Article 12: Transfer

(1) The economic right may be transferred between living persons or mortis causa.

(2) The moral rights shall not be transferable between living persons. After the death of an author, the moral rights shall pass to his heirs, who shall exercise the rights in compliance with the author’s wishes, provided that such wishes have been explicitly expressed.

Article 13: Exploitation Contracts and Licences

(1) The author of the work may conclude contracts, by which he entrusts economic rights to the other contracting party (exploitation contracts). The other party to the contract undertakes the obligation to exercise the rights thus entrusted.

(2) The author of the work may authorize another person to exercise economic rights (exploitation licenses).

(3) Exploitation contracts and licenses may be exclusive or non-exclusive. Exclusive exploitation contracts and licenses shall empower the other contracting party to exercise the rights conferred by the contract or license excluding any third person. Non-exclusive exploitation contracts and licenses shall give the right to the other contracting party to exercise the rights conferred by the contract or license in parallel to the author and other contracting parties. In the absence of an agreement to the contrary, the other contracting party shall be entitled in his own name to seek legal protection against illegal infringements by third parties of the rights he exercises.

(4) Where doubt exists about the exclusivity of an exploitation contract or license the contract or license shall be deemed to be non-exclusive.

(5) The contract or license may in no circumstance confer any total right over the future works of the author, and shall never be deemed to refer also to forms of exploitation which were unknown on the date of the contract.

(6) The rights of a person who undertakes to carry out the exploitation of a work or who acquires the possibility of exploitation may not be transferred between living persons without the consent of the author.

Article 14: Form of Legal Acts

Acts dealing with the transfer of economic rights, with the assignment or licensing of the right of exploitation and with the exercise of the moral right shall be null and void, unless they are concluded in writing. Nullity may be invoked only by the author.

Article 15: Extent of Transfer and of Exploitation Contracts and Licenses

(1) The transfer of the economic right and exploitation contracts or contracts licensing the exploitation of that right may restrict the rights they confer, their scope and duration, the geographical application and the extent or the means of exploitation.

(2) If the duration of the transfer or of the exploitation contract or license is unspecified, its duration shall be deemed to be limited to five years, provided conventional mores do not indicate otherwise.

(3) If the geographical application of the transfer or of the exploitation contract or license is unspecified, the said legal acts shall be deemed to apply to the country in which they were concluded.

(4) If the extent and the means of exploitation which the transfer concerns or for which the exploitation or the exploitation license is agreed are unspecified, it shall be deemed that the said acts refer to the extent and the means that are necessary for the fulfilment of the purpose of the contract or license.

(5) In all cases involving the transfer of the economic right or the granting of an exclusive exploitation license, the person who acquires the right or the license shall ensure that within a reasonable period of time, the work is accessible to the public via an appropriate form of exploitation.

Article 16: Consent of the Author as Exercise of the Moral Right

The granting of consent by an author for an action or an omission which would otherwise constitute an infringement of his moral right shall be deemed to be a form of exercise of his moral right, and shall be binding upon him.

Article 17: Transfer of the Physical Carrier