It was first (1777) promoted in France by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, who had close relations with Benjamin Franklin.
It is an essential feature of authors' rights and of many copyright laws that the object which is protected must arise from the creativity of the author rather than from their simple effort or investment (see Feist v. Rural in the United States): both French and German copyright laws protect "works of the mind" (oeuvres de l'esprit and persönliche geistige Schöpfungen,[3] respectively).
Common law jurisdictions are more willing to accept corporate ownership of copyright, as in the U. S. work for hire principle.
Although the following comparison is simplistic and dependent on the exact laws of individual countries, it is difficult to see an effective (economic) difference in the two situations: Civil law systems have also been forceful in protecting the moral rights of authors, arguing that their creativity deserves protection as an integral part of their personality.
Moral rights were not, therefore, explicitly mentioned in UK copyright law until 1988,[5] over a century after the United Kingdom signed the Berne Convention.
The term "authors' rights" is used in European Union law[8] to avoid ambiguity, in preference to the more usual translation of droit d'auteur etc.
[10] Under a bill proposed by the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel approved by the Bundestag, Germany infringement of copyright is equivalent to the crime of theft.
In addition, following the judgment of 20 October 1993 on the case Phil Collins, it was launched Article 12 (in the Treaty establishing the European Community), according to which states cannot discriminate against goods from other countries.