Is the author necessarily the copyright owner?
The author is the citizen who created the work. The author is not necessarily the copyright owner. The natural person who directly creates the work is the original subject of the copyright. The so-called directly created works refer to works in which the author directly (including written, oral and three-dimensional expression) reflects his own thoughts and feelings, personality and characteristics through his own independent conception, using his own skills and methods. Those who help authors revise manuscripts, edit, proofread, review, etc. cannot become authors because they make modifications based on the author's creation.
In the following situations, the author and the copyright owner are pointing to different objects:
1. The actual engineering drawings, product design drawings, maps, and computer software are mainly created using the unit's material and technical conditions and for which the unit is responsible. For such professional works, the author only has the right of signature, and other copyrights belong to the unit;
2. If the rights stipulated in the contract belong to others, the author is not the copyright owner. For example, commissioned creation contracts and unit labor contracts: for books written by editors of a publishing house based on tasks assigned by the publishing house, the copyright generally belongs to the publishing house according to the contract; for songs written by employees of record companies, the copyright generally belongs to the unit according to the agreement; screenwriters create For scripts, the ownership of the copyright is mainly stipulated in the contract;
3. In the case of the death of the author, the copyright is enjoyed and exercised by the heirs.
It can be seen from the above that the copyright owner is not necessarily the author, but the author may be the copyright owner.
