Copyright protects the work (published or not published) of a software creator (‘Grau GmbH’). There is no need to claim copyright in some way, protection is automatic at the point of creation. Copyright is owned by the creator of the work (‘software’) that holds the copyright of the work.

Copyright law grants to copyright holder (‘Grau GmbH’) certain exclusive rights in relation to their works. They have the right to :

• copy a work
• issues copies to the public

They also have the right to prevent:

• others communicating a work to the public
• others making available the work to the public (e.g. putting it on website)

Copyright holder may grant permission or license anyone else to do use their works, without affecting their ownership of the copyright in their work. The copyright in the work (as described above) remains.

As a result of certain international treaties and conventions, works have the same copyright protection in other countries as those created in the country of the copyright holder.

Why Copyright?

• Copyright is the motivation for us programmers to develop software for end-users.
• Copyright enables us programmers to develop our creativity – without copyright, we would not develop software at all, and would give up our day job.
• Copyright allows us programmers to get paid for the work.
• Copyright supports us programmers to further develop our software – without copyright, our software would not be improved at all.