Notably, there are a few peculiarities contained in Austrian copyright law with respect to film:
The so-called “cessio legis”, a regulation set out in Art. 38 of the Copyright Act (CA) applies to commercially produced films (i.e. the vast majority of all film productions) and places the film authors’ rights of exploitation (especially those of the principal director) from the very outset in the hands of the film producer, who may solely dispose over them.
However, the “cessio legis” does not encompass the right of exploitation of remakes and translations (synchronization) of the films. These rights must be contractually assigned to the film producer by the film’s authors; respectively, merely a legal assumption applies here to the granting of rights in favor of the film producer.
Similarly, the “cessio legis” also does not cover the transfer of exploitation rights and/or granting of (work) usage rights of so-called “pre-existing works” used for the creation of the film (e.g. novel, screenplay, music). The film producer must acquire these rights contractually.
Special regulations apply for artists participating in the production of the film (actors, singers, dancers, etc.) whose authorship must be considered an exception. To the extent, however, that they participate in the production of a performance of a work of literature or music within the scope of the film’s production, they are entitled to specific (restricted) ancillary copyrights (Art. 66 of the CA).
The film producer, in this capacity, is entitled to ancillary copyrights both as producer of moving-pictures (Art. 74 CA) and of sound-carriers (Art. 76 CA).