Spanish copyright law

Spanish copyright law governs copyright (Spanish: derechos de autor), that is the rights of authors of literary, artistic or scientific works, in Spain. It was first instituted by the Law of 10 January 1879, and, in its origins, was influenced by French copyright law and by the movement led by Victor Hugo for the international protection of literary and artistic works. As of 2006, the principal dispositions are contained in Book One of the Intellectual Property Law of 11 November 1987 as modified. A consolidated version of this law was approved by Royal Legislative Decree 1/1996 of 12 April 1996: unless otherwise stated, all references are to this law.

The conception of a "protected work" (objeto de propiedad intelectual) in Spain (contained in Title II, Chapter 2) is generalist, and covers (art. 10.1) "all original literary, artistic or scientific creations expressed in any medium or support", including:

Cinematographic works, other audiovisual works and computer programs are subject to slightly different treatment from other types of work. The title of a work is also protected so far as it is original (art. 10.2). Derived works are protected alongside the protection of the original work (art. 11), and include:

Collections of works (e.g. anthologies) and other collections of data which, by reason of the selection or arrangement of the contents, constitute intellectual creations are also protected (art. 12)

Works are protected by "the sole fact of their creation" (art. 1), regardless of the nationality of the author or the place of publication. Corporate persons can only be authors of collective works (arts. 4.2, 8).

Article 13 provides that the following official works are not covered by copyright protection:

Images are only concerned by this exception to copyright protection when they form an integral part of any of the above, for example the diagrams in a patent: otherwise the copyright is held by the author of the image (e.g. the photographer).

Registration of a protected work is optional, but a Register of Intellectual Property (Registro de la Propiedad Intelectual) exists (see "External links") for authors who wish to take advantage of it. Registration provides prima facie evidence of creation and authorship (art. 140.3, renumbered to art. 145.3 by Ley 5/1998).

...
Wikipedia