Create, assign, get paid

Recent cases illuminate creation

In Mio/USM, on 4 December 2025, the CJEU stressed that creative choices must be expressed in the object’s form. Intention alone is insufficient. The case concerns furniture, but its method also matters to Belgian creators: identify precisely the elements for which protection is claimed.

The Belgian ONB case then illuminates consent. On 6 March 2025, the CJEU rejected a general regulatory assignment of performers’ related rights without their prior agreement. The Intellectual Property Council examined the consequences in its opinion of 3 November 2025, presented by FPS Economy in January 2026. That opinion is not a new law.

From the person to the rights

Protection does not depend on mandatory registration. Drafts, dated files and correspondence during creation can help establish who created what. Keep the relevant version of the work: a signature on an invoice does not, by itself, describe the protected subject matter.

Then identify the people and transactions: author, co-authors, employer, company, client and publisher. An employee’s work, a commissioned work and a computer program do not necessarily follow the same rules on transfer. Classification comes before the clause.

An assignment transfers economic rights; a licence permits their use. Put the intended scope in writing and retain evidence of agreement. Authorship, moral rights and the power to exploit a work are separate questions.