 by Ley 5/1998).

Rights of exploitation (Derechos de explotación)

The author has the exclusive legal right to exploit the work in any way or form, subject to the legal limitations on the exclusivity, and notably the rights of reproduction, distribution, public communication and transformation (art. 17). The author may transfer any or all of these rights to another person, although such a transfer cannot prevent the author from producing a collection (partial or complete) of his/her works (art. 22). Any agreement to transfer rights of exploitation must be made in writing (art. 45): it cannot cover the totality of the future works of an author (art. 43.3), cannot require the author not to produce works in the future (art. 43.4) and cannot cover forms of distribution which do not exist at the time of the agreement (art. 43.5). Such an agreement must normally guarantee the author a reasonable share of the income derived from the exploitation of the work (art. 46.1, 47), although a fixed-sum payment is allowed in certain cases (art. 46.2). The different rights of exploitation are independent of one another (art. 23).

The authors of works of plastic art have the right to 3% of the resale price of their works when the resale price is greater than or equal to 300,000 pesetas (1,807 euros): this right cannot be renounced or transferred during the lifetime of the author (art. 24).

Duration of the rights of exploitation

The main dispositions concerning the duration of copyright are contained in Title III, Chapter 1, as modified. In general, copyright protection in Spain lasts for the life of the author plus seventy years (art. 26). Collective works are protected for seventy years following publication (art. 28.2), as are pseudonymous and anonymous works unless the identity of the author becomes known (art. 27.2). It always assigns copyright to the author and he or she is not allowed to disclaim it. Posthumous works are protected for seventy years following publication provided they are published within seventy years of the death of the author. All of these time periods are calculated starting from 1 January following death or publication (art. 30). In the case of authors that died before 7 December 1987, the exploitations rights last for the time granted by the 1879 law, which granted a term of 80 years, but it is not clear if the 1 January rules applies in this case

Copyright management societies

As in other countries, there are a number of societies which collectively manage the licensing of different types of work and the collection of royalties on behalf of copyright holders. These societies (entidades de gestión) are governed by Title IV of Book Three of the Intellectual Property Law (arts. 142–152, renumbered as arts. 147–157 by the Ley 5/1998), which provides for their authorisation by the Ministry of Culture. The largest such copyright management society is the Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (SGAE), which was established by law in 1941 as the Sociedad General de Autores de España and which had a de facto monopoly on the collective management of copyright royalties before the passage of the 1987 Intellectual Property Law.

Moral rights (Derecho moral)

The moral rights of the author, contained in Chapter 3, Section 1, of Title II, go beyond the minimum requirements of the Berne Convention. They are enumerated in article 14: the right to decide whether the work should be published and in what form the right to publish the work under his/her real name, pseudonymously or anonymously the right to be identified as the author of the work the right to insist on the respect of the integrity of the work and to prevent any distortion, modification, alteration or derogatory action in relation to the work which would be prejudicial to his/her legitimate interests or reputation the right to modify the work in the respect of the rights of third parties and of the protection of "Works of Cultural Interest" (Bienes de Interés Cultural) the right to withdraw the work from commercial exploitation, due to a change of his/her intellectual or moral convictions, with compensation to the holders of the rights of exploitation. If the author later decides to re-undertake the exploitation of his/their work he/she will have to offer preferably the corresponding rights to the former rightsholder and in conditions reasonably similar to the previous ones the right to access to the single copy or a rare copy of the work in order to exercise any of the other rights. This right does not include the right to displace the work, and must be exercised with the minimum of inconvenience to the legal owner of the copy and with compensation for any prejudice. The right to the respect of the integrity of the work is limited in the case of computer programs, where the author cannot object to the production of future versions or derived works except with a specific agreement to that effect (art. 98). The author of a work cannot renounce his/her moral rights, nor transfer them to another person during his/her lifetime.

Duration of moral rights

The rights to be identified as author and to the respect of the integrity of the work are perpetual, and may be exercised after the author's death by his/her executors, heirs or (by default) by the State (arts. 15, 16). The rights to modify the work and to withdraw the work from commercial exploitation may only be exercised by the author during his/her lifetime (this is implicit in the wording of 5º and 6º of art. 14).

Cinematographic and other audiovisual works

The special rules concerning audiovisual works are contained in Title VI of Book One. The authors of an audiovisual work are considered to be (art. 87): the director the authors of the scenario or adaptation and of the dialogue the composers of any music created specifically for the work

The authors are presumed to grant an exclusive licence to the producer, unless there is an agreement to the contrary, covering the reproduction, communication to the public and distribution of the work (art. 88): this is the opposite of the case for other types of work, where the licence is assumed to be non-exclusive unless there is a provision to the contrary (art. 48). The authors may only exercise their moral rights with relation to the final version of the work (art. 93).

Computer programs

The special rules concerning computer programs are contained in Title VII of Book One: through successive modifications, they are now very close to the rules for other types of work. Article 96 gives a definition of "computer program", and reiterates the criteria for copyright protection: the work is only protected to the extent that it is the author's own intellectual creation, and the ideas and principles underlying any of the elements of the program, including those underlying its interfaces, are not protected by copyright (under certain circumstances, they may be protectable by patent law). An employer is assumed to have an exclusive grant of the rights of exploitation of computer programs written by employees in the course of their work (art. 97.4). Article 100 lists the following specific limitations of the rights of exploitation of a computer program, insofar as the following are permitted: reproduction and transformation necessary for the use of the program creation of a back-up copy observation, study and verification of the ideas and principles underlying the program modification to produce successive versions by the holder of the rights of exploitation modification to ensure interoperability with an independently created program

The term of protection in computer programs is the same as that for other types of work (art. 98).

Related rights (Otros derechos de propiedad intelectual)

A number of related rights are detailed in Book Two of the Intellectual Property Law: these are similar in form to the rights of Book One, but may not directly concern the author of the work. They are independent of the rights of the author of the work: this is especially important for photographs and audiovisual works, which are automatically protected by related rights regardless of their copyright status but which may also enjoy the greater protection provided by copyright. The limitations to copyright protection also apply to these related rights (art. 132).