Copyright Duration Directive

As a term of protection Directive, the Directive was originally referred to Council Directive 93/98/EEC of 29 October 1993 harmonizing the term of protection of copyright and certain related rights, the result was the Europe-wide harmonization of control protection period since within the EU 70 years after the death of the author and is valid also in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein.

The term of protection Directive of 29 October 1993 on 15 January 2007 as amended by the currently applicable Directive 2006/116/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on the term of protection of copyright and certain related rights, most recently by Directive 2011 / 77/EU of 27 September 2011, replaced.

In Germany the term of protection Directive has been implemented from 1 July 1995 the Law on Copyright and Related Rights.

In the field of image rights that this had a significant impact:

• The requirements for photographs to be considered a particularly sensitive " photographic works " may have been made ​​more restrictive.

• If was a photographic work on 1 July 1995 or in any other EU country protected, thereby lived an extinct protection under § 137 et seq of the Copyright Act again, which resulted due to the long periods in Spain that a huge number of incurred before 1960 images that had already been in the public domain, were suddenly protected again.

• The definition of the term of protection for " other photographs" ( photographs) was expressly left to the national laws of the Member States by Article 6 of the EC Directive.