rightsholder

A rightsholder is a person or organization that holds the legal rights to a creative work or other intellectual property under applicable law. The rights provide exclusive control over how the work is used and exploited, including reproduction, distribution, public performance or display, and, in many cases, adaptation or translation. The rightsholder may be the original creator, such as an author or composer, or an entity that acquired the rights through contract, assignment, inheritance, or licensing arrangements. A work can have multiple rightsholders for different components (for example, the underlying work and the specific recorded performance).

Rights may be transferred or licensed to others. A rightsholder can grant licenses to use the work under defined terms, limits, and durations, while retaining ownership of the rights themselves. Because different rights can be owned by different parties, a work may have several rightsholders, each with authority over specific uses. For example, in music, a songwriter may own publishing rights to the composition, while a recording artist or label may own the master recording rights.

Rights management and enforcement are common duties of rightsholders or their representatives. They may license uses, collect royalties (sometimes through collecting societies or performing rights organizations), monitor unauthorized uses, and pursue enforcement actions when rights are infringed. Rights-holding entities can include individuals, publishers, production companies, music labels, studios, and distributors.

Limitations and exceptions to rights exist in many jurisdictions, such as fair use or statutory licenses, which allow certain uses without permission under specific conditions. After certain terms, works may enter the public domain, reducing or removing rights protections.