The author of a work, being its crearor, owns the copyright for that work.

This copyright comprises of both the moral right and the property right.

While moral right is unalienable, property rights - which allow for the exploitation of the work - can be conveyed or conceded to a third party, as part of the contract, in accordance with the conditions mentioned in the intellectual property code.

The third parties (collective management companies, publishers...) then become the new beneficiaries of the exploitation of the woork, in accordance with the conveyance contract clauses.

In order to facilitate the circulation of their work within the scientific community, thereby increasing its visibility, an ever-expanding number of researchers resort to Creative Commons licenses.

can be found in the French code of intellectual property available online on the Legifrance website:

• Full text html  (here)
• PDF (Laws and regulations) (here)

BELVEZE, Damien, PAUTHE, Julien,  "Contracts and right conveyance". In UBL (European University of Britanny). Formadoct. Rennes: UBL, 2011 (last updated 3rd July 2013). Available at: http://en.guides-formadoct.u-bretagneloire.fr//platforms