tekijän

Tekijän is the genitive singular form of tekijä, a Finnish noun meaning creator, maker, or author. The term refers to the person who creates or originates something, such as a work of art, a piece of writing, a musical composition, or an invention. In everyday language, tekijä and tekijäin forms are used to discuss authorship and responsibility for a creation.

In linguistic and legal contexts, tekijä is commonly paired with possessive or attributive phrases. For example, teoksen tekijän nimi means the name of the creator of the work, and teoksen tekijän oikeudet refers to the rights belonging to the creator of the work. The genitive form tekijän specifically marks ownership or attribution to the person who created something.

In copyright law and related discussions, the term foregrounds the creator as the holder of authorship rights. Typically, tekijänoikeudet (copyright) belong to the tekijä, unless rights are transferred by contract or by a work-for-hire arrangement. Finnish law recognizes that rights can be assigned or licensed through agreements, particularly in employment or commissioned work, where the contractual terms determine ownership of the resulting works.

Etymologically, tekijä is formed with the agent suffix -jä from the verb tehdä, “to do/make,” yielding a noun for a person who makes or creates. The genitive ending -n marks possessive relation to the owner or originator.

See also: tekijä, tekijänoikeudet, tekijänoikeus, kirjoittaja.