Copyright grants the rights holder the exclusive right to decide whether, when and how his/her works may be used, i.e., whether the work may be reproduced, translated, edited, distributed, sold, performed, broadcasted or transferred. The listing in the law is not comprehensive.

Related rights are comparable with the rights of the author, although they are somewhat limited. The Copyright Act includes certain exceptions and limitations in favor of users and consumers. For instance, published works may be used for private use (i.e., private persons or closely connected persons such as relatives or friends). This exception, however, does not apply for computer programs: Permission from the rights holder must be obtained for each use.

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