Which rights does the copyright grant?

Copyright protects the material and immaterial interests of the author in his or her work. In order to protect the material interest, copyright grants exclusive utilisation rights (also called "rights of use"). She or he alone is thus granted the authority to decide who may use her or his work, how and under what conditions.

The ideal interests of authors are protected by their personal rights. Also, the work of another person should not be modified in such a way that the personal interest of the author in the work can be impaired. Especially the utilisation rights are very extensive. However, it is obvious that the use of copyright protected works is very important for the general public or the fulfilment of particular interests. Think of quotations or copies of texts distributed at universities. The interests of society as a whole require that in such contexts the copyright rules are deviated from the norm and that uses are permitted by law, so that individual approvals do not have to be obtained. For this purpose, the Copyright Act provides restrictions.