Tekijä

Tekijä is the Finnish term for a person who creates a work—the author or creator. The word derives from teko ('act, deed') with the agent noun suffix -jä. In common usage, tekijä refers to authors of books, composers, artists, software developers, filmmakers, and other creators.

Under Finnish copyright law, tekijänoikeudet (copyrights) belong to the tekijä. These rights include exclusive control over reproducing, distributing, publicly performing or communicating the work, and to make derivative works. Moral rights (moraaliset oikeudet) — the right to be identified as the author and to oppose changes that would harm the work or the author's reputation — belong to the tekijä and are non-transferable, lasting for the author’s lifetime and beyond.

Typically, if a work is created in the course of employment or under a commission, ownership of the rights may be determined by contract or by applicable law; employers or clients may acquire rights by agreement, but the author keeps moral rights.

Duration of protection in Finland is generally the life of the author plus 70 years after death; for joint authors, the term ends 70 years after the death of the last surviving author. Some specific media may have special rules, but the general principle is consistent with EU law.

The concept is central to discussions of creative work, intellectual property, and the rights and obligations of creators. See also Tekijänoikeus and Tekijänoikeuslaki.