Copyright Law

If you are looking for specialized legal advice regarding copyright law, especially if this is connected with internet problems, we are the right partners for you.

Contact Us!

Your contact person is: Jens Liesegang, Attorney at Law, Certified IP Lawyer

Use our contact form to submit your question

We will contact you shortly after and give you an estimate of the legal fees. You may decide then if you will mandate us.

Our legal services related to Copyright Law

As specialized lawyers we advice nationally and internationally in all copyright related questions

  • Claim your copyrights against third parties
  • Litigation
  • License Agreements
  • Software Licensing Agreements
  • Music related Law
  • Media Law

 

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Review of a copyright warning notice

You have received a warning notice for copyright infringements and want to check whether you should make the required cease-and-desist declaration with punishment and pay the costs for it?

Then you can have this warning letter checked by us first.

Your contact person: Attorney Jens Liesegang

Now make a free inquiry

You receive it from us:

  • quick and competent advice by telephone
  • if desired, a written and understandable statement with a concrete proposal for action on how to proceed

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The costs for this depend on the consulting costs:

We do not charge anything for the simple first telephone information. So you can tell us your concerns and get an opinion without any risk.

For a one-time written response to you about 200, -.

If the advice comes to the conclusion that we are to represent you to the copyright holder and that we are to conduct correspondence with the opposing party, the fees shall be based on the Attorneys' Fees Act ("Rechtsanwaltsvergütungsgesetz"). This shall be based on the object value of the matter for the fees. Out of court, there is a 1.3 business fee. Regularly, the costs are between 800 and 1,200 EUR. The above-mentioned consulting fees do not apply.

 

Our work is based on a written order. You will receive the form from us. It contains a list of costs.

 

Prosecution of copyright infringement

You have noticed that one of your copyrighted works (texts, music, images, software, a whole website or other) is used by others without your permission?

Then you can get advice from us as copyright specialists on how to prevent copyright infringement out of court and in court. 

Please provide us with suitable evidence, 

  • what kind of work it is
  • whether you yourself are the author, if yes, when the work was created
  • whether, by whom and how you have acquired rights of use and exploitation (e. g. by contract)
  • when you learned of the copyright infringement
  • Source with the copyright infringing material

You receive from us

  • comprehensive telephone consultation
  • if necessary, an understandable written execution with concrete proposals for action
  • Out-of-court representation by issuing a warning of copyright infringement
  • Representation in court in interim relief proceedings or lawsuits

The a simple telephone consultation is free. We charge approx. EUR 200, - for a written examination of your claims. This can be higher with greater complexity. In court proceedings, the costs are based on the statutory fees (RVG). 

In any case, we work only after written order. You will receive this from us in advance together with a concrete fee.

 

Licensing and distribution agreements

Licensing and distribution agreements form the basis for the exploitation of special industrial property rights such as patents, utility models and designs, trademarks and copyrights. Regardless of whether the intellectual property rights are used, transferred or left to be used and exercised, or whether protected products are to be marketed - in any case, a well-developed contract is the best basis for successful marketing. Regulations on the use of intellectual property rights are also essential in such contracts which primarily pursue objectives other than the exploitation of industrial property rights, such as company purchase contracts, distribution agreements such as commercial agents' or authorised dealers' contracts, franchise agreements, etc.

We advise you on the exploitation of your intellectual property rights and the design of your distribution systems. Our advice on the structuring of cooperations in the field of research and development is intended to ensure that you can make optimum use of the results of the cooperation.

Your contact person: Attorney Jens Liesegang

We focus on the following areas in particular:

  • Design of distribution systems and preparation of the necessary contracts
  • Examination of antitrust issues
  • Enforcement of legal and extrajudicial claims arising from licensing and distribution agreements
  • Drafting and negotiation of research and development contracts

Legal advice software contracts, software licenses

Are you looking for sound advice on the development of software license agreements, licensing models or do you need help in enforcing your rights? Then you can rely on our experience and technical understanding.

We advise developers and companies who have acquired licenses or want to acquire licenses in all copyright issues.

We also develop interesting solutions for the transfer of licenses to low-tax countries.

The software constitutes a complex, intangible right and, due to its diversity, only rarely permits licensing with a simple software license agreement limited to the structuring of industrial property rights.

In addition to industrial property rights, a software license agreement must regularly contain other important details, such as

 

  • Transfer of the software (e. g. as CD-ROM, diskette or online download, software deposit)
  • possible system requirements for installing the software
  • Documentation of the software
  • Support & Maintenance
  • Distribution of rights during further development
  • termination modalities
  • return obligations
  • data protection issues etc.

Another, also very important point is the warranty regulation. In certain cases, the licensee shall be given the opportunity to reproduce the software itself and to resell it to end customers under his own name. In this case, for example, an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) contract must be agreed upon.

For the aforementioned reasons, there is no general software license agreement. Software licensing should therefore always be developed specifically for each individual case. In many cases, the details must also be negotiated specifically with the contractual partner. Many years of experience help to achieve an optimal negotiation result.

 

Music Law

Our specialist lawyers will be happy to provide you with competent advice on all questions concerning music law. Get an individual, free offer within the scope of the e-mail consultation or use the telephone consultation.

Frequently asked questions about music law:

  • What is GEMA?
  • What must be reported to GEMA?
  • How can you protect yourself against copyright infringement?
  • What is the Künstlersozialkasse?
  • What is and what does the GVL do?
  • What do I have to consider when setting up my own label?
  • How and by whom are record contracts drawn up and what is to be observed?

You could expect this from us as an example:

  • Determination of priority by depositing your items with us
  • Acceptance of contract negotiations
  • Drafting and review of artist, concert, music publishing, band take-over and event contracts
  • Warning of plagiarism, sampling or piracy
  • Representation and advice on all legal problems with collecting societies such as GEMA.
  • Defense and enforcement of contractual and legal claims out of court and in court

If you simply need an initial draft contract, please have a look at our numerous sample contracts on music law.

 

Music contracts - contracts with artists and production companies

Secure your rights before the success comes. If there is no success, there is nothing to divide up, once success has been achieved it can easily lead to disputes, which must be avoided.

Like the term record company, the label has kept the name record contract to this day. Before contemplating the signing of a record deal, better still before you start negotiating, you should consult a lawyer who specialises in music law. There are record contracts and production contracts. The record deal is usually concluded with a record company, production contracts with a producer who then concludes a record, label or distribution deal. The payment is made via license shares on a percentage basis. 

Some important technical terms are:

Exclusivity: Record contracts are always concluded "exclusively". This means that the artist is not allowed to take photographs for exploitation by any other company for the duration of the contract. This does not apply to recordings which are produced by TV stations or broadcasters for their programmes or events, but which may not be sold in any form whatsoever. When signing these contracts, make sure that you do not accidentally release recordings for exploitation.  

Title protection: Record companies require title protection for a period that exceeds the duration of the record contract. This means that they are not allowed to record these titles with other companies for the duration of the title protection.   

Contract Duration: Make the contract duration dependent on what the record company guarantees you in releases. Per contract year this should be at least 2 singles and at least every two years an album. If the record company only wants to test and get an option on the album, then you must have the possibility to cancel the contract. 

Promotion - Budget: A difficult subject, because the record company will hardly get involved in a sum of money. Insist in any case on a music market advertisement (1/2 page per single 1/1 page per LP) and on autograph cards. Posters, on the other hand, are needed for live performances where the record company doesn't earn anything. So there is no reason for the record company to pay for it. 

GAS: Germany - Austria - Switzerland 

Club business: Supplementary sales via book clubs such as Bertelsmann and Weltbild. 

Second and third use: A production is first marketed as a Personality - Single or Personality - Album in the high-price range. Individual titles are used relatively quickly with compilations. After a certain amount of time the titles slide into the medium price segment, later into additional low-budget publications.

 

Media Law

Media law is applied in the creative industries of graphics, advertising, music, film, press and publishing. It concerns authors, persons affected by reporting, designers, photographers, journalists, artists, media companies, musicians, producers, actors, publishers, advertising agencies. Advice in the field of media law includes counterstatements, assertion of fee claims, personal rights, claims for damages and compensation for pain and suffering, prosecution of infringements and contract drafting & contract management.

Typical problems:

I'm a photographer. Recently I discovered a photo of myself in the advertisement without having granted the right to use it? Do I have a claim for compensation or fee?

I wrote a television concept. How can I best protect it from imitation?

What possibilities do I have to prevent the unauthorized distribution of[nude] photos of me?

Do I have a claim to a reasonable fee for the presentation of an advertising concept to a customer who ultimately decided against me?

What do I need for contracts in a film production, what kind of contracts in a music production?