Under German law you cannot sell your copyright. § 29 UrhG keeps it with you for life; what a client can get are Nutzungsrechte, usage rights, under § 31 UrhG. If the contract does not say which rights, the purpose-of-transfer rule grants only what the project purpose strictly requires, which leaves your client exposed and your own reuse, portfolio and payment position undefined. Six decisions make a clause complete: exclusive or simple, scope, modification, transfer, the moment rights pass (full payment), and what happens to AI-generated parts, which carry no copyright at all. Example clauses below.
Most freelance contracts have a line like "all rights in the deliverables pass to the client". Under German copyright law that line does less than both sides think. It cannot transfer copyright, because copyright is not transferable. And because it names no specific type of use, a court reads it as narrowly as the project purpose allows. The client believes they own the work. You believe you have been paid for everything. Neither is quite true.
What the law does when your contract is silent
§ 29 UrhG is blunt: "Das Urheberrecht ist nicht übertragbar", except by inheritance. What is permitted is "die Einräumung von Nutzungsrechten". You stay the author; the client becomes a licensee. That decides who can sue an infringer, whether you may show the work in your portfolio, and whether the client can hand it to a third party.
§ 31 UrhG offers two kinds of licence. A simple usage right lets the holder use the work "ohne dass eine Nutzung durch andere ausgeschlossen ist". An exclusive one lets them use it "unter Ausschluss aller anderen Personen", including you. Both can be limited in territory, time and content.
Then the rule that causes the trouble, § 31 Abs. 5, the Zweckübertragungslehre. If the types of use are not named individually, the scope of the grant "bestimmt sich nach dem von beiden Partnern zugrunde gelegten Vertragszweck". The IT-Recht Kanzlei puts it in one sentence: "Jede Einräumung ist so eng wie möglich auszulegen", and the client bears the burden of proof. A logo commissioned for a website is licensed for that website. Merchandise, a subsidiary's brand, a sale of the company: not covered unless the contract says so.
Two more provisions freelancers rarely know. § 31a UrhG says a grant for types of use that do not yet exist needs written form and carries a revocation right you cannot waive in advance. And § 69b UrhG, which hands software rights to the employer automatically, applies to "Arbeitnehmer" only. A client who assumes freelance code works like employee code usually finds out in a due-diligence data room years later.
Six decisions that make the clause complete
Conclusion first: a usable clause answers six questions. Everything else is drafting.
1. Exclusive or simple. Exclusive means you cannot reuse the work, not even a component, and cannot license it to anyone else. Simple means the client can use it and you keep the right to reuse. Bespoke branding: exclusive. A template, a code library, a stock-like photo: simple. Say which, and price it.
2. Scope. Territory (worldwide or not), time (perpetual or for the campaign), content (which media, which purposes). "Alle bekannten Nutzungsarten" covers the known ones; unknown ones need the § 31a written form.
3. Modification. May the client edit, translate, crop, refactor? Without a Bearbeitungsrecht the answer is largely no. Most clients need yes.
4. Transfer and sublicensing. Can the client pass the rights to an affiliate, an agency, a buyer of the company? If you do not allow it, a corporate restructuring turns your client into an infringer.
5. When the rights pass. The strongest sentence in a freelance contract links the grant to full payment: rights are granted under the condition precedent of receipt of the full fee. Until then the client has a permission to review. This is your position when an invoice sits unpaid, and it costs nothing to include.
6. Attribution and portfolio. § 13 UrhG gives you the right to be named as author and to decide the form of naming. Clients often want a waiver. Trade it for an explicit portfolio right, in writing, or you may find that an exclusive grant has quietly removed your ability to show your best work.
Two points ride alongside. Source code and working files (open layouts, fonts, prompts) are separate deliverables; say whether they are included. And the money: § 32 UrhG entitles you to "angemessene Vergütung" and, where the agreed fee is not appropriate, to demand a contract adjustment; § 32a adds a claim to further participation if the work becomes a runaway success, and § 40a lets you exploit it elsewhere after ten years on a flat fee. A buy-out is legal, but the law expects the fee to reflect the breadth of the grant. Price exclusivity and transferability as line items, and the rights conversation becomes a scope conversation.
The AI caveat
§ 2 Abs. 2 UrhG: works are "nur persönliche geistige Schöpfungen". Output a model generated from a prompt, without a human creative contribution shaping the result, is not a work and carries no copyright, so there are no usage rights to grant. Promise a client "exclusive worldwide rights" in a purely AI-generated hero image and you promise something you do not own; the warranty next to it becomes a liability. For AI-assisted parts, warrant that you may use and pass on the output under the tool's terms, not that you hold copyright. Background in our piece on AI and copyright for creative freelancers.
Example clauses
These are examples for orientation, not legal advice, and not a substitute for a lawyer reading your contract.
English example
Rights of use (example). The Contractor grants the Client, subject to the condition precedent of receipt of the full agreed fee, the exclusive, perpetual, worldwide right to use the Deliverables for all known types of use, including the right to edit, translate and adapt them and to transfer or sublicense these rights to affiliated companies and service providers. Until full payment, the Client may use the Deliverables solely for internal review. Components the Contractor created before or independently of this project (frameworks, libraries, templates) are licensed on a non-exclusive basis. The Contractor may name the Client and show the Deliverables in their portfolio after publication. Parts of the Deliverables generated with AI tools are marked as such; the Contractor warrants that their use and transfer is permitted under the tool provider's terms but does not warrant copyright in those parts.
German example
Nutzungsrechte (Beispiel). Der Auftragnehmer räumt dem Auftraggeber unter der aufschiebenden Bedingung des vollständigen Eingangs der vereinbarten Vergütung das ausschließliche, zeitlich und räumlich unbeschränkte Recht ein, die Arbeitsergebnisse für alle bekannten Nutzungsarten zu nutzen, einschließlich des Rechts zur Bearbeitung, Übersetzung und Umgestaltung sowie zur Übertragung und Unterlizenzierung an verbundene Unternehmen und Dienstleister. Bis zur vollständigen Zahlung darf der Auftraggeber die Arbeitsergebnisse nur zur internen Prüfung nutzen. Vorbestehende oder projektunabhängig erstellte Bestandteile (Frameworks, Bibliotheken, Vorlagen) werden einfach und nicht ausschließlich lizenziert. Der Auftragnehmer darf den Auftraggeber als Referenz nennen und die Arbeitsergebnisse nach Veröffentlichung im Portfolio zeigen. Mit KI-Werkzeugen erzeugte Teile werden als solche gekennzeichnet; der Auftragnehmer gewährleistet, dass deren Nutzung und Weitergabe nach den Bedingungen des Anbieters zulässig ist, nicht aber ein Urheberrecht an diesen Teilen.
Swap "exclusive" for "non-exclusive" and the price drops; add "limited to the territory of Germany for 24 months" for a campaign licence. The structure stays.
What to do on Monday
- Find the rights sentence in your contract template. If it says "all rights pass" and nothing else, it grants the project minimum under § 31 Abs. 5. Replace it with a clause that answers the six questions.
- Add the payment condition. One sentence, zero cost, and an unpaid invoice becomes a licence question instead of a debt collection.
- Write your portfolio right down. An exclusive grant without a portfolio carve-out removes it.
- Split your quote: base fee, exclusivity, transferability, source files. Clients who want everything pay for everything once they see it as scope.
- Mark AI-generated components in every delivery note. It protects your warranty.
For the rest of the contract, our checklists on freelancer contracts and what to include in your freelance contract cover scope, payment terms and liability. Clients who find you through a free 9am profile often arrive with a contract of their own; now you know which paragraph to read first.
This article is general information for practitioners and does not replace legal advice. Have your own clause reviewed by a lawyer before you use it.
