--- title: "Copyright Protection | Pitch, European law firm" description: "Copyright protects your software, texts, photos and creative work from the day they exist, without a filing." url: https://pitch.law/solutions/copyright-protection --- [pitch](https://pitch.law/) [Solutions](https://pitch.law/solutions) [Copyright](https://pitch.law/solution-categories/copyright) # Copyright Protection Copyright protects your software, texts, photos and creative work from the day they exist, without a filing. We make sure you can prove what you made and when, that the rights end up with your company, and that you can act when someone copies it. ## The question Your company creates things every day: code, a website, product photos, manuals, a brand book, training material, maybe music or video. Copyright protects all of it as soon as it exists in a concrete form and is original, meaning it reflects the author's own creative choices. In Belgium the rules are in Book XI of the Code of Economic Law, and protection lasts until seventy years after the author's death. There is no register and no filing fee. That sounds simple, and it is where the trouble starts. Because nothing is registered, you need to be able to show what you created and when. And copyright first belongs to the person who made the work, not to the company that paid for it. For software written by employees, Belgian law presumes the employer holds the economic rights. For almost everything else, and for all work by freelancers and agencies, the rights only move to your company with a written transfer. Many companies find out during an investment round or a sale that the logo, the website or part of the code still belongs to someone else. Typical questions we get: an agency built our app, do we own it? A competitor copied our product photos, what can we do? An investor asks us to confirm we own all our IP, can we? ## Our approach We start with an inventory of what you create and who creates it: staff, freelancers, agencies, co-founders before the company existed. Our [guide to hidden IP](https://pitch.law/academy/hidden-intellectual-property-audit) shows the kind of things that tend to slip through. We then check the contracts behind them and close the gaps with assignments or clauses in the employment and service agreements. Moral rights, such as the right to be named, stay with the author, so we agree how they will be exercised. For proof, we set up a simple routine: dated deposits of key versions, for example through an i-DEPOT at the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property, and a record of who worked on what. For software, our [guide on protecting software](https://pitch.law/academy/protecting-software-intellectual-property) explains how copyright, trade secrets and patents work together. When you want others to use your work, we draft the licence: what may be used, where, for how long and at what price. Our [Document Studio](https://pitch.law/technologies/contract-studio) prepares the draft from your brief, and the lawyer settles the terms with you. When someone copies your work online, we prepare the notice for the platform, host or marketplace, with a timestamped evidence pack ([takedowns and enforcement notices](https://pitch.law/technologies/online-takedowns)). If that is not enough, we send a formal letter and, where needed, go to court. Your rights and the agreements behind them are kept in our [portfolio platform](https://pitch.law/technologies/portfolio-renewals), next to your trademarks and designs. Our technology prepares drafts, keeps the evidence and the overview up to date. A lawyer decides on the legal position, reviews every document and signs every letter. ## What you get - An overview of the works that matter to your business and who holds the rights today. - Assignments and contract clauses that bring those rights to your company. - A proof routine you can keep up without us. - Licences fit for the way you want your work used. - Notices, letters and, if needed, proceedings against copying. If you pay authors for their work, the [copyright tax regime](https://pitch.law/solutions/copyright-tax-regime) may also apply. We check that at the same time. ## Next step Tell us what you create and who works on it, or send us the copy you found. We will tell you where you stand and what to fix first. [Schedule a meeting](https://pitch.law/schedule) or [contact us](https://pitch.law/contact-us). ## In short - Proof of authorship and date, so a dispute starts from evidence - Rights of employees, freelancers and agencies moved to your company in writing - Licences that say exactly what others may do with your work - Fast action against copies online, with an evidence pack for each case - Linked to the copyright tax regime where it applies ## Our proprietary Legal Tech - [Technology](https://pitch.law/technologies/online-takedowns) ### [Takedowns and Enforcement Notices](https://pitch.law/technologies/online-takedowns) [A notice workflow for marketplaces, registrars, hosts and platforms, with a timestamped evidence pack for each action and enforcement documents drafted in four languages.](https://pitch.law/technologies/online-takedowns) - [Technology](https://pitch.law/technologies/contract-studio) ### [Document Studio](https://pitch.law/technologies/contract-studio) [Our Document Studio drafts and analyses legal documents in a secure, on-premise environment, and keeps the documents behind your matters up to date as new data comes in and procedural steps fall due.](https://pitch.law/technologies/contract-studio) - [Technology](https://pitch.law/technologies/portfolio-renewals) ### [IP Portfolio, Renewals and Deadlines](https://pitch.law/technologies/portfolio-renewals) [Your trademarks, designs, domain names and patents in one view, with deadlines docketed, renewals batched and every computed date confirmed by a person.](https://pitch.law/technologies/portfolio-renewals) ## Background reading - [Academy](https://pitch.law/academy/protecting-software-intellectual-property) ### [Can I Protect My Software?](https://pitch.law/academy/protecting-software-intellectual-property) [Software is protected by copyright, sometimes by patent, and by trade secret law. This article explains what each protects, who owns the code, and how the rights combine.](https://pitch.law/academy/protecting-software-intellectual-property) - [Academy](https://pitch.law/academy/hidden-intellectual-property-audit) ### [Finding the IP You Already Have](https://pitch.law/academy/hidden-intellectual-property-audit) [Most companies own more intellectual property than they have registered. This article explains which rights arise without registration, how an IP audit finds them, and why ownership matters.](https://pitch.law/academy/hidden-intellectual-property-audit) ## Let’s talk Tell us what you’re working on. We’ll get the right person on it and reply within one business day. The first chat is free. [Schedule a meeting](https://pitch.law/schedule)