Die Angemessenheit vertraglicher Urhebervergütungen und ihre gesetzlichen Sicherungsmechanismen

Reforming the law concerning copyright contracts seems to be a never-ending story. Today's German copyright law going back to January 1st, 1966, when the German Copyright Act (UrhG) came into force, began with an omission: the legislator planned to pass a separate Copyright Contract Act, which, however, has not been realized yet. Instead of such an act specifically dealing with copyright contracts and fair remunerations of authors, copyright contract law was integrated into the existing Copyright Act in 2002. More than a decade later, in autumn 2015, the Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection presented a draft aiming at a reform of copyright contract law (now, with some modifications, a governmental draft). Several private drafts joined in the present discussion about copyright contracts and fair remuneration. This article outlines the main issues, compares the ministry's draft with the private drafts and discusses the suggested solutions.